By: Valerie Milano

Is That a Pink Elephant in the Room?

 The ABC portion of the Television Critics Association summer press tour today began by not talking about the hasty exit of entertainment president Steve McPherson. Network spokesman Kevin Brockman walked into the Beverly Hilton conference today carrying a huge pink elephant and said “I want to start by addressing the elephant in the room ~ and I’m not talking about Binky here. Tuesday’s statement still holds, and it is literally all we are going to say on the subject.”

Hope Hartman, Vice President, Communications, ABC Entertainment Group, introduced ABC’s new president, Paul Lee.  He quite theatrically came on stage taking off his suit coat placing it behind his chair.  Sleeves rolled up, the television critics thought we would get a lot of information but he only managed a comment about his predecessor saying, “I felt very honored to be offered the job by Anne {Sweeney} and thrilled to do it.  But I don’t want to talk about Steve.”

Mr. Lee has been on the job a sum total of 36 hours, and having just shaved off his vacation stubble, “I had seen all the pilots, because when you’re on ABC Family, and we’re a sister network , we’ve had a lot of fun over the years working together with ABC,” Lee said, “I know these pilots extremely well.  We like to be part of the upfront as it comes through.”

The fall lineup has been set and Lee talked about the programming, “Oh, we’re locked and loaded here.  I mean, we’re literally weeks away.  And I’ve learnt over time, you make changes to news an hour before you go out, you’ll find. You make changes in an entertainment sense, and we’ve looked a couple of them over my last 12 years running networks in the U.S. — you can make more damage than good.  These are rockets.  They have to be fueled, built, loaded, and launched.” Premiere week is set.

Another question that came up when a reporter reminded Mr. Lee that danced at the Upfronts in tight black pants and wondered if he had any hidden talents we could look forward to. Lee replied, “I have to say I remember watching that and thinking, “I’m so glad I don’t have Steve’s job.”