What a great time to pitch NBC

How’s this for good timing? Friday afternoon my partners and I are going to NBC to pitch a comedy pilot.

In fairness, I did say to the assistant setting up the meeting, please don’t schedule it for the day after NBC announces sweeping cutbacks and the firing of 700 loyal employees. But that’s what we’ve got.

I like the executives we’ll be pitching to. They’re smart, alive (not always a given), and supportive. I never take rejection personally. Sometimes they buy, sometimes they don’t. That’s just the nature of the biz. But I hope they’re still there on Monday. I hate when I have to pitch to people packing boxes.

The other part of the NBC announcement was that they were going to discontinue programming comedies and dramas during the 8:00 hour. Too expensive. Better to just run cheap game shows and reality shows. And it’s not like NBC was a haven for comedy anyway. They have only four, with two on life support after only two weeks. Our chances are really good. And making the task even harder, our idea is not a behind-the-scenes look at SNL.

Putting my own little needs aside, eliminating 8:00 comedies seems to me like a really short sighted idea. Remember the last time NBC was in last place? What show completely saved their ass? Hint: it wasn’t THE WEAKEST LINK. COSBY in the 80’s and more recently FRIENDS became the saviors of the network.

In this new “reorganization” I question whether NBC will even need a comedy department. Perhaps those duties could just be added to the Facility Manager’s responsibilities.

Oh well. Maybe our idea will be the one that completely turns things around. Although, at the moment, I’m just hoping the guard at the front gate hasn’t been fired otherwise we’ll never even get in the building.