Word: zucker
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...Zucker, defying the MTV-generation stereotype, has not turned the show into Short Attention Span Theater. In fact, he is letting interview segments run longer -- six to seven minutes, on average, compared with 4 1/2 to five minutes previously. "I think the audience would like more in-depth treatment of some issues," he says. "I hate cutting people off." His approach has had another, not incidental benefit: with longer segments the show runs one or two fewer pieces each day. That relieves some of the burden on the trimmed-down < staff and saves money as well. "You have to accept...
...learned those realities in an amazingly short time. After graduating in 1986 from Harvard, where he was editor of the Crimson, Zucker was contemplating law school when he was offered a job at NBC doing research for the 1988 Olympics. He spent the next two years compiling 4,000 pages of background information for the network's coverage of the Games...
Once the Olympics were over, Zucker landed a producing job on Today. His arrival coincided almost precisely with the start of the morning show's much publicized problems. First was the infamous Gumbel memo, in which the anchor made disparaging remarks about some of his colleagues, notably weatherman Willard Scott. Then came the departure of longtime co-anchor Jane Pauley and her replacement by Norville, the brittle blond who alienated both viewers and staff members. Today slipped from No. 1 to second in the ratings; morale sank just as fast. "This place went through hell," says Zucker. "We can acknowledge...
...Couric. Formerly the show's national correspondent, she filled in as co-anchor when Norville went on maternity leave in February 1991 and was given the job permanently a month later. Couric's unaffected, girl-next-door likability has helped calm down TV's most volatile family circle. Zucker takes care to parcel out praise evenly, defending the often abrasive Gumbel. "Bryant is very opinionated," he says. "That's his greatest strength, and it hurts him too. But you'd be hard- pressed to find a better interviewer on TV." Still, he admits, "Katie has reinvigorated the whole show -- including...
...Zucker's experiments have worked out. In one recent week the show tried a series of daily call-in segments on such topics as sex, dieting and jobs; they seemed unfocused and pointless. But the show's resurgence is causing concern at Good Morning America, where Joan Lunden and Charles Gibson offer more stable but increasingly bland competition. (CBS This Morning remains a not-quite-so-distant third in the ratings.) Weatherman Spencer Christian recently began joining them on the anchor couch, perhaps to simulate Today's "family" appeal. And when NBC ran TV ads several weeks ago touting Today...