NBC aims to knock out rival

Charging that the Fox network “used to be innovators and now they’re imitators,” NBC executive Jeff Zucker said Saturday that he was moving up the premiere of a boxing reality show to November in the hopes of upstaging Fox’s fourth season of “American Idol,” set to begin in January.

Soon after NBC picked up “The Contender” -- produced by reality guru Mark Burnett, DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg and actor Sylvester Stallone -- for a January debut, Fox announced it was creating a similar boxing contest, “The Next Great Champ,” starring Oscar De La Hoya, tentatively planned for late fall.

So Zucker, president of the Universal Television Group, announced at a semiannual gathering of television writers and critics in Century City that “The Contender” would premiere earlier to get a jump on Fox’s juggernaut “American Idol.” Both shows are scheduled for 8 p.m. Tuesdays.

Zucker said he takes issue with the latest trend in the reality genre of copying other networks’ ideas and rushing them on the air to beat competitors.

“You know, it’s having no impact on us,” Zucker said, although he focused attention on Fox in his session. “It’s just bad for the business, and it’s bad for everybody, and I don’t think that all is fair in love and television.”

To that end, Zucker announced that NBC knows what Fox’s two secret reality shows are: “Who’s My Daddy,” which apparently involves an elimination competition in which a woman who has never met her father must pick him from a group of 16 men; and “Big Shot,” in which ambitious business types compete for a job with a tycoon who turns out to be a fraud.

Katzenberg was just as pointed in his comments during a “Contender” session.

“People come into our offices every day and tell us their ideas,” Katzenberg said. “This is really disheartening and disappointing. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, theft is the lowest form of creativity.”

“Bootlegging has finally made it to prime time,” Stallone added.

Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said the network won’t discuss the remarks of competitors or the network’s development.

Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment, also announced Saturday that NBC would postpone airing the next cycle of “Average Joe” until January to make room for the third installment of “Last Comic Standing,” its surprise hit summer show. The second season of “Last Comic” ends Aug. 12, and the new one will begin Aug. 31.

“The show’s just too hot to ignore,” Reilly said.

At least the heat seems to be subsiding on security concerns over the Summer Olympics in Athens, which NBC will televise beginning Aug. 13 on its various networks. Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics, said he was reassured that his staff of 3,134 would be safe during the Games, particularly after a private meeting with President Bush.

“He dazzled,” said Ebersol, who attended Yale University with Bush. “I went to college with him. I don’t remember him as being that curious and up-to-date on all the facts. But on this one he really did know the facts and he talked about -- no, I’m serious. You know, hey, I was there. The guy liked to drink in college.”