NBC is turning to the Web as part of its effort to revive its flagging prime-time ratings, Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment, told TV critics at the semi-annual Television Critics
Association meeting. Among other initiatives, NBC is taking a show off the Internet and giving it development deals. The network said it has given a script development and Webisodes deal to the failed
WB pilot, "Nobody's Watching," which found its way to YouTube.com, now NBC's
marketing and programming partner. The show, created by "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence, has been downloaded 600,000 times on YouTube.com. Reilly also said that the
network's $1.8 billion traditional TV upfront take this year resulted in "several hundred million dollars in digital benefits."
--Wayne Friedman
