The closest thing we’ve ever heard to a television exec telling the truth was when a certain ABC V.P. sighed and told the showrunner of a very popular ABC show, “Okay, go ahead and do it your way. But if anyone asks I’ll say I told you not to.”
And, yes, the executive did just that, with the showrunner standing beside him.
Still, though, we want to believe what execs like the guy below say. Especially when they say things like this:
“Smart Is The New Mainstream” For TV, ABC Entertainment’s Paul Lee Says
By DAVID LIEBERMAN“Storytelling itself has changed becuse [sic] our viewers have changed,” ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee said this morning at his opening presentation for the Banff World Media Festival in Canada. ”Smart is the new mainstream….If the message of 20 years ago was famously never over-estimate the intelligence of the public, I think the message of today should be never under-estimate the intelligence of the public.”