You are viewing the archive: “Steve McPherson”

UPDATE: Steve McPherson Says Plan To Kill Off Nicollette Sheridan’s Character Came Before Slap, Calls Trial “Crazy”

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday March 9, 2012 @ 2:57pm PSTTags: ABC Studios, Desperate Housewives, Marc Cherry, Nicollette Sheridan, Steve McPherson

Freelance writer Dominic Patten is a Deadline contributor

Desperate Housewives Trial

UPDATE, 2:57 PM: Former ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson told the court this afternoon that he approved the killing off of Nicollette Sheridan’s Edie Britt character in May 2008, months before a head-hitting incident between Sheridan and Cherry on the Desperate Housewives set. He then told Deadline after his brief appearance on the stand that he is surprised the case ever got this far. ”It’s kinda crazy,” McPherson said outside the courtroom. “Both parties are really nice people, and I’m surprised it even made it to trial,” he said. McPherson, who left ABC abruptly in 2010, declined to discuss the Cherry-Sheridan incident but told Deadline it had nothing to do with the actress leaving the series. “We made the decision to get rid of the character six or seven months before anything happened — whatever happened,” he said, echoing his testimony.

On the stand, McPherson confirmed Cherry’s and Pedowitz’s previous testimony that he gave his approval of the decision on May 22, 2008. “I was running the network, they needed my approval to kill of the character”, he told the jury. “I gave my approval.” The alleged Cherry-Sheridan head-slapping incident occurred in September 2008. Under questioning from Cherry defense lawyer Adam Levin, McPherson said he had no emails or memos about the decision because “we wanted to keep it confidential”. He testified that the only people at the meeting in his office that day were himself, Cherry, Pedowitz and Housewives producers Sabrina Wind and Bob Daily. He added that he would have done exactly the same thing in regards to the killing off of any major character on any major network series. “We didn’t want it to get out”, he said. READ MORE »

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‘Desperate Housewives’ Trial: Steve McPherson Set To Take The Stand Friday

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday March 7, 2012 @ 4:50pm PSTTags: Desperate Housewives, Marc Cherry, Nicollette Sheridan, Steve McPherson

Freelance writer Dominic Patten is a Deadline contributor

Marc Cherry Desperate Housewives TrialUPDATE, 4:45 PM: Here comes the big guy — former ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson is slated to testify in Nicollette Sheridan’s wrongful termination and battery trial on Friday at 1:30 PM. McPherson, who left ABC in 2010, has been cited in testimony by Marc Cherry and former ABC Studios president Mark Pedowitz as having given the network’s permission to kill off Sheridan’s Edie Britt character in May 2008, four months before the Cherry allegedly struck Sheridan in the head during an on-set altercation. Sheridan claims she was eliminated from the show because of that latter incident.

Testimony today saw several witnesses take the stand out of order due to scheduling issues, and saw Cherry’s ongoing testimony pause yet again to accommodate those changes. Sabrina Wind, a Desperate Housewives producer and Cherry’s self-described “right-hand gal,” took the stand this afternoon and contradicted several statements her boss made during his testimony. Wind, visibly nervous, said she could not recall getting a call from Cherry shortly after the alleged head-hitting incident between him and Sheridan on September 24, 2008. Sheridan’s lawyer Mark Baute then read from Wind’s deposition last year, in which she said she “did not” receive a call from Cherry as he previously testified. Wind, in another contradiction to Cherry’s testimony, also said she did not keep the producer up to date on a human resources investigation into the alleged incident. Wind, who is Cherry’s partner in Cherry/Wind Productions, also said she knew of no discussions about financial savings or “unprofessional behavior” on Sheridan’s part as reasons for killing off the actress’ character. Read More »

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Is Dana Delany ABC’s Best Hope This Fall?

