All Time Worst Television Network/Channel Executives

[TMC1982]

It could either be from the past or present, cable or broadcast. Which major TV executive was the most incompetent at the job, and did the most damage to their respective network's reputation and/or progress (for example, Fred Silverman during his time at NBC in the late 1970s-early 1980s)?

 

[boydston_14]

Dawn Ostroff at the CW.

 

[dsfjr1190]

It's Dawn Ostroff of the CW Network. No one else even comes close to matching her incompetence.

 

[Jolly Rolly]

I guess one would have to know what executive is from what network to make comparisons, I only know of Brandon Tartikoff because he hosted SNL and was on Saved By The Bell.

 

[Sawyer]

Who ever was working at Fox between about 1997-2008.

"Lets cancel EVERYTHING!!! YAAAYYY!"

 

[TMC1982]

I guess one would have to know what executive is from what network to make comparisons, I only know of Brandon Tartikoff because he hosted SNL and was on Saved By The Bell.

The dog on Punky Brewster was also named after Brandon Tartikoff.

 

[Manic]

Who ever was working at Fox between about 1997-2008.

"Lets cancel EVERYTHING!!! YAAAYYY!"

Yes. It's like cancelling shows was an addiction for them. Between the poorly promoted new shows ("Firefly, premiering this week on Fox. No, we're not going to tell you the day or time."), shows constantly shifting time slots ("We don't understand why Arrested Development can't find an audience! By the way, we've moved it from Sunday to Wednesday. I mean Tuesday. Monday now. Oops, cancelled!"), not adjusting due to sports (Futurama came on at 7:00pm on Sundays, and always got preempted by football. King of the Hill is only on the air because it came on at 7:30), and renew/cancel flip flopping (both Married With Children and Tru Calling were renewed for new seasons, then cancelled over the summer. The Married w/Children cast found out while they were waiting for filming to start, and Tru Calling found out while in the middle of filming its new season), it was almost as if the network was being run by diabolical maniacs who wanted to run it into the ground.

 

[PyroChamber]

It's Dawn Ostroff of the CW Network. No one else even comes close to matching her incompetence.

Ah yes, she was the one who said she wanted CW to cater to young women, which is was why they got rid of Smackdown.

And let's not forget pretty much all the "music channels".

 

[Jennifer Walters]

For some reason when Ostroff became the head of CW after being the head of UPN all those years before hand, she lost her flipping mind. No network should cater to one general audience period. Not even ****ing MTV.

 

[Manic]

And let's not forget pretty much all the "music channels".

I think we can narrow that down to the executives running a single company: Viacom. MTV, VH1, and BET are all owned by Viacom. Three TV networks that have abandoned their original intentions in favor of making more money off of reality TV shows and reruns of terrible shows.

 

[PyroChamber]

I think we can narrow that down to the executives running a single company: Viacom. MTV, VH1, and BET are all owned by Viacom. Three TV networks that have abandoned their original intentions in favor of making more money off of reality TV shows and reruns of terrible shows.

Don't forget Fuse.

 

[Manic]

You can still find music videos on Fuse, though. There's a 3-hour Top 40 block of videos on right now, followed by a 1-hour 'Pop' music countdown, a half hour of Rihanna videos, a half hour of Nickelback, a 1-hour 'Rock' countdown, an hour of videos from 1993, a 1-gour countdown of the best leading men from bands, a 'Hip-Hop' countdown, an 'Alternative' countdown, followed by an airing of Bram Stocker's Dracula.

That's Fuse for the next 12 hours. Dracula is the one thing on there that isn't music related, and the list of leading men is about music with no actual music videos.

Fuse is exactly what MTV should be.

 

[Phatman]

Dawn Ostroff at the CW. She's turned that network into Lifetime lite and Last place in the ratings.

Jeff Zucker at NBC: He ran on the fumes of Friends and Frasier and has turned a top rated network into a last place dud. Instead of developing fresh shows He's running the network on the cheap with no creativity or imagination.

No original sitcoms, rehashes of old shows like Knight Rider, stupid shows like Chuck, too much reality like Biggest Loser, and WAY too much Law & Order. He Thinks running Jay Leno at 10 is a better option than running fresh content. Under him NBC stands for Nothing But Crap.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Whatever genius pulled the plug on Firefly.

 

[carrrnuttt]

...stupid shows like Chuck...

I beg to differ on that specific one.

 

[Sawyer]

Dawn Ostroff at the CW. She's turned that network into Lifetime lite and Last place in the ratings.

Jeff Zucker at NBC: He ran on the fumes of Friends and Frasier and has turned a top rated network into a last place dud. Instead of developing fresh shows He's running the network on the cheap with no creativity or imagination.

No original sitcoms, rehashes of old shows like Knight Rider, stupid shows like Chuck, too much reality like Biggest Loser, and WAY too much Law & Order. He Thinks running Jay Leno at 10 is a better option than running fresh content. Under him NBC stands for Nothing But Crap.

Congrats at failing out of control.

 

[Phatman]

Congrats at failing out of control.

Just don't like Chuck. It's part of what's wrong at NBC. A mediocre show that focuses on a single gimmick as opposed to storytelling. After said gimmick starts to get stale like cough *Heroes* , the show falls apart.

If this show were doing so well why does Big Bang theory crush it in the ratings and Dancing with the Stars curb stomps what remains?

NBC is dead last behind FOX; mediocre shows like this are the reason why they can't get a foothold competitvely.

 

[superhero]

i say who ever runs tv land. they dumped all the classic show for realitytrash like shesgot the look or high shcool reuion. i don't really like nick at nite much. i mostly watch it for home inprovment and family matters. sometimes i watch gergeo lopez.

 

[Sam Fisher]

Other than Smallville and Supernatural, CW pretty much sucks.

 

[Sawyer]

Other than Smallville and Supernatural, CW pretty much sucks.

I've got a soft spot for One Tree Hill, but yeah, the rest of CW's shows are ****.

 

[The Apatow Crew]

Other than Smallville and Supernatural, CW pretty much sucks.

Pretty much, yeah.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I'll be honest everything on CW sucks and I only watch it for two guilty pleasures, 90210 and America's Next Top Model (which it has gotten stale to the point I barely watch it).

Fox has nothing I watch except Dollhouse, Terminator, and Family Guy.

I watch NOTHING on CBS.

NBC is pretty much just Heroes.

I think ABC is actually the channel that has the majority of shows I watch on it.

 

[Sawyer]

I think only old people watch CBS...

 

[TMC1982]

i say who ever runs tv land. they dumped all the classic show for realitytrash like shesgot the look or high shcool reuion. i don't really like nick at nite much. i mostly watch it for home inprovment and family matters. sometimes i watch gergeo lopez.

When I come to think about this thread a bit more, this is in a sense, an extension of an earlier thread concerning once great cable channels that have sense hit a wall (TV Land is definitely one of them).

 

[<(o_o)>]

Other than Smallville and Supernatural, CW pretty much sucks.

The CW is bringing Reaper back in March so their not entirely bad.