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4TH UPDATE 6:30 PM: We’ve just confirmed that ABC Family President Paul Lee will take over as president of ABC Entertainment Group. Just like Steve McPherson, Lee will manage both ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios. “Paul Lee has had incredible success for the last 6 years and has built the ABC Family brand from scratch,” a Disney insider praised. Interesting how this all went down before the Television Critics Association’s upcoming executive sessions this week. 
Lee’s promotion has been imminent because of his success with original programming on the cable channel that “had a fuddy-duddy image” and was saddled with that preacher” — since Pat Robertson still controls several hours of programming time on the channel, the insider noted. “Paul made it a destination place for young and hip people.”
Like McPherson, Lee started his job as president of ABC Family in 2004 when both were appointed as part of a big restructuring across Disney’s TV divisions. Since then, the cable channel has posted six years of consecutive growth and has launched its first runaway hit, The Secret Life of American Teenager. ABC Family’s roster of shows developed under Lee’s watch also includes the channel’s first buzzworthy drama Kyle XY, established series Greek and Make It or Break It, recent additions Pretty Little Liars and Huge and the upcoming Melissa Joan Hart-Joey Lawrence comedy Melissa & Joey. Before joining ABC Family, Lee was CEO and founder of BBC America. Prior to that, Brit Lee spent several years at the BBC, including serving as channel editor for BBC Prime, the company’s 24-hour entertainment channel.
3RD UPDATE 6:20 PM: We just received this statement from Steve McPherson about his future plans:
“I’ll be announcing my future plans shortly which will include a new entrepreneurial venture in the spirits business. While I will continue with my ongoing wine business, I’ll also reveal plans for my involvement in a new media company.”
2ND UPDATE 6:00 PM: Sources are telling the media that ABC Family’s Paul Lee is in as ABC Entertainment topper. He’s certainly well thought-of and his promotion in some capacity has been imminent. But there is no official confirmation of this yet. Meanwhile, here is Disney/ABC’s statement:
Steve McPherson today submitted his resignation as President, ABC Entertainment Group, and the Company accepted. Mr. McPherson said, “I want to thank the wonderful team of individuals who have worked with me throughout my time here and wish them nothing but the best.” A replacement for Mr. McPherson will be announced shortly.
EXCLUSIVE UPDATE 5:10 PM: Steve McPherson has resigned. The ABC Entertainment Group president of both ABC network and ABC Studios has been in the job since January 2009 after overseeing ABC Entertainment since 2004. Our understanding is that there is no immediate replacement. McPherson came back from vacation Monday but did not resume his ABC duties. He is now referrng calls to his newly hired publicist.
He had a little over a year left on his contract which expires in September 2011. His last negotiation was rife with rumors that he would resign if he were not given Touchstone (aka ABC Studios) which was then run by Mark Pedowitz, who found himself ultimately moved aside because of McPherson’s manuevering.
To put it mildly, McPherson has been one of the most controversial network entertainment executives to fill the job. That’s mostly because of his lack of interpersonal skills. It’s no exaggeration to say he has spent a good deal of his tenure pissing off a lot of people, both internally like his boss Anne Sweeney (the president of Disney/ABC Television Group) and externally (like showrunners, agents, managers, etc.) But what kept him in the job was that he was considered creatively talented. However, under his watch, ABC has failed to launch a tentpole drama to succeed the departing Lost or the aging Desperate Housewives. After years of trying, he did find success on the comedy side this past season with Modern Family; however it’s a show produced by 20th Century Fox Television and not by ABC Studios.
EXCLUSIVE 4:45 PM: Deadline has just heard “something’s going on” involving ABC Entertainment Group President Steve McPherson who has been the subject of rumors for many months now. McPherson had been on vacation for several weeks and hasn’t yet returned. More when we get it.
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With Disney you don’t produce your out. Last year it was Dick Cook at the studio division, and was replaced by Ross from Disney Channel, this year its McPherson replaced by Lee from ABC Family, its the Cable channels that bring in the money to Disney not a 60 year old dying business model.
Today Disney is investing in high tech, today they bought Playdom, Inc. three weeks ago it was Tapulous.
