Ben Silverman Returns to NBC

Ben Silverman Returns to NBC

Television News

By our guest blogger, Nick Hanover

Despite basically destroying NBC through totally stupid decisions and general ineptitude in his role as top programmer, Ben Silverman is now reuniting with NBC. The New York Times reports that Silverman, who formed his own production company Electus, has sold his "Fashion Star" reality program to the network. As the NYT points out, it's likely that NBC's new ownership under Comcast is the best explanation for why the network has reunited with Silverman despite former Chief Executive Jeff Zucker previously remarking that hiring Silverman was his biggest mistake.

Silverman himself seems aware of how odd the situation might seem but feels that his credits on programs like "Biggest Loser" and "The Office" outshine any of his missteps. That sentiment is echoed by Paul Telegdy, who heads up NBC's reality programming and makes it clear that Silverman's hand in two of NBC's biggest successes is the reason why he's been brought on. Helping matters is the fact that Silverman's replacement is Bob Greenblatt, who used to run programming for Showtime and bought "The Tudors" from Silverman during that time.

"Fashion Star" itself looks to be a more middle class version of Lifetime's "Project Runway" (originally aired by Bravo) and will find would-be designers creating jeans and swimsuits more often than they would be making high class ensembles. Silverman has already pegged fashion icon Elle MacPherson as host and has set up plans for the designs done by contestants to be available on NBC's site for fans to buy. The grand prize for contestants will include having their designs available in retail chains.