SHORT TAKES : Past NBC Chief Joins Lucky Duck

NEW YORK — Former NBC News President Reuven Frank has joined Linda Ellerbee’s Lucky Duck Productions as consulting producer. He will help develop nonfiction programming for networks, syndication, public television and cable.

Ellerbee formed Lucky Duck in 1987 after leaving ABC News where her weekly “Our World” drew critical praise but poor ratings on Thursday nights against NBC’s “The Cosby Show.” A pilot project for a late-night show, “And So It Goes,” featuring Ellerbee, failed to attract enough stations to go into syndication. The Feb. 21 edition of PBS’ “Smithsonian World” will include a segment called “A Moveable Feast,” produced by Lucky Duck and narrated by Ellerbee’s co-anchor at NBC News, Lloyd Dobyns.

A spokesman said Wednesday the production company expects to make an announcement “very soon” regarding “various things in development on both coasts.” Frank, who served twice as head of NBC News, had an award-winning career as a documentary producer at the network.