Word: eisner
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...Eisner told a meeting of ABC affiliates that the poor February showing was "unacceptable" and vowed it "would never happen again." To insiders, that was code language for "Heads are going to roll." Eisner and Ovitz are "evaluating the team that's in place every day," says a well-placed ABC executive, who adds that the current development season, which will determine next fall's schedule, is key. Eisner has been reading some pilot scripts himself (his favorite: Spin, a DreamWorks sitcom starring Michael J. Fox as a big-city deputy mayor). Thought to be most vulnerable among the existing...
...contract by charging sexual harassment against the network's top West Coast executive, Don Ohlmeyer. McDermott's charges have been seen by some as a cynical ploy to free her for the ABC job. Insiders say Jack Welch, chairman of NBC's parent, General Electric, even contacted Eisner personally to complain about ABC's role in the episode...
...have so far been small but symbolic. A new E-mail system on ABC computers is decorated with Mickey and Minnie icons, and Disney's annual report prompted snickers by referring to Capital Cities/ABC employees, in traditional Disneyese, as "new cast members." At a corporate retreat in Phoenix, Arizona, Eisner and Ovitz joined in the wholesome fun as a group of ABC execs was dragged off to a bowling alley...
Behind the scenes, Eisner has been a visible and involved boss, paying visits to Capital Cities/ABC newspapers and radio stations and playing host (along with Ovitz) to a breakfast meeting with 50 top ABC News executives, producers and correspondents in New York City to reassure them that Disney will not interfere in the network's journalism. While Eisner has focused on programming, ABC sources say, Ovitz has concentrated more on dealmaking and strategic matters like international business and new technology...
...impact of the two Michaels--Me and Mo, as some Hollywood wags have begun calling them--will be even more apparent when ABC picks its fall schedule later this spring. Those trips to Space Mountain will get old fast, but Mr. Eisner's (and Mr. Ovitz's) Wild Ride is just beginning...