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By now you're probably aware that resurgent NBC golden boy and longtime Les Moonves cockfight underdog Jeff Zucker will soon complete his meteoric journey from Today producer (he's widely credited with the morning show innovation of seating perky women next to handsome men and having them chat about topics of interest) to Peacock King, as Zucker will soon be named CEO of NBC Universal. But lost in the impending celebratory press conference chatter about Zucker's coronation is the plight of the man he's replacing, 63-year-old CEO/chariman Bob Wright, who's being shoved aside as parent company General Electric ruthlessly tries to purge its ranks of executives too old and camera-unfriendly to occasionally repurpose as extras in NBC's primetime programming. Today's LAT reports on how painful Wright's departure from the company will likely be:

"You give your life to this place and you don't want to be turned out like that," a veteran NBC Universal executive said. "But GE's whole process is about process. It's dehumanizing."

For Wright and his wife of nearly 40 years, Suzanne, the early exit seemed harsh. NBC was more than a career, it was a way of life. The couple's boat is named the Peacock, after NBC's famous logo. Suzanne has a collection of peacock brooches. The couple's Manhattan apartment is decorated with the fan-tailed birds.

While Wright will be allowed to keep most of the above-referenced mementos of his distinguished tenure at NBC, the most profound humiliation associated with his ouster looms, when Zucker will symbolically assume day-to-day control of the company by stripping off his predecessor's shirt during tomorrow's presumed announcement of his promotion, then shaving off the peacock logo the outgoing CEO has styled into his chest hair since his appointment to the position two decades ago. Wright is not expected to stick around long enough to witness the ritualistic manscaping of the thicket covering Zucker's 42-year-old torso that will immediately follow his own public shearing.