ABC at TCA: New ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee Impresses the Press, 36 Hours into His New Job

He had been on the job less than two days 36 hours to be exact hadn39t worked on any of the new fall shows he now has responsibility for and had no announcements to make during his first press conference in his new role but ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee got off to a great start on Sunday at least as far as the Television Critics Association was concernedUnlike so many network executives including the man he just replaced at ABC Lee seemed right at home on stage in front of more than 200 critics and reporters many of whom were determined to get him to talk about the circumstances surrounding his sudden appointment Without becoming frazzled or seeming the least bit annoyed Lee politely declined to say anything about the recently departed Steve McPherson It is no secret that McPherson wasn39t fond of appearing twiceyearly at thirtyminute TCA sessions to field questions about his programming The affable Lee on the other hand seemed quite pleased to be thereReporters of course are obsessed with learning the details about McPherson39s departure That obsession is growing in part because so many of them are living together at the Beverly Hilton and perpetually fanning each other39s interest and in part because ABC employees would rather disembowel themselves than speak on or off the record about itSome reporters thought Disney Media Networks CoChair and DisneyABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney might take the TCA stage and address the matter in some fashion or at least provide a formal introduction for Lee on account of her being in charge and all but that didn39t happen Then again what would she have said except that she couldn39t say anythingOnce Lee was sent out on stage it was clear he didn39t need any executive support at allquotAs much as you can say truthfully what just happened at ABCquot asked one diplomatic reporter determined to get Lee to say something quotablequotI39ve just been on vacationquot Lee casually replied as laughter erupted throughout the room From where I sat it appeared that Lee was just making an honest statement rather than humorously dodging the questionquotI39m not answering your questionquot Lee politely added Then he talked about sharing the decision to take on his new responsibilities with his wife After revealing that he and Sweeney thought he should interrupt his vacation to appear at TCA and that his wife dared him to do so Lee again refused the answer the persistent reporterquotSo you want us to believe that you took this job without talking to ABC about what happened to Stevequot another reporter followedquotI felt very honored to be offered the job by Anne and thrilled to do itquot Lee replied maintaining his cheerful demeanor quotBut I don39t want to talk about StevequotquotWhere were you on vacationquot another reporter with a nose for news wanted to knowquotI was on the beachquot he replied quotThere was a great rumor that I was in London But I was on the beach I was a drive awayquotquotWhich beachquot the reporter demandedquotUp the coastquot Lee said adding quotDo you want the addressquot When the laughter following that question died down Lee continued quotI39m already in enough trouble with my wife I39m not giving you the addressquotAsked about programming genres and whether he thought ABC needed more procedural crime dramas which repeat well and perhaps fewer serialized shows which do not Lee said quotFirst of all each show has a different sort of business profile I mean let39s face it a comedy could be making you less money in the shortterm may make you less money internationally but may actually have a much stronger back end in cable in the US If you look at how the successful serialized shows on ABC over the last couple of decades have done internationally it39s spectacular and the monies that they can charge amp8230 but you39re not going to get as high a repeat on the core linear network in the US So they all have different profilesquotI39m actually pleased that we have a couple of really good cracks at procedurals but I haven39t had time to sit down and say 39What39s the perfect mix39quot he continued quotAnd certainly I wouldn39t say either let39s move away from serialized when so many of the branddefining shows on this network have been wonderful serialized appointment television that nobody can not watch within four hours of it being played whether it39s on the network on iTunes or on streams So I think we do have some good cracks at itquotLee will have much to scrutinize and analyze in the coming weeks because overall ABC39s new fall series have not been particularly well received by critics Further these rather bland freshmen join a lineup that is heavy with aging former hits on the decline most notably Desperate Housewives Grey39s Anatomy and Brothers ampamp SistersBut don39t look for him to change things up before the start of the season in September quotWe39re locked and loaded herequot he said quotWe39re literally weeks away I39ve learned over time amp8230 you make late changes in an entertainment sense you can make more damage than good Shows are rockets They have to be built fueled loaded and launchedquotThat39s probably completely the wrong analogyquot he added with a laugh

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ABC at TCA: New ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee Impresses the Press, 36 Hours into His New Job

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