Jeff Zucker is probably not a name anyone on this side of the blog tracks is overly familiar with. However, in the U.S. corporate media scene, he is the muthafuckin' man. You see, yesterday, 41-year-old Zucker was named as president of NBC Universal (a little GE-controlled corporate fiefdom encompassing not only NBC, but Telemundo, the Sci-Fi network and of course, a little movie making company). This is huge. Z-cup joined NBC at the ripe old age of 22 after graduating from Harvard as a sports researcher and by the time he was 26, dude was excutive producer of NBC News' Today.

I was fascinated by this bald fellow. With the help of a calculator, I "calculated" that Zucker joined NBC in 1986. He used to be a tennis pro in Florida to, so his sports knowledge was seriously legit when he got that first job and during his long tenure as one of America's leading powerbrokers, he has even survived two bouts with cancer.

He replaces an older corporate entertainment kingpin by the name of Bob Wright. Wright seems none too happy to have been given the heave ho by GE, the corporate monolith that controls NBC Universal. Why is all of this relevant? Well, Zucker, despite being the man behind such mega-hits as The Apprentice, Zucker is not without his detractors.  Clearly he's not one to let power go to his head; on his first day on the job, he already laid a smack down on Youtube!

So even if he is in fact a maniacal, 1980's style Bright Lights, Big City survivor, I can't help but be impressed by his relatively youthful corporate ascendancy. He is ambitious enough for all of us, which really makes my life easier. Thanks Mr. Zucker!