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday October 8, 2010 @ 9:59pm PDTTags: ABC, ABC Body of Proof, ABC My Generation Cancelled, ABC Scheduling, Body of Proof, Body of Proof Scheduling, Dana Delany, Dana Delany Body of Proof, Steve McPherson, TV, TV Scheduling
Nellie Andreeva

Back in May, ABC’s previous boss Steve McPherson went for younger, hipper fare when programming new series Monday through Thursday. The show that seemed to be the closest to the ABC brand, Body of Proof - a female-driven procedural with a quirky central character and  headlined by a familiar ABC star, Dana Delany – was sent to Fridays. Now, with many of those Monday-Thursday series crumbling and one, My Generation, already canceled, new ABC chief Paul Lee is taking a second look at Body of Proof and is planning to give it a time slot upgrade. Read More »

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ABC Cancels New Drama ‘My Generation’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday October 1, 2010 @ 4:08pm PDTTags: ABC My Generation Cancelled, ABC Ratings, Mike Benson, My Generation, Ratings, Steve McPherson, The Whole Truth, TV, TV Ratings
Nellie Andreeva

ABC is pulling the plug on freshman drama My Generation after 2 low-rated airings. This is the second casualty of the season following the recent cancellation of Fox’s Lone Star, also after 2 episodes. Production on the series, from sibling ABC Studios, has been halted. ABC will announce shortly what will air in the Thursday 8 PM slot starting next week. Like Lone Star, My Generation was a different and ambitious series and, like Lone Star, it had big marketing muscle put behind its launch. But neither of the two shows really connected Read More »

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TCA: Peter Tolan On Steve McPherson, ‘Rescue Me’ Ending & His New Projects

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday August 3, 2010 @ 3:10pm PDTTags: HRTS Luncheon, Peter Tolan, Rescue Me, Sony TV, Steve McPherson, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

Peter Tolan’s 2005 line about Steve McPherson, “Steve, if you can hear me, fuck you,” has gone down in HRTS luncheon history as one of the most memorable panel moments ever. But five years later, Tolan was pretty subdued in his reaction to McPherson’s ouster at ABC. “Don’t speak ill of the dead,” is pretty much all he said at TCA today. But he also talked about how he and McPherson made up a month after the HRTS luncheon when they both happened to be lunching at the Palm. “We hugged at valet parking. That’s Hollywood right there.”

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TCA: Fox Addresses ‘American Idol’ Rumors & More From The Network’s Exec Session

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday August 2, 2010 @ 11:30am PDTTags: American Idol, American Idol Judges, Fox American Idol, Nigel Lythgoe, Nigel Lythgoe American Idol, Peter Rice Fox, Simon Cowell, Steve McPherson, TCA, Terra Nova Pilot, The Good Guys
Nellie Andreeva

Anticipating an avalanche of American Idol-related questions, Fox Broadcasting’s entertainment chairman Peter Rice made an opening statement at the top of the network’s executive session. “The only thing I an tell you with absolute certainty is there are no signed … Read More »

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TCA: Steve Levitan On McPherson’s Ouster, Nathan Lane Joining ‘Modern Family’, & Chances He’ll Do A Show At Fox Again

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday August 1, 2010 @ 6:16pm PDTTags: ABC Entertainment Group, Modern Family, Nathan Lane, Steve Levitan, Steve McPherson, Steve McPherson ABC, Steve McPherson Resignation, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

Family Man: Showrunner Series Q&A Steve Levitan

During a coffee break at TCA today, Modern Family co-creator/executive producer Steve Levitan dived straight in about Steve McPherson’s sudden exit from ABC Entertainment. “My genuine reaction was this … Read More »

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TCA: New ABC Chief Paul Lee Makes Debut

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday August 1, 2010 @ 11:51am PDTTags: ABC Family, Paul Lee, Paul Lee ABC Entertainment, Steve McPherson, Steve McPherson ABC, Steve McPherson Resignation, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

For a guy who confessed that as a Brit he is way too self-conscious to dance, new ABC Family Entertainment Group president Paul Lee did a pretty good job tap dancing around the controversial issues surrounding the departure of his … Read More »

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TCA: ABC Addresses Elephant In The Room

