E!'s Ted Harbert: Cherishing Comcast Peace After Living 'Disney War'

E Television president Ted Harbert and I met at Michael39s on the same day James Stewart39s Disney War was published quotLike any selfrespecting Hollywood animalquot Ted told me quotI looked in the index first to check for my namequot and then he quickly turned to pages 230 245247 250 252 292 and 293 where he39s mentioned quotIt39s odd to relive these stories nine years laterquot Ted grimaces commenting that Stewart39s book is reasonably accurate Ted was at the center of one of Michael Eisner39s and Michael Ovitz39 early controversies when thenwunderkind Jamie Tarses joined ABC from NBC and shared network responsibilities with Ted who was elevated to network chairman when she joined the company quotI believed the job was bigger than one person but it wasn39t big enough for two and Jamie was intent on running the showquot he recalledJamie ostensibly reported to Ted but as then Disney president Michael Ovitz explained to Ted quotYou39re in charge but if you say something Jamie doesn39t like she can call Bob Igerquot After working with Tarses for six months Ted made the choice to leave ABC after a 20year career departing on a Friday and the following Tuesday he joined his former ABC colleague Jeffrey Katzenberg at DreamworksIt was old home week at Michael39s with former ABC executive Herb Granath stopping by along with CourtTV39s Henry Schleiff who was lunching with Patricia Duff Burt Reynolds with whom Ted once did a special wore a brightly colored jacket actress Dina Merrill was elegant and beautiful news honchos Lesley Stahl Roger Ailes Victor Neufeld Sherry Rollins and Katie Couric all spoke in hushed tones to their lunch partners and Andrew Cuomo did some quiet lobbyingquotAs Ted surveyed the room he told me he wanted to work at ABC since he was 11 His dad had been an associate producer for the quotSteve Allen Showquot on NBC and then had moved to legendary ad agency Kenyon ampamp Eckhardt But it was his Stamford CT high school friend Tim whose dad Ed Vane was ABC39s East Coast Programming VP and who brought home pocket pieces and told stores about network TV and who emotionally connected Ted to ABC quotI grew up as the fourth in line with four brothers and a sister I was always either reading or watching TV My dad tried to teach me golf and like most sports I never lacked for effort but played with great mediocrity I had a high handicap in golf but was a scratch TV viewerquot Ted laughed Today he has a 12 handicap but still watches a lot of television and has strong opinions about the state of the mediumquotChildren are not settling into their parents39 TV viewing habits like previous generationsquot he observes quotTheir attention spans have fundamentally changed We have only seen the start of their multitasking abilities They are doing homework instant messaging listening to iTunes and maybe watching television all at the same timequot Ted laughs quotI39ve stopped challenging my daughter 15 and son 12 They handle it allquotquotTeens have so many choicesquot he points out quotThey39ve become the most fickle shoppers ever in their TV viewing choices The biggest changequot Ted suggests is quotthey are only shopping from the top shelf among scripted network product and watching two or three scripted series but there is a long list of top shelf reality programming they39ll watch Young people are slipping away from dramas Reality shows are their dramas As the MTV generation has grown up they have had a profound impact on the network television model They want honesty and believability and don39t have the same attraction to fiction If someone is laughing or crying it resonates more to them if it is realquotTed is more familiar than most with the challenges of developing primetime hit programming quotThe network television business model depends on heavy investment spending to find a hit program It39s always been a risk but the primetime programming game has gone from poker to craps to the slot machine It39s a million dollar bet every time and the odds are no better than the slotsquot After eight months at E Ted is happy he no longer is gambling with such strong odds against him and is especially pleased to be working at E parent company Comcast with his former ABC colleague Steve BurkequotI39m 49 and feel like I39m 17quot he smiles quotIt39s a thrill E has a good business and we need to outrun new competition from VH1 AampampE TV Guide and TV Land who are all entering our space Plus there39s People Us Star the new TV Guide celebrity magazine CNN39s new show biz program and more competition on the way I39m flattered by the interest but we need to beat them back with a stickquotThis Wednesday March 16 at 10 pm E premieres quotMy Crazy Lifequot in which stars share little known secrets and stories about themselves and on Thursday the network joins the poker craze a different type of risk for the network with quotE Hollywood Hold 39Emquot The network has generated extensive publicity with its nightly mock Michael Jackson trial featuring Jackson impersonator Edward Moss and with the quotGastineau Girlsquot reality showTed39s plan for E is to develop quotbetter made core entertainment programs clip shows and well made reality series with good charactersquot and he is also enthusiastic about E39s sibling Style Network which he claims quotis explodingquot E39s nightly edited broadcast taped at Howard Stern39s Infinity radio show remains E39s highest rated program and while quotthere are issues in the ad community it would be difficult if not impossible to replacequot With Stern moving his program to Sirius in January Ted is exploring options but has quotno pointofview yetquot on future plansAfter graduating from Boston College Ted literally begged his former neighbor Ed Vane for an interview and after several months was finally offered a job as commercial scheduling clerk At the same time he had applied for a coveted apprentice position at NBC and was among the final three candidates so he turned down the ABC job regretting it when he lost out on the NBC slot quotI was dead in the water but relentlessly begged Ed and in July 1977 he offered me a sixmonth job in the featured film division of the TV network reading a backlog of scripts Those were in the days when networks prebought the rights to theatrical filmsquot Ted explains quotSix months went by and I asked Tony Thomopolous if my job was over He told me to 39shut up and go back to my desk39 Ted moved up the ranks moving to the West Coast in 1981 and has been credited with developing quotWonder Yearsquot quotThirty Somethingquot quotRoseannequot quotChina Beachquot quotMy So Called Lifequot quotNYPD Bluequot and quotThe PracticequotTo contact Ted Herbert send an email to contactmediavillagecom

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E!'s Ted Harbert: Cherishing Comcast Peace After Living 'Disney War'

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E!'s Ted Harbert: Cherishing Comcast Peace After Living 'Disney War'

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