Following NBC and FOX, ABC entertainment president Paul Lee took the stage at the TCA winter press tour to grade his network’s fall season and discuss the future. “We have a lot to shout about, and we also have a lot to do,” is how he kicked off the conversation.” He also said, “We were disappointed there weren’t any big breakout hits on broadcast, including ABC.” I guess he opted to ignore NBC’s Revolution when he went with that self-deprecating jab. He expressed concerns with cancelled dramas like Last Resort and 666 Park Avenue and the faltering Dancing with the Stars, but he also praised low-rated comedies Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 and shared his excitement for Joss Whedon’s Marvel series S.H.I.E.L.D. For the full scoop see the bullet-point breakdown after the break.
- On the cancellations of Last Resort and 666 Park Avenue: “We had a very passionate male audience. We did not connect with women,” Lee admitted regarding Last Resort‘s inability to reach a wide viewership. The failure of 666 Park Ave. came as ” a surprise to us because it tracked so well early on in awareness and in intent-to-view,” he said. Last Resort airs its series finale January 24 and Lee promises an exciting, satisfying conclusion. He did not comment on when viewers might see the remaining three installments of 666, though the latest reports say they’ll air in the summer.
- On the faltering Dancing with the Stars: “We found out people like to see bad dancing as much as they like to see good dancing,” he said. Despite the fall in the ratings, “We still intend to keep it going twice a year,” Lee shared. “It’s still a big, broad crowd-pleaser. We think there’s a lot of life left in it.”
- On the futures of low-rated Tuesday night comedies Happy Endings and Apt. 23: “We love those two shows, which are incredibly distinctive, water cooler shows,” he said. The decision to keep or can these shows hasn’t been made yet, but Lee reiterated that the network is a fan of them both. He also talked about the decision to air them twice a week, on Tuesday nights and Sunday nights. “It’s slightly a cable play to get people to sample the shows.”
- On Scandal‘s buzz: The drama “is rocking and rolling,” he said. “[Creator] Shonda [Rhimes] is passionate about this show. It’s a huge credit to her that it’s so different from Grey’s.”
- On Revenge‘s sophomore season: Lee admits that the show got too “big” this year. “I know [series creator] Mike Kelley is excited about focusing on our lead characters and their emotional journey,” he said. He went on, “The great thing about Revenge is that it grew in ratings, and it’s a broader show.”
- On the Friday night lineup that includes Malibu Country and Last Man Standing: It’s “a great first step with family comedies on Friday.”
- On Seth MacFarlane hosting the Oscars: “He wants to be there,” Lee said. “And I think he’s going to bring a lot of that energy to [the show]. I think he brings a really contemporary feel. He’ll have a lot of fun. I may be proven wrong, but I’m really bullish about it.”
- On violence in TV: “Our job is always to get a sense of what the culture is feeling,” he said. “We welcome the conversation as to how we as a culture can make sure these events don’t happen again. We are tremendously sensitive to this issue; we think about it and talk about it all the time. We are storytellers, but we want to make sure that the stories we tell are done with moral integrity.”
- And of course he was bombarded with questions about ABC’s in-the-works Marvel series S.H.I.E.L.D. “My boss Bob Iger buys Marvel, and how wonderful is it for ABC to be able to use the core talent from that and not use the Marvel brand but the Avengers franchise for a show that is not exactly about the Avengers but is attached to it?” Lee expressed his confidence that the show from Avengers director and geek god Joss Whedon will get picked up to series. “We fast-tracked [the pilot], and we’ll see it a lot earlier than the others. We’re very hopeful that’s going to go to series…It’s a great script…I can tell you it’s a great story.” He went on, “We’d love to see S.H.I.E.L.D. go not just from pilot to series but to last a long time.” He describes the pilot as “very Joss” and added, “You know how Joss is so high, low? He’s able to be intense and epic and suddenly funny and silly. He’s got that ability to be super-entertaining and yet super-educated.” Lee admitted that the series could land on Sunday nights and be tagged with fairytale drama Once Upon a Time, but due to its all-encompassing nature it could theoretically fall anywhere on ABC’s schedule. “Marvel has the ability to bring the whole family around it,” he said. “Joss has great relationships around it. There’s a lot of real funny male-female relationships and flirtations, but it’s also Joss and Marvel, so there’s a lot of action to it.” In terms of scheduling, “There’s no questionS.H.I.E.L.D. could go at 8, it absolutely could go on Sunday, but it could go at 9 and 10 as well.” He revealed that Joss is already working on additional scripts so if the show gets picked up and Joss gets busy making films there’ll be a batch of already-written episodes to pick at. Said Lee: “For us to have Joss Whedon not only [attached to] the show but passionate about the show, directing and writing the pilot…he’s already working on the scripts. We shot it in LA to make sure he’s free to work on it across his TV and feature life.” He revealed, “We’re developing a lot of Marvel shows. Marvel is just huge for us as an opportunity. We did it with Once Upon A Time, and we’re doing it with S.H.I.E.L.D., doing shows that can really help widen the Walt Disney Company.” He elaborated, “The ABC brand is not the Disney brand, it’s not the Pixar brand, and it’s not the Marvel brand. But it’s really fun in this job to be part of a company that owns so many strong brands and be able to help build and reinvigorate some of those brands.”