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday August 1, 2010 @ 9:43am PDTTags: ABC, ABC Paul Lee, Steve McPherson, Steve McPherson ABC, Steve McPherson Resignation, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

Today is ABC’s day at TCA. Of course, the abrupt resignation of Entertainment Group president Stephen McPherson on Tuesday was expected to be the predominant theme of the day. So ABC decided to tackle it head-on with an intro … Read More »

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Steve McPherson’s Lawyer Marty Singer Faxes Letter To The Hollywood Reporter Demanding “Apology And Retraction”

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday July 30, 2010 @ 6:33am PDTTags: Janice Min, Marty Singer, Steve McPherson, Steve McPherson ABC, Steve McPherson Lawyer, Steve McPherson Marty Singer, Steve McPherson Resignation, Steve McPherson Rumors, The Hollywood Reporter

EXCLUSIVE: Last night, at 9:13 PM, outgoing ABC Entertainment Group President Steve McPherson’s pit bull litigator Marty Singer faxed the following letter to The Hollywood Reporter. It accuses THR of becoming an “outrageous scandal sheet” now that former US magazine editor Janice Min and new publisher Lori Burgess are in charge. “It appears that … Read More »

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Steve McPherson Hires Pit Bull Marty Singer

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 29, 2010 @ 5:08pm PDTTags: Journalism, Marty Singer, Steve McPherson, Steve McPherson ABC, Steve McPherson Lawyer, Steve McPherson Marty Singer, Steve McPherson Resignation, Steve McPherson Rumors, The Hollywood Reporter, Trades

I hear that Steve McPherson, who resigned as ABC Entertainment Group president this week, has asked pit bull litigator Marty Singer to specifically target The Hollywood Reporter. If you haven’t noticed, the front page of THR is increasingly resembling TMZ as a Hollywood scandal sheet now that former US magazine … Read More »

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Steve McPherson’s Lawyer Goes On Record About “Rumors Of Internal Situations Easily Misinterpreted Or Misrepresented” At ABC

By NIKKI FINKE AND NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday July 28, 2010 @ 5:57pm PDTTags: ABC Entertainment Group, Steve Carell, Steve McPherson, Steve McPherson ABC, Steve McPherson Resignation, Steve McPherson Rumors

Ever since Deadline broke the news that Steve McPherson was resigning as ABC Entertainment Group President yesterday, emails have been sent to media outlets filled with rumors about his personal and/or professional behavior. Disney wouldn’t respond to Deadline’s requests … Read More »

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TCA: Notes From The CBS Exec Session

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday July 28, 2010 @ 9:42am PDTTags: Hawaii Five-0, Julie Chen, Nina Tassler, Sara Gilbert The Talk, Steve McPherson, TCA, TCA Nina Tassler, The Talk, Two and a Half Men
Nellie Andreeva

CBS is first up at TCA, so the network’s entertainment president Nina Tassler was the first to get the Steve McPherson question this morning. Asked to comment on McPherson’s exit from ABC yesterday, she said: “Dammit, he got out of … Read More »

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Numerological Irony: Steve McPherson & Ben Silverman Out On The Same Date

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday July 27, 2010 @ 8:55pm PDTTags: Ben Silverman, Ben Silverman NBC, Steve McPherson, Steve McPherson ABC, TCA, TCA Press Tour
Nellie Andreeva

Ben Silverman and Steve McPherson shared the most heated rivalry between broadcast toppers in recent years. Now, the two have something else to share: an exit date. On July 27, 2009, Silverman left NBC after a tumultuous 2-year stint. Today, July 27, 2010, McPherson departed ABC after a 6-year tenure … Read More »

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ABC Family’s Paul Lee Taking Over ABC Entertainment Group After President Steve McPherson Resigns

By NIKKI FINKE AND NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday July 27, 2010 @ 6:02pm PDTTags: ABC Entertainment Group, ABC Family, ABC Studios, Cable TV, Disney/ABC, Paul Lee, Paul Lee ABC Entertainment, Steve McPherson

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 … Read More »

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