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While visitors to NBC/Universal can still smell the singed flesh from Jeff Zucker's recent experiment in self-immolating sitcom introductions, the bloom of Tom Rothman's ongoing cable-hosting gig apparently has yet to wear off for viewers of the Fox Movie Channel. Or so notes today's New York Times, which positions the Fox co-chairman's introductions somewhere on the viability spectrum between Rod Serling and Milton Berle:


[A]fter 16 episodes of Fox Legacy, the Fox Movie Channel show that Mr. Rothman hosts, [Fox scion Richard] Zanuck and other naysayers are backtracking. The jocular Mr. Rothman has developed a cult following for his historical monologues and self-deprecating style. He gets fan mail — no less a viewer than Steven Spielberg recently dropped him a note — and more episodes are on order.

Fox Movie Channel, which is not part of Mr. Rothman's oversight, has lately been campaigning for an Emmy nomination for its new star. "The astounding thing for me, and I did find it truly astounding, is that he actually pulls this off," Mr. Zanuck said.

Indeed, we hope Rothman's triumph influences a new generation of front-office stars — say, Ben Silverman doing sideline reporting from women's swimming events at the upcoming Olympics or Jeff Robinov surveying the cutthroat reality environs of Survivor: Warner Bros. from afar. Or, in a perfect world, The Harvey Weinstein Garbage Hour, featuring an all-star line-up of contestants competing for one returned call from voicemails left for the mogul as far back as 2006. We'd watch it.