Paul Lee OUT at ABC

[ChitHappens]

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/paul-lee-abc-programming-chief-ben-sherwood-1201708371/

[dragonflies]

[ChitHappens]

Wuh?

[DRW50]

Is she related to Merrin (I think her name is Merrin)?

[Darn]

They're sisters, it's in the article (which I would not have even read if you hadn't asked this question lmao).

 

This is pretty awesome, she's the FIRST black person to head a broadcast network. 

[DRW50]

Thanks. I always liked Merrin on King of Queens.

[Toups]

http://deadline.com/2016/02/paul-lee-out-abc-president-channing-dungey-1201704333/

 

 

 

Procedures? Oh no! What I liked about Paul Lee was that he took chances, sure some failed, but at least he took them. He also preferred serialized shows.  Also, ABC is more multi-cultured now.

 

I hope ABC doesn't become like CBS.  Seeing that Sherwood prefers procedures scares me. 

[Darn]

 

 

I think how quickly Scandal and Murder are burning their audience out has them running scared. The fact is that serialized dramas have a short shelf life, especially with the way they are now where every episode has to have a shocking conclusion yet somehow the next episode has reset everything for the next shocking conclusion (looking at you, Scandal).

 

 

If they want to be boring and just count their money I guess CBS is the model they want to follow. It's a terrible idea but you know, money.

[Soapsuds]

Hasn't Scandal been on for some time now? Isn't it in season 5 or 6 right now? As for HTGAWM….I lost interest close to the end of the first season and didnt even find out who did what….I haven't seen any episodes of Season 2…..was there another mystery introduced after the other one was solved? HTGAWM drop in ratings is alarming considering it is not even done with the second season. The ratings were on fire with 9's and now it barely gets 4's in the HH ratings. It seems all of their audience went to Empire.

[DRW50]

Lee's shows sounded much more interesting than they actually were. ABC shows in general feel generic and mediocre, just as much as anything on CBS. I know it's not an absolute - a lot of people here love American Crime and I figure they're discerning enough to be right - but it's actually kind of odd just how forgettable something like Galavant turned out to be.

[ChitHappens]

Well, I told y'all Galavant was going to get execs fired.  

[DRW50]

 

They don't care about HH. But the 18-49 has also dropped. It was a show built on buzz, and once the buzz faded, people didn't stay.

 

One of their problems is the lack of bread-and-butter shows. They have a few, like The Middle, The Goldbergs, etc. but not anywhere enough. Even reliable performers like Shark Tank dropped a lot. And some of their older shows like Castle are just falling apart at the seams, completely obliterated by whatever behind the scenes issues carried the day. I never liked the show because Fillion is a bit too smug for the role and because of the wooden female lead, but my parents loved it for a long time and now they can barely get through an episode.

[Soapsuds]

The last episode of HTGAWM had a 1.8 in demos with 4.0 in HH…..when a long in the tooth show like Grey's Anatomy is still beating you in demos….you're in trouble.

[Vee]

I think it's because Grey's is, frankly, bland and ancient but has a baked-in audience.

I am not a Shonda Rhimes fan and HTGAWM had a very rough first year held together by Viola Davis' incredible performances week to week and a much, much improved second half. I was ready to dump it before it came back from that first fall hiatus. Season 2, IMO, has been much stronger from the beginning and even darker. Unlike other shows we've mentioned, the show keeps changing - it isn't in the same place as it was last week or last year and it doesn't do resets at the end of an episode. But they've all but abandoned the tiresome cases of the week from S1 and it is very serialized, very complicated in terms of who knows what and who did what to who, and just about every character on the show is an amoral murderer. It's not high art but it's a very dark, very not stand-alone soap and I think that's why it may have lower numbers. (I also think some heartland folks got turned off by just how gay and interracial the show is - I never thought I'd see a love scene between Viola Davis and Famke Janssen on ABC.) Regardless, I think it only has one more year in it before they stretch credulity to the breaking point now that everyone on the show is either a murderer or conspirator. I am enjoying it a lot.

 

I have no faith in network television but I do think ABC, moribund for so long, had at least begun to take real chances with stuff like Fresh Off the Boat, Black-ish and some of their midseason/miniseries shows like American Crime. The new show with Joan Allen and the missing son who returns also looks interesting and I may give it a shot. I'll be sorry if they try to churn out a bunch of Castles. That's not what they're good at right now.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

This doesn't have anything to do with daytime right? 

They're two different divisions?