I dealt with Steve on numerous occasions and he was honest straight and loyal to a fault. Have we all forgot when Zucker fired Kevin Reilly for Ben whats his name Steve fired both guns at Zucker. Thats my definition of a guy you want at your back
Please get rid of Josh Berry, head of drama at ABC Studios… he’s the reason they haven’t found a successor to Lost/DH/GA.
You’re an idiot. Josh Barry ran drama at ABCS for the last 1 year (but doesn’t anymore) and his shows haven’t even launched yet. Before running the dept he developed all those hits you cited and also Bros & Sisters and Private Practice which have done fine since.
He rode the waves of praise and success from his tenure at Touchstone TV straight into the offices of ABC President. After all, as the head of the studio he had overseen the development most of the shows that were the shining stars on ABC at the time (Desperate Housewives, Greys, Ugly Betty) and was considered a logical successor to run the network. He was ushered in with great fanfare and expectations. Problem was he wanted to run the network like a studio. He made the fatal error of believing his own press. The merging of duties between the studio and the network and having execs oversee both development and current was an exercise doomed for failure. It created an atmosphere rife full of individuals who were jacks of all trades, but masters of none. And now our fair surfer president rides the waves of failure back to his home in the Palisades.
the guy was the last of the stand-up guys. for all you delicate fucking flowers, he might have offended your sensitive sides, but you always knew where he stood. the guy was the last of the people who could take it on the chin and go toe to toe with you and dish it out. like him or not, you gotta respect his moxy. he was no sissy. before Steve came to ABC it was in the pits, so failure he was not. did some shows fail, of course, but anyone who says Steve didn’t help make ABC respectable again after years of getting trounced by NBC… they just are sore sports who probably didn’t get some suck-ass show picked up.
Could not have said it better.
Bad news for Alyssa Milano.
Steve was infatuated with Milano and developed several times with her before putting Romantically Challenged on the schedule.
Incredible that this guy has some defenders on here. “Stand up guy”? He’s a bully. A jerk. A bipolar nightmare that regularly reduced the people who worked their asses off for him to tears. He developed zero relationships with talent. And in this bottom line driven town, you can get away with it all if you have the goods and he didn’t. He had horrible instincts, just terrible taste. The first batch of shows that made him he inherited from the network’s previous regime. Yes, he was at the studio at the time but, aside from Desperate – he HATED them all. The next year he barely picked up Brothers and Sisters, hated Ugly Betty and ended up killing that show when he got the chance. His only comedy hit was Modern Family and that came from an outside studio. What kind of shows did he like? Big Shots. Anyone remember Big Shots? He loved that piece of crap and could never understand why it didn’t catch on. Good riddance. It’ll be interesting to see what he ends up doing, if anything. There’s no talent in this town that’s going to work with him as a producer. He should just keep making wine.
Methinks Big shots got your slot that year…
Same could be said for any topper’s choices. Remember some of the stuff Brandon picked up? Manimal? No risk no reward
Wow! As a nontelevision person, I find that the comments run the gamut. Either you liked McPherson or you hated his guts. We all have have room for improvement. I wonder if McPherson will read any of the comments?
good maybe now they will start a new marketing regime that actually works.
I’ve never met Steve so I can’t saying anything about him. I have however sat in meetings with his underlings and the conversations were astonishing. The fear was palpable and conversations were always about what they thought Steve wanted, spending most of their precious hours, and ours, trying to second guess Steve rather than forming their own opinions. Whether the problem was them or the problem was Steve, I don’t know. It was however a complete waste of time and the information that got to him was a watered down fearful version of what they imagined he wanted rather than something they supported, believed in, liked, didn’t like, hated or loved. It was no way to function and a change was needed. I hope Lee fosters an environment that is conducive to creative work freeing the underlings to do their jobs properly or if the problem turns out to be with the underlings they replaced.
They shoulda brought back Pedowitz. Smart. Classy. Courteous.
steve’s publicist should be fired for allowing that atrocious statement to go out after he was humiliatingly sacked. what the fuck does the statement even mean mean? spirits and new media? is miss cleo coming back in a boxed wine set this year?
I’ve lived through several regimes at ABC and I have to say that despite Steve’s flaws (and, yes, he does have flaws), he was the most supportive, passionate, loyal person I have ever seen in the job. You don’t come across many people in this town who tell you what they think, good or bad, and mean it. You always knew where you stood. If you were good at what you did, he would fight to the death for you.
