Will someone please tell me WHY Jeff Zucker is not only still working in TV but is the head of a network? If such things were based on performance he'd have been living in the New York subway long ago.

He's right that ratings aren't that important any more. But the network doesn't believe it. If NBC believed it, they wouldn't have axed (and I mean that literally; they butchered it) the excellent "Kidnapped."

Until TV networks are obsolete (i.e., in a couple more years), ratings are always going to be the sole motivation behind network programming decisions.

Zucker makes Jack Donaghy look brilliant. Move Zucker back to microwaves ovens.

QWell, apparently it did matter for Jericho on CBS.

I would take him seriously if only his network were such in last place and the fact that Itunes ratings is the reason why The Office hasn't been taken off the air.

Remember kids that ratings will still exist...maybe not be tradtional but still have an impact even in today techno world.

I would take him seriously if only his network were such in last place and the fact that Itunes ratings is the reason why The Office hasn't been taken off the air.

Remember kids that ratings will still exist...maybe not be tradtional but still have an impact even in today techno world.

Well, maybe ratings don't matter but that's certainly the excuse the networks used to cancel Journeyman (and Jericho on CBS). I wish they would have promised advertisers less on THOSE shows so they'd still be around. They need to make up their minds about what matters, and stop cancelling shows that have a following.

A big reason for the flaccid ratings with Monk in particular, in my opinion, is this: Show was not promoted much at all, network did not begin with the pilot episode--leaving any potential new viewers completely lost, and network didn't give either of these shows time enough to see where the ratings leveled out at.

Monk in particular has a great deal of backstory intrinsic to that character. You need to start with the first episode. NBC would promise a much wider potential audience base being a regular network, and I think this was an opportunity squandered. Psych isn't too far in, but I still would have started with their pilot episode as well.

Also, only flash in the pan shows start off like gangbusters in the ratings. The more solid, quality shows start in slowly and gain steady. If Monk had killed in the ratings the first couple of weeks, I would have been alarmed. This show has won multiple emmys and has proven success. NBC has shown you can get your hands on a sure thing and still mishandle it.

Toss out your schedule. Start with the pilot when you bring it back on May 16th. The pilot. New viewers will have a tough time endearing themselves to this show when so much will be going on that they don't have the backstory on. Give it more than one month to catch on. And finally, promote them both.

I hope he remembers that when it comes to Life.

I agree with him. Ratings don't matter anymore. The ratings are a relic from the caveman days of TV, before Tivo/DVRs, before iTunes, etc... People need to open their minds and realize that one criteria like ratings does not define the success/failure of a TV show or network. Friday Night Lights is one of the best shows on TV, but no one watches it. Gossip Girl gets dismal ratings, but its the number 1 downloaded show on iTunes. I really hope the Nielsen ratings become more and more insignificant because I get sick of hearing about "ratings this ratings that"