ABC at TCA: Stephen McPherson Unveils Aggressive Slate

ABC Executive Session:Stephen McPherson There is one word to describe ABC’s upcoming fall lineup: aggressive, with seven new scripted series (four sitcoms and three dramas) and changes on Tuesday through Friday. Included is two of the most buzzed about new shows on any network: sitcom Modern Family and drama FlashForward. This is quite a switch from last fall, which only had two new shows on the line-up (drama Life on Mars and the non-scripted Opportunity Knocks).“I think we have to remain ambitious,” said Stephen McPherson, president of the ABC Entertainment Group. “We have only succeeded when we’ve been ambitious and taken chances and really pushed the limits, whether it was Desperate Housewives, where people said, 'boy, 40-year-old women,' or it was Lost, which was this incredibly high-concept, very expensive drama. Those shows have obviously been very fortuitous for us both on the creative side, ratings side and financially.I think you have to start with the creative. And there’s no question that production cost is a major issue given all the other economic pressures we have. But I think you have to be looking at each show differently, because there are certain shows like FlashForward that absolutely demand that kind of cinematic feel and the production value. There are other shows that can absolutely be as successful or more so, but on a much larger scale because the creative doesn’t demand it. So we’ve kind of used this term “portfolio approach,” where as we’re looking at all of our development we would like to make sure that we’ve got some kind of each size, if you will.”Unlike its competitors, ABC is known to exercise more patience, with on-the-fence current Castle making it into a second season (as did other recent dramas like Pushing Daisies, What About Brian and October Road), and sitcom Better Off Ted returning in midseason.“I think it’s one of the biggest challenges that people in my position face is how patient can you be. And that becomes a question of how much information you have about the show,” said McPherson. “Is it being rejected? Is it slowly building? Is it stable at that level? And then, at some point, have to look at how it is affecting the rest of your schedule. We want to try to be as patient as we can, but the strike derailed us with pretty ambitious shows like Pushing Daisies.”Since no network executive session seems to be complete without some conversation about Paula Abdul, noted McPherson:“We would love to have her on Dancing With the Stars and whether it’s as a contestant or participant of some sort, judge, et cetera. I think she is a huge talent and there is a lot made about her in terms of who she is. There’s a sensitivity and there’s kind of an emotion to her that balances out American Idol. And we’d love to get a piece of that.” In other ABC news, veteran Scrubs is not changing names despite the cast changes as rumored; there are no immediate plans to get back into the movie and miniseries business; and Ugly Betty was not canceled when it was removed from the schedule briefly this season. Other than TR Knight, the central cast of Grey’s Anatomy is all returning next season.

Convergent TV

ABC at TCA: Stephen McPherson Unveils Aggressive Slate

Marc Berman

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Marc Berman