UPDATE 5:10 PM: Details to follow. The ABC Entertainment Group president overseeing both ABC network and ABC Studios has been in the job since January 2009 overseeing ABC Entertainment since 2004. Our understanding is that there is no immediate replacement. 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.
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.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Stephen McPherson Resigning from ABC!
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