#TCA16: Stop asking NBC about Donald Trump already!

TrumpSNL

The days of NBC executives having to answer questions about its association with Bill Cosby are over. The days of NBC having to respond to inquiries about its relationship with Donald Trump have arrived. NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt, President Jennifer Salke and alternative and late-night programming president Paul Telegdy defended the network dropping Trump from The Apprentice and severing ties with Trump’s pageant specials and then signing Trump to host Saturday Night Live in November. NBC execs admitted they didn’t expect Trump’s presidential candidacy to have legs, and that Trump’s brief screen time on SNL is dwarfed by the amount of time he’s been granted on news shows like Meet the Press. At heart is the question: Does an SNL hosting gig constitute a business relationship?

In other news and announcements:

NBC is pleased with its late-night offerings, signing Seth Meyers for Late Night through 2021 and announcing Jimmy Fallon will be taking The Tonight Show to Los Angeles Feb. 15-19 and will have a two-hour, two-year anniversary special on Feb. 14.

NBC has picked up Mike Schur’s (The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) new comedy Good Place, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson.

The next live TV musical event on NBC will likely be Hairspray, final deal pending, to air in December.

An all-star tribute to director/producer James Burrows featuring all six principal cast members of Friends (though they might not all appear onscreen together) will air Feb. 21.

NBC has ordered a pilot for DC Comics’ workplace comedy Powerless, featuring little-known superheroes.

And more from the Twitterverse:

 

 

 

About Ryan Berenz 2166 Articles
Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.