NBC

Adam Stotsky will leave the Peacock network as Robert Greenblatt continues to bring in former Showtime executives.

The Peacock’s entertainment chief has signed overall deals with a slew of A-list  comedy writers and producers including Greg Daniels, Gary Sanchez and Sean Hayes.

Management turmoil. A scarcity of hit shows. A latenight debacle. New owners. It’s the sorry state of cellar-dweller NBC, whose new programming chief, Bob Greenblatt, faces TV critics and outlines his plan for turning the former must-see TV network into a player again.

In a letter to NBC affiliates, the Parents Television Council urges the stations not to air the network’s new show this fall, saying, among other things: “Whatever positive spin you may wish to put on the series, it is undeniably a betrayal of the trust you have built over the years with America ’s families — the owners of the broadcast airwaves that you will be using to force this content into the living rooms of every family in your community.”

Today, fans who tune in to watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN won’t see ads from two big sponsors that long bought commercials for the tournament. That’s because their top executives are under indictment. The ripple effects show how crucial a handful of online companies operating at the edge of the law were to a recent boom in televised poker games, which in some cases act as infomercials for the poker-playing industry.

NBC’s experimental anthology series, Love Bites, won’t be returning for Season 2 with the network slotting its last episode on Thursday at 10 p.m.

NBC announced its fall premiere dates today, along with the series finale for America’s Got Talent, a September berth for The Sing-Off, and the return of football.

NBC should begin receiving retrans payments for its 10-owned stations in 2013, which should have Comcast paying itself handsomely. Comcast delivers the NBC-owned stations into more homes than any other operator.

NBC’s The Voice has been airing live episodes (East Coast) as it nears its season finale tonight, and the show is featuring a social media room to shine a spotlight on live Twitter reaction. Hosted by “social media guru” Alison Haislip — sporting a phone, then a tablet — the room features live tweets on the bottom of the screen and monitors in the background.

The Voice drew a big audience for its penultimate episode last night, lifting NBC to a dominant victory in primetime. Voice averaged a 4.3 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., even to last week and easily the night’s top-rated show. Among total viewers the show drew 12.5 million, its best audience since May 31.

The network’s soapy drama will air on MNT affiliate KMYU after being dumped by Salt Lake City’s NBC affiliate KSL earlier this month.

Darnell Washington’s New Moon Communications has landed NBC affiliations for four LPTVs it’s buying: WDON-LP Dothan, Ala.; KJNE-LP Jonesboro, Ark.; WZMC-LP Jackson, Tenn.; and KUMK-LP Ottumwa, Iowa-Kirksville, Mo.

NBC’s The Marriage Ref returned to lower ratings last night, albeit on a slow Sunday where it still ranked as the No. 2 program of the night. Ref averaged a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating in its second-season premiere, well down from a 4.9 for its premiere in March 2010, when it debuted behind the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

The Office may have found a new boss: James Spader is negotiating with NBC to join the hit comedy next fall — but not merely as the manager of the Scranton branch.

NBC is publicly disavowing a report in the New York Post that it is shelling out $160 million to Trump and co-producer Mark Burnett for another two seasons of Celebrity Apprentice.

The real-estate mogul and reality TV host — who kept viewers and NBC guessing until the last minute whether he would make a serious run at the Oval Office — got a sizeable pay raise to renew his contract to host The Celebrity Apprentice for another two years. NBC Universal agreed to pay Trump and co-producer Mark Burnett an estimated $160 million over two years, according to sources familiar with the contract.

Jean Dietze has been promoted to EVP, affiliate relations, NBC, it was announced by Ted Harbert, Chairman, NBC Broadcasting, to whom she reports. Jean is based in New York. In […]

A better timeslot, and less competition, gave Donald Trump’s Miss USA beauty pageant a nice kick in the ratings last night. Miss USA averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., up 57% from last year’s 1.4, when the pageant ran during the regular TV season against such tough competition as CBS’s Survivor finale and ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Woods has long been a viewer magnet for PGA tournaments, but with him sitting this one out, ESPN and NBC can expect lower ratings.

The fourth-place network has a big, flashy hit (finally) as NBC’s execs, talent and producers open up about the drama behind the talent show’s making, why it works and how the Peacock could use this to plume its feathers once again.

NBC’s new programming chief, Chairman Robert Greenblatt, says he “would like to revive the brand that used to exist, which is innovative, fresh, bold, original, upscale and groundbreaking at times.”

On Tuesday nights there is NBC and there is everyone else. The network earned another dominant victory last night with the combination of America’s Got Talent and The Voice, by far the top two shows of the summer. NBC averaged a 4.1 adults 18-49 rating and 12 share, more than double the night’s No. 2 network, Fox, with a 1.5/5.

Peter Traugott, former president of television at Brillstein Entertainment Partners, has signed a three-year development deal with Universal Media Studios. As part of the agreement, Traugott will produce scripted comedy and drama shows for NBC.

The Mormon church-owned NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City announced on its website that it won’t air the new drama series this fall. The decision “is based on the station’s long-term policy to screen programming for material which significant portions of our audience may find objectionable.”

As one of Bob Greenblatt’s closest friends, 20th Century Fox Television’s EVP Jennifer Nicholson Salke had been rumored to be in line to join him at NBC since before he even officially started at the network. The deal between her and NBC is still far from being done, but it is expected to close. She would serve in an entertainment president capacity under entertainment chairman Greenblatt and may also have oversight of UMS.

America’s Got Talent continued its hot streak last night in its Wednesday night debut, boosting NBC into a tie for first place with Fox, the only other Big Four network with original episodes. Talent averaged a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., its best non-finale showing on a Wednesday since 2006 and up 24% over last year’s Wednesday debut.