From the transcript of the ABC Executive Session, with Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment:
QUESTION: what about that
family? ABC had tremendous success with “T.G.I.F.” years
ago. Are you getting back to basics there?
STEPHEN McPHERSON: Well, no. I mean, it’s not something
that we necessarily do because, you know, we want to be
great people and give the family viewing opportunity. I
mean, one of the successes of “Idol” is that families
watch that together, and you can — if you have a young
kid who is watching it, you can watch it with your
grandmother. And I think that kind of success is
something we certainly want. I think, you know, we’ve
seen now that 8:00 is certainly a vibrant time period for
scripted stuff. I know that that was declared that that
wasn’t at some point. You know, 10:00, I think, can be
far more broad than just hard-edged drama, and 9:00,
obviously, is the sweet spot. But we are really
developing stuff that can appeal to the broadest
audience. And I do think that there is a shortage out
there of full family viewing experiences. So, as we are
developing stuff, if there are things that fall into that
category, absolutely, and then the things that don’t,
we’ll make part of other lineups.
Me, again. The above probably means that, no, the network isn’t specifically looking for family-friendly programming. My colleague Margie Barron asked that question. I don’t because I know I’m going to get that kind of non-answer. But I’m glad Margie asked. These guys need to be reminded that there is an audience for good family television.
That’s because McPherson is not in the business of providing family-friendly programming. He’s in the business of attracting viewers. We may be part of his audience, but we are not McPherson’s clients. The advertisers are, and they are not necessarily worried about family-friendly programming, but in selling their products to as many people as possible.
And while McPherson is dead-on right that there is a certain alchemy in creating a television program, as he put it earlier in the session, the bottom line is that good television pulls in viewers. Not shows that are merely edgy or violent or sexy. Which means there is plenty of room for good family-friendly programming. I’m not saying that’s all that has to be on. But we could certainly use more family-friendly programming.
Anne Louise Bannon
Your Family Viewer
