Three months after signing a three-year extension with the network, NBC's entertainment chief Kevin Reilly is out of a job, being replaced by Ben Silverman, producer of "The Office." The news was first reported by Hollywood blabbermouth Nikki Finke (please save the e-mails, Nikki, we mean it in a good way) on Friday, and then regurgitated without credit by the New York Times and the LAT yesterday. (Classy!) The Wall Street Journal notes that Reilly, responsible the for "Heroes," last season's only hit, got like a totally raw deal.

The new Fortune profile of bald, internet-loving NBC chief Jeff Zucker doesn't bring anything to the table in terms of information—Some people think Jeff Zucker is an asshole! NBC is in a lot of trouble! Somehow Zucker still has a job! "Joey" really sucked!—but is of some interest because of its premise. You see, Zucker is a lot like Jack Donaghy, the fictional beleaguered NBC exec on the actual semi-popular NBC sitcom "30 Rock." Donaghy is played by Alec Baldwin, whose recent telecommunications issues have made him oh-so-ubiquitous in the media lately. Fortune did a photoshoot and a "humorous" interview with the pair, which it subsequently decided "amidst the subsequent Baldwin controversy, not to use in the magazine." Because controversy is really best just ignored when trying to sell magazines. At least they ran 'em online—our personal favorite is the image to the right. Oh gosh, jeez, good golly, one can only imagine what Baldwin's saying into the "phone"!

For those of you unable to concentrate on your jobs, family, or the heartbreaking news that Angelina Jolie seems unable to love her lone biological child because you've been sick with worry about this Don Imus situation, relief: He's been shitcanned by CBS, and shitcanned good. Our east-coasted siblings at Gawker have smiling CBS Corp. despot Les Moonves' announcement of the firing, who is no doubt a little annoyed that sworn NBC enemy Jeff Zucker beat him to the kill yesterday; he hates being the guy to fire the second bullet at a public execution.

We haven't exactly been eager to dive into the Don Imus controversy that has erupted since some ugly words regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team slipped from the dessicated radio host's slackened jaw. We can no longer avoid it, however, now that a reader has forwarded us an internal missive from reigning NBC Universal oligarch Jeff Zucker, explaining, with heavy Golden Boy heart, the thought process that led to the dismantling of Imus's MSNBC talk show and expulsion from the General Electric kingdom. It's not the kind of letter a chief executive ever wants to have to compose, but let's face it—these things happen, and not every every company-wide correspondence can begin with a horn-tooting intro like, "Please join us for an afternoon ice cream social in the lobby to celebrate Heroes landing at #1 in the 18-49 demo AGAIN, folks!" The e-mail, and NBC Universal's official statement, is after the jump:

You know what's handy when going to work as an editor on the media beat at the New York Times? Having been pals in college with "future media stars" like Jeff Zucker! Oh, also, that college would be called "Harvard," a place that goes unnamed in today's in-house announcement of Jennifer Kingson's appointment as deputy media editor in the Biz section. Lil' Jeffy Zucker, now Prez and CEO of NBC, was back then the editor of the school paper, the Crimson, natch. Speaking of! We hear today's Harvard kids up at the Crimson just hired themselves an ombudsman! Hope they enjoy that.

It took a little longer than expected, but beleaguered NBC Entertainment president/Dwight Schrute-comic-foil Kevin Reilly, who for years was expected to be but one axe-swing away from being ejected from his Burbank offices via medieval catapult, has renewed his contract:

• The FCC, which has done such a great job regulating obscenity, now wants to take a crack at violence as well. [Reuters]
  

• Fox to do for business what it's done for the Republican party: Convince gullible yahoos that it isn't a soulless machine out to exploit the most vulnerable members of our society for the benefit of those who were born with all of life's advantages in the first place. [NYT]
  

A tipster forwarded us the farewell email that departing NBC CEO Bob Wright just sent out to his faithful troops. After the jump, you, too, can read about how Jeff Zucker is "a skilled executive who knows this company inside and out, and has the right mix of business knowledge, programming savvy, and marketing creativity to lead NBC Universal into a bright new era." Thrills galore!

