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The culprit, of course, was the streamers massive spending on original and acquired content.
Peacocks 2023 slate has several other shows poised to get attention.
And on April 20,Watchmencreator Damon Lindelof will gift Peacock withMrs.
Davis, a bold, bizarre, and definitely distinctive comedy-drama-adventure series almost certain to generate a strong response.
Not all of her shows have clicked:Vampire Academycame and went within three months, for example.
Youve been at NBC about two years now.
And whats the vibe of your slate for 2023 and 2024?
I love all the shows that were initially put on.
I think they were fantastic, quality shows.
I thinkPoker Faceright now is a great example of that.
The reviews speak for themselves.
Its truly the best-reviewed show Ive ever been a part of.
One of my colleagues told me Peacock has become his home for prestige lowbrow TV.
He didnt mean it as an insult
No, its not a bad thing.
Right, to him I think lowbrow means sort of accessible.
Im wondering what your preferred framing would be for the Peacock brand filter?
So I really want entertainment that truly entertains.
I want you to have fun.
And that fits perfectly with ourHousewivesfranchise.
Sounds like thats your philosophy, too?
I want shows people want to watch.
I mean, awards are great.
It feels wonderful when critics acknowledge you.
It feels wonderful to win an Emmy or a Golden Globe or Academy Award.
All that stuff feels great.
But Im equally as proud to win a Peoples Choice Award.
I am thrilled if the fans love us.
And the one thing about me is I am fan first.
The only thing I love more than TV is my family.
I love TV so much, I watch so much of it.
I am such a fan.
So I think its really important that we do content that honors fans and that honors our viewers.
Even when shows get some good reviews, they didnt seem to break out as hits.
I mean were building a streaming service from scratch, and its only been around two-plus years.
Now all that said, the momentum that we have right now is outstanding.
So we are insanely optimistic.
I personally feel really, really good that the future looks bright for Peacock.
What about the content spend for Peacock?
Were seeing so many platforms talk about tightening budgets or at least slowing down.
Are you planning to shift gears to do less soon?
This is really an intentional year of spending for Peacock.
Were making a real investment in original content.
But I do want to say that sometimes people mistake quality as expensive.
Its possible to make an excellent, incredible show that is cost effective.
We are 100 percent stepping up, and we will cover those costs.
We are going to be as competitive as any other service.
And I have full support from NBCUniversal executives Jeff Shell and Mark Lazarus to be completely competitive.
But quality shows dont have to be expensive.
They dont go hand in hand.
So in terms of shows that look pretty expensive and get people talking, I thinkMrs.
Davisis going to fit the bill.
If you look up big swing in the Hollywood dictionary, its probably there.
What was your reaction when Damon Lindelof showed you the first episode?
Were you prepared for how out there it is?
Well, Damon and I go very far back.
I actually introduced the two of them because I thought they would get along.
And 100 percent: This is a big swing.
For me, thats why its both terrifying yet incredibly exciting.
One of my things that I look for when we develop is, whats not on TV?
Whats going to stand out in a landscape where theres thousands upon thousands of shows to look at?
There is nothing like this show.
Do you sell it as a drama, a comedy?
I really do think its both.
I think people are going to be surprised at how funny it is.
We shot out of order, so Ive seen every episode but not in order.
I recently saw episode five and I was howling with laughter.
It was one of the funniest episodes of television Ive ever seen.
One of your biggest shows on Peacock is an acquisition Yellowstone.
But to me its surprising that theres not much on your development slate that has a similar vibe asYellowstone.
Are you trying to take advantage of the enormous halo that the show has on Peacock?
The one thing I always want to be careful about is imitation.
I think when people imitate, you always fail.Yellowstoneexists; we have it on the platform.
I dont want to do anotherYellowstone.
I want to do something thats unique and different but will appeal to that fan base.
And we are absolutely actively trying to figure out what that is.
But I definitely dont want to just do another cowboy show.
We dont need to do that.
We have to think about what is different, whats unique yet appeals to that audience.
And that is definitely something were working on.
Is developing for those audiences different now in the streaming era than it was in the linear age?
Is it less obvious how you do that for streaming, where you dont have a fixed schedule?
And so youre definitely going to be looking at what feels compatible.
Streaming, we dont have that same bang out of schedule so we dont program in the same way.
So, for example, at Peacock,The Best Manhas been a monster hit.
It helped us crackthe Nielsen top five.
1 with African American audiences.
And now we are going to haveBel-Aircoming up very soon in February.
So the audience we brought in withBest Man, we are hoping that theyre catching up withBel-Air.
It looks like they are, and I think theyre going to love season two.
So that would be an example of two compatible shows.
I hope thePoker Faceaudience will stay around forMrs.
Yeah, comedies are a bit harder.
They dont necessarily have as much urgency as something like aMrs.
Weve gotBupkiswith Pete Davidson, and I think people are going to love this show so much.
Im not supposed to talk about testing, but it tested so well.
I think thats a comedy that will really, really resonate with the streaming audience.
And its going to have urgency and be must-see.
I think these shows are going to feel like loud tentpoles.
So your message is Comedy isnt dead at Peacock.
We are 100 percent in the comedy business on Peacock.
But its alive and well.
And what makes us so different and so distinct is the fact that our ecosystem is so big.
Thats an example of doing a comedy thats a win-win for the whole company.
Even CBSs two biggest comedies are single-camera shows.
Have you been surprised by how strong the sampling has been out of the gate?
