Gloves are off early as ABC’s Steven McPherson tells NBC’s Ben Silverman to “Be a man”
By Alex Ben Block
HOLLYWOOD, CA. (Hollywood Today) 7/26/07 – ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson, in unusually candid remarks to reporters Wednesday, lashed out at NBC’s new Co-Chairman Ben Silverman as “either clueless or stupid” for failing to tell the whole story about Isaiah Washington’s firing, and for his handling of his own hiring.
In a business where few executives speak their minds, McPherson set a new standard for candor in springing to the defense of his close personal friend Kevin Reilly, who was forced out by NBC to make way for Silverman, and now is co-president of Fox Broadcasting. His anger was fueled by the way Reilly was treated and how NBC executives last week characterized his exit.
McPherson complained to a gaggle of reporters after his formal remarks during the semi-annual TV critics press tour, that reporters and critics had let Silverman have a free pass on his description of hiring Isaiah Washington, who had been dropped from “Gray’s Anatomy” by ABC after he made remarks about gays.
“You guys let him off the hook,” said McPherson, “but that’s your prerogative.”
McPherson said Silverman, in making his announcement that the actor would join “Bionic Woman,” should have discussed why Washington was let go at ABC. He also wondered aloud if Silverman had acted improperly when he said during his remarks to the critics that he had approached Washington while the actor was still working for ABC. “If (Silverman) was talking to Isaiah before he was let out of his contract, that was a breach,” said McPherson. “He’s either clueless or stupid.”
McPherson also indicated he was offended by the way Silverman answered a question about whether it was a sound business decision, or an act of loyalty, to fire Reilly, given that it was Reilly who fought to keep the Silverman produced show “The Office” on the air when ratings were low. “The idea that ‘I (Silverman) just got here,’ “ McPherson sniffed “Kevin Reilly stood up for ‘The Office’ and in essence made (Silverman’s company) Reveille a ton of money.”
McPherson said Silverman should admit his role in the changes at NBC: “Be a man.”
Told that Silverman may not have known what was going on behind the scenes at NBC, McPherson said, “He didn’t know what went on? Was he living in a cave?
“I live in a different world,” McPherson added. “When someone stabs your best friend in the back, you don’t buy it.”
McPherson also characterized as a joke NBC Entertainment co-chairman Marc Graboff’s remarks that Reilly wasn’t fired. “You got as big a laugh as I did,” he said to a reporter.
McPherson was clearly happy for his friend, even as they continue to compete. He said the move to Fox meant that Reilly “more than landed on his feet,” according to Variety.
McPherson and Reilly are longtime pals, who were fraternity brothers (Phi Delta Theta) when both attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. McPherson has said that early in his career when he was considering quitting his job on Wall Street and moving to L.A. to seek his fortune in show business, it was Reilly who told him how easy it would be to get a job in Hollywood. It wasn’t but they have remained close friends.
The usually genial McPherson might have been worked up after a particularly testy interview session with the TV critics and journalists, which was eventually cut short.
The problem began when McPherson declined to make a casting announcement for the popular show “Lost” because the news was being held for a day, to be announced at Comic Con in San Diego, a show for science fiction fans that has become an important place to launch shows in that genre.
“I don’t think my editor is going is going to be very happy when she reads on a blog later this afternoon that Steve McPherson promised that the biggest news regarding one of the highest-rated shows in the network would be coming at a fan convention the next day,” snapped one reporter a few minutes later.
“Not to be a crybaby,” said another reporter minutes later, “but to piggyback on what was said earlier, what’s the point of having 150 reporters with access to millions of readers sitting here. You have the announcements. You can give them out. Instead, you are going to hold them to give to people who have to pay to get into a convention.”
“Okay,” responded McPherson mockingly, his words dripping with sarcasm. “I’ll give you the announcement. I didn’t know—I started talking to him before he was available. I don’t know what went on there, but I cast Don Imus on “Lost.”
It didn’t end there. A few minutes later, another angry reporter complained: “Steve, one more question about “Lost” and Comic-Con…This is a serious question. A lot of newspapers spend a lot of money to get us out here. A lot of us are fighting to stay out here. We write about all of your television shows. If you are not going to tell us what it is, you can at least tell us why you are not talking to us. Are we not important enough for you, or do you just not want to talk to us?”
McPherson finally gave a serious response: “It was just—you know, Comic-Con has been a place that “Lost” has had its presence for a long time. They have an announcement that Damon Carlton wanted to make at Comic-Con. That decision was made.”
He continued “It’s not earth-shattering. It’s not—it doesn’t change the face of television. It’s a decision that was made. You know, sometimes announcements are made here. Sometimes announcements are made to the press. Sometimes announcements are made whatever.”
Then ABC’s Hope Hartman walked over and whispered to McPherson. After they spoke, McPherson turned to the reporters and said: “Okay. All right. They just spoke to Damon, and he is okay. From the fury that we had (laughter)– we are going to—it is going to be announced that Harold Perrineau is returning to the show.”
The reporters got the news but the damage had already been done. Although ABC came in as the hot network, the press had still put McPherson through the wringer.
There was also some news. Even that, however, came out of a joke that McPherson made about Reilly. To start the press conference, McPherson said: “There is one unfortunate announcement. We’re going to be announcing the cast of “Dancing with the Stars” in August, but due to taking his new position, Kevin Reilly has withdrawn as a contestant. (Laughter. And it’s really an unfortunate situation. We’re a little let down, but we’re going to go forward.”
The real news was that ABC was going to create a new show as a spin-off from its reality hit, “Dancing With The Stars.” “It’s called “Dance X,” explained McPherson. “We are working on it now. It’s a show that is on the air now in England, and it involves two of the judges. “It is the judges having teams of dancers,” McPherson added later, “that they are basically competing against each other, and within those teams, the dancers get eliminated so that you get down to two teams competing in, you know, a choreographed dance.”
After several questions about the controversial new TV series “Caveman,” and its much maligned pilot episode, all based on characters developed in a Geico commercial, McPherson said they had been having some second thoughts as well. “We are doing a lot of work, actually,” admitted McPherson. “We Re-cast one of the leads. And the pilot that you have seen will not be the pilot because I think it just goes—jumps way too far into the development of those characters and kind of right into the frying pan, and I think we made a mistake there in trying to kind of do too much. So we are going to take it back, that episode, with some re-shoots, and obviously, the recasting will probably be, you know, I’m guessing, episode 5 or 6 in the run. So we are, in essence, shooting a new pilot.”
“We have to develop those characters and the dynamics and get a sense of who they are in that world,” added McPherson, “so you are not just kind of diving right into relationships that you might not understand.”
McPherson said that he was very pleased with the new way advertising was being sold, because for the first time it includes viewing done by people using DVR’s up to three days after it initially aired. “We really started to see the effect of DVRs,” said McPherson. “I mean, there are just incredible statistics. One for us that was unbelievably impacted was “Lost”—in L.A., “Lost” is like a 4.1 live (rating). It’s a set—a 4.2 live, a 7.2 live plus seven (days of viewing), which is just a gigantic, gigantic difference. And I think we started to really see that impact the numbers, and so it was—it was very promising for us to get the live plus three for the sales group in New York.”
McPherson said he has been disappointed by the ratings for ABC shows this summer, especially a program featuring basketball star Shaquille O’Neal working with overweight kids. “Maybe, you know, the subject matter is a little too serious,” said McPherson, “too consuming for people over summer months. I don’t know. It all would be hindsight at this point. I don’t want to second-guess it. We thought it was a good show, and we stood behind it, and I think it’s a great message.”