It's official: This morning, General Electric potentate Jeffrey Immelt presided over the coronation ceremony naming onetime morning show visionary Jeff Zucker NBC Universal's Peacock King, a ritual that included the G.E. CEO's delicately placing of a crude crown fashioned from the freshly harvested skull of superannuated outgoing executive Bob Wright on his new entertainment monarch's famously bald pate. (A moment foreshadowed by Jay Leno's draping of a Trump fright wig upon Zucker's head at a roast two years ago [pictured], a puckish act for which he now would be executed.) In anticipation of this sacred occasion, the NY Times looks at the challenges facing Zucker in his new position, pointing out that while tongue-clicking detractors note that NBC's post-Friends tumble into the Nielsen sub-basement occurred on his watch, millionaires whose checks he signs are firmly in his corner:

Great Moments in Journalism are submitted by readers, and can be sent to this address. Over the weekend, the LA Times hosed the NY Times with the big news that web-loving bald daddy-type Jeff Zucker would be promoted to chief exec of NBC Universal. AP and Reuters were happy to run follow stories, crediting the LAT's Meg James.

• Jeff Zucker's new CEO of NBC job is going to be sort of a tough gig. [NYT]
  

· NBC will hand over Aaron Sorkin's 10 p.m. Monday night Studio 60 timeslot to Paul Haggis' drama The Black Donnellys starting on March 5, hoping that the heavy-handed, fender-bender-loving double Oscar winner's new series will hang on to some of hit lead-in Heroes' viewers, but promises that S60 will return to their airwaves at an unspecified date. Also: 30 Rock's slot is being temporarily donated to the Conan O'Brien/Andy Richter midseason comedy Andy Barker, PI, but will be back on April 19th. [Variety]
· In case you haven't heard: Jeff Zucker's getting a nice little promotion over at NBCU 2.0. [Variety, THR]
· And in other NBC front-office news, NBC Entertainment president/scene-stealing The Office dayplayer Kevin Reilly is looking like a good bet to have his expiring contract renewed. (Actually, a very good bet, as the WSJ just reported [sub. req'd.] he's been given a new contract.) [Variety]
· Super Bowl XLI's ratings are "great but not spectacular." We suspect that the event's failure to reach "spectacular" levels was due to intense competition from the far more compelling Puppy Bowl III on Animal Planet. [THR]
· Apple (computers) and Apple Corps. (The Beatles) settle the legal dispute over their shared name, allowing for the possibility that Beatles songs might one day be hawked on iTunes. [Variety]

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:

• Jeff Zucker to be named CEO of NBC Universal, because he's done so well so far and everyone loves him. [NYP]
  

• CNBC is backing Maria Bartiromo because, really, what else do you know about CNBC apart from Maria Bartiromo? [NYT]
  

Expanding on our earlier discussion of cheapness in the workplace - but sparing the Jews for at least a paragraph - we hear NBC's been having a fabulous time, albeit on a shoestring, spreading Christmas joy and love to its loyal employees. In the case of Dateline's crew, this joy and love, provided staffers actually chose to attend, went for $20 a head.

• Vivendi decides to hold on to its NBC Universal stock in spite of the fact that Jeff Zucker is allegedly a dick. [NYP]
  

As you know, Gawker lives and lives well off a steady diet of your tips. We can't thank you enough really, but the sad truth is that a brief, anonymous, congratulatory, virtual nod is the only thanks our tipsters ever receive. We'd like to change that, in our small and fatuous way. So allow us to introduce the Media Mole Rodeo, a contest designed to reward the lowliest and least appreciated underlings in New York's media hive. Editorial assistants, executive secretaries, interns, mail carriers, on-call fluffers — this is your time. What we want: your personal stories and anecdotes from the bowels of NYC media, involving boldface names, managerial misconduct, sexual impropriety, abuse of personnel and resources — all the usual bedtime material. The coveted prize: drinks with a deputation of Gawker editors, plus Page Six's Paula Froelich. We'll pick up the tab for as long as we can all mutually stand each other's company, so consider the prize a sort of endurance bonus round. Details after the jump, plus a pump-priming appetizer.

• Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Paul Steiger set to retire at the end of next year. [NYP]