I won’t bore you, but he also created an assistant mentor program; instituted a continuing education fund where anyone from assistant to director had $1000 a year to spend on classes, workshops, and travel. He had a real and deep commitment to diversity. I will miss him very much.
No YOU dont get it. One word –VOLUME. Cable is one tenth the volume of material as broadcast bc their schedules are supported mostly by syndicated OFF NETWORK acquisitions.
Second word: audience. Broadcast is aiming for the widest audience possible across all demos. Any given cable net is aiming for a very narrow easily identified demo and programming right to them. Therefore their threshold for “hits” is much lower.
Third word: Unions. Check the rates of all union members when working for Bcast vs Cable. Rates can be anywhere from 10-20% less on cable.
Admittedly all of the above are also likely the reasons why the broadcast tv model is failing. Particularly when held up against the cable model. But if that’s the case and the playing field is about to be truly leveled then WGA, IATSE, SAG and the rest are in for a huge wake up call. Cable pays less across the board. Plus who’s gonna supply all those mega hits to the cablers to fill their schedules and support the 5 or 6 originals they’ve got on the air if not the factories that have been the bcast networks and studios.
Hmm, time for a rant: Fucking angry motherfucking TV exex? PLEEEZ! U people are living the dream! To bring your meanness to the Biz – yes U Steve, and Zucker, et al. is a slap against the face of creativity, against the rabid fans U create for your shows (yeah look what ComicCon does for TELEVISION now…) and a Biz that many would KILL to be a part of, and U get pissed off cuz U’re making million-$ salaries with your media-center homes? Poor U and grow the fuck up! Get back in the trenches like the rest of us – writers, actors, agents, managers, producers and publicists, who have to SELL all the time, and I’d like to see U take your whiny, negative, fearful ball, and wrap it up real tight and… Or GET OUT and leave the rest of us with some of our joy, hope and dreams intact. Thanx and have a nice day!
But just as guilty are all the fearful, uncreative pinheads who worked under him. Not one of them ever had an opinion of their own, took a stand for something they believed in. They all consistently caved in the face of this dumb frat boy. What were they all so afraid of?
Fire all the incompetent, fearful little mice while you have the chance, Paul Lee. Even if you create an open atmosphere at ABC, these people don’t have any conviction.
Suzanne, Channing are worthless, mindless, note givers. They are brutal on ideas and writers and don’t have any moral compass. All they do is water everything down until it is gone.
Their only interest has been sucking up to Steve to keep their jobs. No taste with either of them. No vision.
Josh Barry was TERRIBLE. He was all double talk to cover his lack of taste and back bone. Nicole Norwood is NEVER to be trusted. The hyphen woman Cheryl Stanley – whatever says things so moronic with such total conviction it is hard to keep from laughing to her face. She is a complete fool. Barry Jossen is asleep at the switch.
I hope the new President reads these posts. Steve’s hires are damaged goods just like him. And never to be trusted.
I’ve pitched a series to Steve before and I can tell you one thing, he’s got stones. Prepare to cup them if you haven’t done your homework. Some are offended by that and these people should join a non-profit. This is Hollywood. An exec is supposed to kill your nerve with a look. Writers share stories like grunts share scars. It’s the game. It’s not for everyone. People like Steve are a dying breed. And Hollywood will be worse for it.
If McPherson is part of a dying breed, then I say let the extinction begin!
>>Please get rid of Josh Berry, head of drama at ABC Studios… he’s the reason they haven’t found a successor to Lost/DH/GA.
Uh, they did. A week ago. Try to keep up.
He should have been fired years ago. He’s an A**hole and he ruined Boston Legal.
It’s Sandy Grushow all over again. Anyone remember him? These guys forget they’re hired hands.
These promotion announcements are fing all the same. Guy or gal is creative, works with the team over the last six years blah blah blah. Then they suck and they get fired after making a fortune. Then they take the next job and to the same bshit all over again. With the same announcements on both ends.
Go f-yourself everyone.
Thank you.
Why would you cancel kyle xy if you claim that it brought so much raitings to abc?? No show i’ve ever seen is as thought provoking and inspirational as Kyle xy. We have enough of the silly teenage pregnacy shows and mindless entertainment… at the very least publish a book or make a movie to rap things up. can u imagine star wars ending with dark vadar saying “im your fatha?”