ShortFormBlogdick ebersol Archives

Why? Because they’re boring and mind-numbing. Nothing against Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn and all the other star athletes, but we have no desire to watch or cover the Winter Olympics. (We’re slightly friendlier to the Summer Olympics, in the same way a pit bull is slightly friendlier than a lion.) Part of this is that the Olympics are boring in every way, shape and form. Part of this is because Dick Ebersol is a jerk and we don’t want to support his work. But let’s put it this way – if you’re wondering why we haven’t covered the Winter Olympic games in Vancouver, it’s because we don’t care. Thanks for listening.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Dick Ebersol is the kind of flamboyant exec with strong opinions about things — some of which, including comedy, he knows little about. This is the guy who, when he took over “Saturday Night Live” in the early ’80s, thought that then-‘SNL’-writer Larry David was talent-less.
Entertainment Weekly TV columnist Ken Tucker • Working to neuter the folklore of the “Conan failed because he sucked” story perpetuated by NBC Sports exec Dick Ebersol. Ebersol ran “Saturday Night Live” back in the early ’80s, an era noted by the brand’s pure suckitude. It was only after Lorne Michaels returned to the throne that the show’s comedy started to improve again. Ebersol’s trying hard to sully Conan’s image, but it won’t wash. It’s too late for the backlash. Tucker makes an even better point – Ebersol is perfectly happy that the Olympics are going to lose money, despite the fact that he chided Conan for being a huge failure almost immediately after he started. Double-standard? source

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Again, it’s certainly looking like Conan has the emotional upperhand, even as his show goes down the tubes thanks to NBC. While NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol (who, as proven by his stay on SNL, wouldn’t know funny if it hit him in the face) savaged Conan in a New York Times article, saying “what this is really all about is an astounding failure by Conan,” Conan put his show up on Craigslist – a joke funnier than anything Jay Leno has come up with in about a decade. We hope Comcast fires Ebersol and Jeff Zucker, execution-style. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

[IOC members] don’t hate America, they hate the USOC, and with good reason. Congress doesn’t need to do any new reform. The USOC just needs new leadership.
NBC’s Dick Ebersol • Describing why Chicago lost in the vote to get the 2016 Olympics. Ebersol knows – he runs the network’s Olympic operation, and they’re the largest Olympic rights-holder. His argument? The USOC is a little too greedy for their own good. The USOC gets a lot of sponsorship and television money, and they made things worse by trying to get their own TV deal. Too bad Obama didn’t know that, because he made a fool of himself on the world stage trying to help those guys. • source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2010 10:47