Nbc Television Network

Maybe it was an omen. Tom Sarnoff had an idea that he took to NBC, the network founded by his father, the late David Sarnoff. The idea was a revival of one of NBC's greatest hits, "Bonanza," centering around a new, young generation of television's famous Western clan and set in the early 1900s. It would be called "Bonanza: Legends of the Ponderosa," and Sarnoff and the series' original creator, David Dortort, would be co-executive producers of the weekly drama. Maybe a great idea. Maybe not.

Even with the non-manly sport of ice dancing dominating NBC's Monday night prime-time coverage (sprinkled in with a little men's aerials and some snippets of women's hockey), the Olympics out-drew a two-hour first-run episode of "The Bachelor" on ABC and a new episode of Fox's "24" (Jack Bauer might want to try using a skate blade as a secret weapon). The U.S. didn't win any gold medals to draw in extra viewers, but 21 million were watching the Olympics versus 11.2 million for "The Bachelor" during the 8- to-10 p.m. block and 8.7 million for the one-hour "24," according to NBC and Nielsen Media Research.

Entertainer Bill Cosby, who led NBC to the top of the TV ratings in the 1980s with "The Cosby Show," recently discussed the possibility of buying the network. Cosby had at least one meeting with NBC President Robert Wright, but he backed away after his financial partners soured on the deal, according to industry sources. "He thought about the possibility of buying the network, and he made some inquiries," said one executive who asked not to be named. "But it was a whim, and now it's dead."

NBC Universal won't be capturing any financial gold medals this year. General Electric Co. said Friday that it would lose more than previously indicated -- about $250 million -- on its coverage of next month's Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The new disclosure came as GE reported weaker fourth-quarter results Friday that were accompanied by a stronger outlook for 2011. But operating income at the Fairfield, Conn.-based industrial giant's entertainment and media unit continued to decline despite higher profits among its cable TV channels, including USA and CNBC.

A judge ruled General Electric Co.'s NBC television network must defend lawsuits by five employees who say they suffered pervasive racial and sexual harassment.

Don Ohlmeyer, the head of NBC West Coast who is credited with taking the network to No. 1 in the ratings this year, checked himself into the Betty Ford Center on Thursday for a 28-day treatment program for alcohol dependency. Warren Littlefield, the president of NBC Entertainment, will temporarily take over Ohlmeyer's responsibilities.

Last year, the Harris Poll crowned Jay Leno as America's favorite TV personality. But amid NBC's messy late-night drama, the comedian who has painstakingly cultivated a "Mr. Nice Guy" image has suddenly found himself cast as a villain and become a national punch line. Breaking a long-standing tradition of avoiding personal attacks on one another, TV hosts have been unloading on Leno all week with a fusillade of acerbic potshot and pointed barbs usually reserved for philandering politicians and bonus-taking bankers.

General Electric Co.'s NBC television network, which has been losing viewers, said it was restructuring the teams that create and buy entertainment shows and would open a New York development office. NBC split its comedy and drama development teams into segments working on internal ideas and buying projects from outside studios, the company said in a statement.

General Electric Co.'s NBC television network has cut advertising rates, buckling under the pressure of trying to sell commercial time during the slowest ad market in a decade. The No. 3-rated TV network among U.S. households is reducing its cost per thousand viewers, or CPM, to win more "upfront" business, or advertising sold ahead of the new TV season starting in September, NBC spokeswoman Kyle Kaino said. She declined to elaborate on the size of the rate cut.

Conan O'Brien, who hosts his last episode of "The Tonight Show" tonight, does not intend, in his words, to become a $200 question on "Jeopardy." "He just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible," said Gavin Polone, his manager. A rich severance deal struck Thursday between O'Brien and NBC frees the comedian to join another network as early as Sept. 1. Most observers expect him to first flirt with Fox, which has wooed him in the past. Wherever O'Brien pops up, however, he will be without his trademark comedy bits, such as the cigar-chomping Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear, which remain the intellectual property of NBC. He's also muzzled from disparaging his former employer, although network executives expect the occasional lampoon.

