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EMMYS: ‘Big Bang Theory’s Science 
ABC‘s successful fairytale drama Once Upon A Time is all about the juxtaposition of good and bad and so were the opening remarks of the network’s topper Paul Lee at TCA today. “We have a lot to shout about and a lot to do,” Lee started off with. On the bright side, Lee touted ABC’s success with sophomore shows, including Scandal, which Lee said “is rocking and rolling,” and Once Upon A Time, as well as making “a great first step with family comedies on Friday.”
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On the disappointment side: the soft ratings for the all-star edition of Dancing With The Stars (“We found out people like to see bad dancing as much as they like to see good dancing,” Lee said), and freshman drama Nashville‘s inability to connect with wider audiences off the bat despite very strong 18-34 ratings. Add to that the disappointing ratings performance of ABC’s other freshman dramas, Last Resort and 666 Park Ave, both of which have been cancelled. “I was disappointed that there have been no big breakout hits on any networks this fall, not just ABC,” Lee said, discounting NBC’s drama Revolution and the CW’s hot rookie Arrow.
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Lee was asked to comment on the network’s decision to double pump underperforming Tuesday comedies Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B— with several airings in the Sunday 10 PM slot. ABC added the extra airings after it opted to phase out its Tuesday comedy block in spring. “We love those two shows, which are incredibly distinctive, water cooler shows,” Lee said. “We just didn’t have much place to put them.” (Because of their edgy content, the comedies were not considered for 8 PM.) “It’s slightly a cable play to get people to sample the shows. As for Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B—‘s chances for next season,” we haven’t made decisions but these are shows we love,” Lee said.
Lee praised the choice of Seth MacFarlane as Oscar host, said he feels “very bullish” about it and made a ratings prediction that “we think Oscars will go up.”
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After the session, Lee complaints that soap Revenge may have lost its way in Season 2. “The great thing about Revenge is that it grew in ratings, and it’s a broader show,” Lee said.
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REVENGE is awesome. It’s such a fun ride and can’t wait to see where it goes next.
Dancing With the Stars really got it wrong with the “All-Stars” thing. They should have had JR Martinez on and he is young and could attract the military, the soap opera fans (All My Children) and spark energy into this dying show, for sure. Yeah, they are right when saying that they were “disappointed”. They messed up big time!
DWTS:All Stars did have daytime soap star Kelly Monaco from GH on the show again, and the show attracted soap fans!
Not even Kelly Monaco from GH could do as well as JR Martinez in attracting soap fans. JR Martinez has the military and veterans as well as soap fans and Kelly does not.
JR Martinez provided the electricity, energy, and a whole lot of soul and spirit that Kelly Monaco failed to deliver.
He stands head and shoulders above Kelly Monaco.
I miss LOST. Nothing for the guys on this channel.
Last Resort isn’t “for the guys?”
Too bad about Last Resort and 666. Both shows tried to break out of ABC’s femme box. Last Resort was positively macho. 13 solid eps on each, though, nothing to sneeze at in the DVD/BluRay/Netflix era. On to recoup!
I don’t see Red Widow or that DaVinci Code rip-off show doing much better, though. We shall see.
Revenge lost me in season 2.
Still don’t get why GCB didn’t do better as it was square in ABC’s femme-friendly wheelhouse. Too cartoony/over the top? Pair it with Nashville for Southern-fried bitchery galore.
Overall Paul Lee’s doing a great job at ABC, IMO. Second only to CBS in consistency.
ABC skews so female now, it’s become the death zone for guy shows. How do you advertise a new guy-oriented show on ABC when all the guys have stopped watching? Buy airtime on FOX? Good luck with that.
Yeah, ABC is strong, but not having a robust genre piece like LOST is going to hurt them, especially considering that CBS has UNDER THE DOME moving forward and NBC has some pretty interesting genre pieces in development.
GCB was doomed to failure due to the offensive title; would the suits at ABC have ever made a show called “Good Jewish B-words”? I think not!
Its ABC who didn’t have ANY freshman hits. NBC has Revolution..CBS has Elementary and the CW has Arrow. Watching the trailers for ABCs midseason dramas I’ll predict that by the end of the season ABC will cancel every freshman drama they had and still not have any hits.
Part of the issue with ABC’s comedy woes is that they refuse to take the opportunity to build a night or nights plural. When you move a show like HAPPY ENDINGS 3 times in 3 seasons, you never give it an opportunity to gain traction (particularly as most people who are exposed to it seem to have genuinely taken a shine to it). Their optimistic slingshot mentality of using MODERN FAMILY to launch newer shows has proven lackluster. Whereas had they just kept a core of something like SUBURGATORY, MODERN and HAPPY with an additional new show on Wednesdays they had an opportunity to at least own a Wednesday comedy night. What NBC did for a number of years that allowed it to be successful was show patience. It’s easy to look smart when a show like MODERN FAMILY explodes in its first season, it takes a savy exec to see the long game without constant reaction. Its a shame because great programming will suffer at the hands of pressure-come-fear and impatience.
Paul,
Why can’t you develop programming for men?
Arrow on any other network would be DOA. I like when the CW pretends to ‘hang’ with the big boys.
I’m and I’m sure a lot of people aren’t interested unless you bring back the soaps OLTL and AMC. You alienated core viewers and lost an incubator for new talent. Aldo ebt do they greenlight these shows for night time with Long story arcs That they dont hace patience to see grow steam.
No mention of Castle at the TCA’s?
Abc your shows suck, anything good that you have/had you cancel so what is the point of watching anything on your network.
#1: The new ABC shows that *do* interest viewers (like 666), you CANCEL and then pull the remaining episodes. How are we supposed to respect or have faith in anything you do, Paul? We became invested in 666, and then it’s gone before we even discover the central mystery. That’s just bad management.
What kind of “breakout” hit are you expecting in this age of fragmented TV and time-shifted viewing? Your goals are likely set too high.
#2: Kill that freaking DWTS mess. No one under 60 watches it, anyway. Good grief.
#3: Thanks for sticking with “The Neighbors.” Despite such critical bashing prior to the launch, it might be the funniest new show on the air. Put it this way: it’s 1000x funnier than Reba in Malibu.
Paul Lee has great taste and good sensibilities, but he is no where near Bob Greenblatt & Kevin Reilly when it comes to admitting to mistakes. He never took the blame for ABC for not having a good season, but rather made it an issue with broadcast. Always had a spin answer – the bs is good for his corporate bosses, but the journos over at TCA read right through them.