I think when you look at the history of NBC and comedy, it is long and varied.
There was a time where must-see TV on Thursday night was mostly multi-cameras.
And you have two comedy legends in John Larroquette and Melissa Rauch, who are experts at this form.
Season two is a given, right?
Good news should come soon.
Or do you gotta speak to Frances Berwick, whos the chairman of entertainment networks?
Its a great question.
But I actually think the structure does work really well.
And in fact I think its our superpower.
And, on the linear side, I have two business partners.
On the linear side, its Frances Berwick, and on the Peacock side, its Kelly Campbell.
I will tell you it works really well.
We really do work well together.
I dont know what people say, but we do.
And we have an enormous respect for each other.
And most of the time we figure out, I think, the right solution for the company.
You dont have that.
Do you not worry about overseeing marketing, or is it a matter of having trust in your partners?
No, I mean marketing is of course key.
We all have the same goal, and thats for our original content to be successful.
We all have a go at focus and confirm that the right shows are getting the right attention.
So I have to ask aboutTheTraitors.
And I really did become obsessed by the end of the first episode.
Youre my favorite person, Joe.
You decided to make half the cast reality-TV celebs, many of them from Bravo.
Tell me why you went in that direction.
We wanted to lean into what makes us unique.
I was the biggest Bravoholic before I ever started this job.
And then it was my teams idea to bring in Alan Cumming.
He is perfection, and his outfits are perfection.
It just came together as one of those things that all the elements fell into place.
How is it performing on the platform?
It is truly our biggest launch for an unscripted competition show on Peacock.
And in addition to that, the cultural relevance has been incredible.
As I understand it, the U.K. version has already started production on season two.
Can we expect that theres a season two ofThe TraitorsU.S.
Are you going to put the U.K. version on Peacock?
Yes, we are.
I thought it was very smart of you to have the first episode ofTraitorsair on Bravo and USA.
You funneled a natural audience to the show.
Those linear networks are a promotional platform Netflix doesnt have.
How are you planning to use them more to help Peacock?
It is by far what makes us most unique and absolutely is our strength.
It is absolutely something that we want to lean into with the right shows in the right way.
But it also means it’s crucial that you keep those platforms healthy, right?
So this goes to the way that my team is structured.
Historically, theres always been one head of each internet.
We are now structured with experts in specific genres.
So Lisa Katz oversees scripted across all of our platforms, and Rod Aissa and Corie Henson oversee unscripted.
I think the structure works incredibly well.
It allows us to put content first and means theres one stop for talent.
Now you pitch one person.
That one person says, I love this show.
I believe in this content.
Is this a Bravo show?
Is this a USA show?
Is this an NBC show?
I think we have the best, most defined brands in the world.
And it is absolutely our goal to keep them as healthy as possible.
So what is the NBC brand filter in 2023?
To me, as a viewer, its sort of become younger CBS, right?
Oh, thats interesting.
Yeah, Ill take that.
I view the NBC brand as actually helping expand our entire Peacock offering.
Because it is linear, we want things to have more of a laid-back feeling.
And our shows are more repeatable on NBC.
We really do keep that in mind as we program NBC.
I know that was the work of Kelly, but how has that programming been doing for Peacock?
And are you planning to develop more shows which speak to those Hallmark viewers?
But I dont know how much we have to lean into more of that.
As I said earlier, I dont want to repeat what we already have.
I dont want to imitate.
The good news is we have the best Christmas movies in the world now, so were covered.
So, for sure, were doing all of that.
So is Scott Bakula going to be inQuantumLeapever?
The door is wide open if he wants to step through.
We would love, love, love to have him back if he wanted to be back.
He has indicated hes not interested, but Ive heard youre pretty persistent when you want something.
I definitely dont like the wordno.
Its not one of my favorite words.
So much of streaming these days is about taking existing IP and expanding it.
Youve done that with some of your Universal movie franchises, and also theRealHousewivesuniverse.
But I remain shocked there is no version ofLaw & Orderthat is exclusive to Peacock.
Would it just cost too much money, since Dick Wolf does not come cheap?
First of all, we want to support Dick in any vision that he has.
We are keeping NBC programming at ten oclock for next season.
TheChicagoand theLaw & Ordernights are incredibly successful, and they do go next day on Peacock.
They drive a ton of sign-ups and engagement.
So were very happy right now with the structure of how it is.
I mean, were going to be supportive of Dicks vision.
And what about another spinoff from either of his franchises.
Is anything in the works?
Never say never, but not right now.
Staying on the franchise front, the state of the Bravo universe is very strong right now.
Youve built a lot of different shows which have spawned multiple spinoffs and extensions.
But its also alot.
Do you now worry about brand fatigue?
We definitely worry about brand fatigue.
I think our offering right now onHousewivesis fantastic.
I think were in a really good place.
So at this moment, were not looking to add more.
Were going to lean into what we have.
Our Peacock exclusive,The Real HousewivesUltimate Girls Trip, is doing fantastic.
Mashing up and taking everyones favorite housewives and having them go on a trip together has been enormously successful.
We are leaning in and doing more of those.
But right now I think were in a great place with the franchises that we have.
Last question: Whats the show we should keep an eye on for the second half of 2023?
Im going to putTwisted Metalout there.
It stars Anthony Mackie.
Its based on a Sony PlayStation game.
Its totally along the lines ofDeadpoolbut really specific.
I think it may not be on peoples radar yet ,and its really special.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