Negotiations over Conan O'Brien's departure from NBC stalled Tuesday over the "Tonight Show" host's demands that NBC compensate staff members who will lose their jobs when the show goes off the air. The issue was one of several slowing the negotiations, which were expected to have been finalized earlier in the week. "The Tonight Show" employs about 190 people, including 60 to 70 who followed O'Brien to Los Angeles from New York last year when he switched jobs. NBC paid to relocate 40 to 50 of those staffers, said a person close to show.

After days of being portrayed as the bad guy, Jay Leno came out swinging on his show Monday and provided a detailed chronology of NBC's bumbling behind-the-scenes maneuvers that sparked the talk-show host tug-of-war engulfing the network. In an unusual departure from his typical banter, Leno described how NBC several years ago concocted a plan to push him out while he was still No. 1. He said he was skeptical that NBC's solution of a prime-time show would work. It "didn't seem like a good idea at the time," he said, though he ultimately went along.

After a week of caustic jokes, jawboning and behind-the-scenes negotiations, "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien is leaving NBC to make room for the return of Jay Leno to late-night TV. An announcement could come as early as today and will settle, at least in public, the acrimonious maneuvering among the comedians, their respective camps and NBC in the wake of its decision to shuffle Leno from prime time and back to his late-night slot, which O'Brien...

Cracking wise On-air jokes show that Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien can still find humor in the late-night drama. MONDAY Jay Leno, monologue from "The Jay Leno Show" "I take pride in one thing. I leave NBC prime-time the same way I found it -- a complete disaster." Conan O'Brien, monologue from "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" "This weekend no one was seriously hurt, but a 6.5 earthquake hit California. The earthquake was so powerful that it knocked Jay Leno's show from 10 o'clock to 11:35."

Last year, the Harris Poll crowned Jay Leno as America's favorite TV personality. But amid NBC's messy late-night drama, the comedian who has painstakingly cultivated a "Mr. Nice Guy" image has suddenly found himself cast as a villain and become a national punch line. Breaking a long-standing tradition of avoiding personal attacks on one another, TV hosts have been unloading on Leno all week with a fusillade of acerbic potshot and pointed barbs usually reserved for philandering politicians and bonus-taking bankers.

GE Denies Seeking Time Warner: Amid a swirl of rumors that it is trying to sell all or part of its NBC television network, General Electric Co. said it is not in talks with Time Warner Inc. about a possible purchase of the media company. The stock of Time Warner rose on a USA Today report that GE was considering acquiring Time Warner for $19 billion, or $50 a share. Despite GE's denial, Time Warner stock closed $1.375 higher at $37.

Sparked by its prime-time ratings success, the NBC television network had a profit of $202.5 million in 1985, up 102.5% from 1984, Television Digest reported. It said CBS and ABC profits dropped in 1985. CBS led the networks with $226.6 million in profit, down 19.1% from 1984, and ABC's profit was down 36.2% to $166 million. Profits of the TV networks and the local TV stations owned by their parent corporations are always lumped in with other corporate figures in annual reports.

Conan O'Brien, caught in NBC's late-night shuffle, found encouragement Monday from rival network Fox. NBC confirmed Sunday that it was pulling the plug on the prime-time "Jay Leno Show" after just four months, and would shift Leno back to his longtime 11:35 p.m. slot in March. Although Leno has signed off on the time-period switch, O'Brien, the other person involved in the matter, hasn't agreed yet. O'Brien took over the storied "Tonight Show" in June when Leno stepped down to prepare for his prime-time show.

For the past several years, NBC executives have been promising to revolutionize broadcast television. On Sunday, the network sent a different message: Never mind. In a remarkable session with reporters at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, confirmed that next month the network would end its heavily publicized experiment to replace costly scripted dramas with Jay Leno's much cheaper 10 p.m. talk show, which by delivering low ratings sparked a mutiny among NBC-affiliated stations.