Image Credit: Alexandra Wyman/WireImage.comABC announced Tuesday that Steve McPherson has submitted his resignation as President, ABC Entertainment Group. McPherson, who has headed the entertainment division since 2004, released this statement today: “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 McPherson is expected to be announced shortly, the network announced, though multiple reports say that ABC Family President Paul Lee is expected to fill the bill. McPherson oversaw all of ABC’s primetime lineup, as well as its sister company ABC Studios.
The news about the shakeup in the executive suite comes only days before ABC is set to unveil its fall lineup to the nation’s TV critics and reporters at the annual Television Critics Tour in Beverly Hills. Rumors about McPherson’s departure hit a fever pitch this year after reports surfaced that Disney Chief Bob Iger was going to focus his attention on the network’s performance. ABC finished the season in third place among viewers (8.7 million) but was down 3 percent versus last year. It tied NBC for third place among adults 18-49, but was down 7%.
McPherson helped to build a promising new night of comedies on Wednesdays this year that included the critically beloved Modern Family - which is up for 14 Emmys on Aug. 29, including Outstanding Comedy. But success in finding another buzz-worthy drama in the vein of Lost has eluded the talented though sometimes volatile executive; V was renewed for a second season but its ratings remain low and FlashForward was canceled after only one year of heavy hype and disappointing viewership levels. Meanwhile, ABC’s once-hot shows like Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters are showing serious signs of age, and the network has yet to develop another big reality show in the vein of the still relevant Dancing with the Stars.
ABC’s fall lineup shows some promise: No Ordinary Family is a drama about a clan of superheroes and it stars Michael Chiklis, one of the most sought-after actors during this development season.
hm idk much about how this all works, but a guy from ABC family taking over? that doesn’t sound too good. a lot of the shows i watch are on ABC so i hope this doesn’t mean bad things.
Oh yay we’re going to get shows about teen mothers on ABC. Not real teen moms but teen moms who have a real hard time finding a date!
I actually watched more ABC in the past year than I ever have.
Also, why the expectations of another Lost? A show like that is rare. If you expect every show to have that “buzz” then you’ll end up with a schedule full of FlashForwards, good premise that can sustain itself because it’s trying to hard to “buzz worthy”
You’re exactly right. Lost was lightning in a bottle for ABC.
Um, Lost didn’t sustain the high levels of viewership anyway. 1st season average 15 million viewers, the last season average 10 million. The buzz bigger than the ratings bye the end of the show.
True, but 10 million viewers are still good numbers.. Lost DVD sales and merchandise did very well as well as international viewership.
For a serial scifi drama, LOST held it’s numbers quite well.
If this is the guy who won’t run the last two episodes of Better Off Ted, who cancelled Pushing Daisies, Life On Mars, and Eastwick while keeping the godawful Private Practice on for four seasons, then good riddance!
private practice is still on because people watch it, unlike the other four shows you mentioned.
When Private Practice had to stand on its own, nobody watched it. It should have died with the writer’s strike. They could show the corpse of MacLean Stevenson after Grey’s Anatomy and it would get the same ratings.
private practice had excellent ratings during it’s first season. when it came back from that huge break, had so-so ratings that got revived after being placed behind grey’s. pushing daisies and life on mars (which was after grey’s anatomy!) started sinking right after their premieres. and there were other shows too like big shots and six degrees that were after grey’s anatomy and failed. putting PP and GA together was the smartest move they made.
those got canceled because of their miserable ratings. any network would cancel those shows with the terrible numbers they were getting. private practice was doing well and after being paired with grey’s anatomy, reached new heights. and it’s only been on for three seasons. and it’s not “godawful.” the show took a while to find it’s footing, but it now has and this past season was excellent.
you could also think of him as the guy who took a chance to greenlight all those shows you mentioned.
So true, excellent point.
I agree completely Pushing Daisies was the worst cancelling EVER!!!! Maybe a new boss can bring it back, also ABC needs to get more flexible with new shows, they are not getting better ratings than old shows, people are watching less tv this days and they should keep the shows for those that actually see them!
Sorry but that ship has long sailed. Pushing Daisies is history.
Incredibly I still resent the cancelling of Pushing Daisies, sorry if I am annoying but thats how it is.
IF more artsy fartsy people would watch these ‘whimsical shows’
, then they woudn’t get cancelled! How about watching instead of pirating the shows online? Or watching more than once? Or telling more people about the shows?
I was kind of with you until you mentioned Eastwick, which was just plain awful. At least the other shows you mentioned were well-loved despite their lackluster ratings. Eastwick was candy corn.
I’m with shamus on this. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out McPherson.
Right on. This guy has made many mistakes that go past just the last season. After the handling of Pushing Daisies, well I only watched ABC for LOST.
Exactly! Can I kick him in the a$@ on the way out? That was for ‘Pushing Daisies’ and ‘Life on Mars’.
They both stank as shows. And no ratings means shows will be canceled unless there is critical acclaim. Which they didn’t have. So they were rightfully canceled.
Ick! Any show of quality that EVER aired on ABC Family,was taken away.
Not a fan of Mr. Lee.
REALLY hope they find another!
This is the guy that fired Brooke Smith from Grey’s and ruined several other shows. Bout freaking time he left.
Damon and Carlton were always very positive about their interactions with McPherson, and he made the bold move of agreeing to Lost’s end date. He did make some stupid decisions this year in regards to mid-season hiatuses for both V and Flashforward, but overall I think he’s been a good thing for ABC.
ABC was an absolute joke of a network when McPherson got the job, and he’s really brought it back to a competitive standpoint.
People complain that “he” cancelled these great shows and “let” other terrible shows continue. It’s all about ratings. Shows like Pushing Daisies and Better Off Ted had fairly awful ratings and the only people you can blame are the millions of Americans who decide to tune in to Private Practice instead of these shows. And you can’t make an argument about time slots necessarily. You can’t put Better Off Ted right behind Lost. They have different audiences. That’s why Private Practice got the post-Grey’s slot. It’s called being a smart executive and turning a profit so your network can greenlight more ambitious television. Good luck to this guy – if it weren’t for him, ABC wouldn’t be anywhere where it is today.
McPherson gave Better Off Ted a second season, when its first season ratings were some of the very worst on primetime TV. He renewed Alias back in the day, even though ratings were below mediocre, simply out of loyalty to the showrunners who had kept the network afloat before he got there.
Different audiences? I loved them both.
The network has went downhill since McP took over. Thankfully the one before him greenlighted the few shows that ABC had during his term that were hits other than reality shows.
To hear tell of it over on the Oliver Stone board, McPherson is no doubt stepping aside so that a Jew can take his place, thus ensuring the takeover and domination of public airwaves by those of the Jewish faith.
Well people like you are bringing America to ruin with blaming others for your problems. All countries that did this collapsed.
Who’s people like me? And what problems am I blaming others for that are bringing about the ruination of America?
He made great pick ups for series but didint keep any of them! And now all the shows are overrated or unoriginal, I mean remember Pushing Daisies, Eli stone, Eastwick and more, and he didnt let them have a proper ending!!!
Pushing Daisies should still be brought back.. Hear me ABC?! What did you do to Better Off Ted? There were finally some great, quality shows on and because of bad promotion and strikes, the better ones suffer? How could they keep garbage on like Private Practice and then come up with even dumber, unoriginal concepts. Lawyers, police and doctors are the only interesting professions out there? Try pie maker again!
I agree completely!!! Pushing Daisies should be back! He didn’t give the show at least one more episode to wrap things up, and yes the police, doctors and lawyers are unoriginal now. So I second my friend D: bring the Pie Maker back!!!
good riddance he was a jerk who ruined all the good shows on abc but kept crap like private practice and let greys have ghosts have sex
terrible ratings killed the “good shows.” not him.
and why did they get terrible ratings???? who’s in charge? HIM
so? it’s not his fault if people didn’t come back to watch those shows
If this is the guy who instituted the regular months-long hiatus for shows when they just started getting good, who didn’t bother to promote some shows and then kept preempting them, and who couldn’t wait beyond a couple of weeks for shows to find an audience – it is his fault. These practices are so ridiculous, it’s no wonder the network has fallen.
Sounds fishy…resigning just before the Television Critics Tour? Probably nottt the best idea.
I, like many other people, decided to never again invest in another ABC series for fear of it being ripped off the air before it could find its footing. Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Flash Forward (especially after hiatus) and of COURSE, Better Off Ted, were given awful lead-ins, on horrible nights, in terrible time slots, and were never given a real chance. One thing I’ll say about NBC and CBS, they are patient and give shows a chance to grow. NCIS, the number one show, didn’t start out that way. It worked its way up and found viewers. ABC now has a reputation of yanking good shows. I know I’ve seen people post on message boards that they will never again get invested in an ABC show for that very reason. Count me in.
there’s plenty of good shows on all networks that got canceled for their poor ratings and never had proper endings. it’s not just ABC. pushing daisies, eli stone, and flash forward all had lots of hype and promotion. and all three of them had very high-rated series premieres. it’s the audience that either just went away or slowly dwindled every week. eli stone and pushing daisies even got renewed for 2nd seasons. they just were not that loved by everyone. also, NCIS may have worked it’s way to the top, but it always had good ratings. and NBC has no choice since it’s overall ratings are in the dump.
Bring back Ugly Betty!
Seriously? Betty had a shelf life and it expired. Amazing, wonderful show but the premise was silly with “ugly” Betty getting more suitors than any of the other characters. Made NO sense. The fourth season should have been the second and last.
sounds like someone is jealous of a fictional character. There is more to a relationship than outside looks…which is what the series was essentially about.
I’m sorry. Private Practice is a lousy show and I gave up on Grey’s Anatomy ages ago. Several shows I did like on ABC were cancelled. I do watch Brothers and Sisters but I’m sure that will be cancelled soon, too. There are several other good shows on USA Network and cable so I don’t have to waste my time watching ABC. I do like Modern Family and Cougar Town but I’m not going to go out of my way to watch them.
PP and GA make $$$, this isn’t PBS. And watch your frigging shows more, don’t ‘wish’ for ratings.
And btw, if ‘Pushing Daisies’ was still on, the same fans would complain about tiny plot points and scream ‘it’s not as good as first season and it’s jumped the shark’.
If a show stays on, it’s ‘jts’, if off the air from low ratings, then screaming for blood.
Bring back Eli Stone!!! I want to see “Live Brave”.