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Profile of Stephen Mcpherson
 

Stephen Mcpherson

 
Pres., ABC Entertainment - ABC Television Studio
 
Stephen Mcpherson Email :
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Company Name : ABC Television Studio
 
Company Website : www.abc.go.com
 
Company Address : 500 S Buena Vista St.
, Burbank, CA,
United States,
 
Stephen Mcpherson Profile :
Pres., ABC Entertainment - ABC Television Studio
 
Stephen Mcpherson Biography :

As president of ABC Entertainment, Stephen McPherson has been the driving force behind the network’s primetime comeback, with a strategy focused on quality content and a willingness to rebuild and redirect key units, including drama, alternative, development and marketing to support and deliver that content.

Mr. McPherson assumed his current role in April 2004 and has led ABC into a new era. This fall, without the benefit of Monday Night Football, ABC won the November Sweep within the key demo of Adults 18-49 for the first time in seven years. Under Mr. McPherson’s guidance, ABC became a primetime force on Thursday nights and launched the break-out hit of the 2006 season, the critically acclaimed Ugly Betty.Ugly Betty is the most-watched new comedy of the season on any network with both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. The show’s success is a result of Mr. McPherson’s winning strategy for Fall, implementing strong and innovative marketing campaigns and using the promotional platform of returning hit shows to provide a strong launch for the freshman series.

For the 2004-05 season -- his first at ABC Entertainment -- Mr. McPherson leveraged his studio success to anchor ABC’s primetime lineup with two shows he developed at Touchstone, Lost and Desperate Housewives. Spurred by the victory of these new series, as well as the immense popularity of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC achieved the largest season-to-season increase in viewers among the key young adult demographic of any major network in the last 25 years.

Mr. McPherson continued the momentum into the 2005-06 season, when another of his Touchstone projects, Grey’s Anatomy, became the nation’s No. 1 show and the new alternative series, Dancing with the Stars, became a cultural phenomenon. Under his leadership, ABC delivered improved ratings across the primetime schedule for the second season in a row.

Mr. McPherson reports to Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president, Disney-ABC Television Group, and is responsible for all development, current programming, late-night, marketing, and scheduling for the Entertainment division of the ABC Television Network.

Prior to joining ABC, he was president of Touchstone Television, where he guided Touchstone Television to the three best development seasons in the company’s history. In that role, he led the development and production of the division’s network primetime series, specials and films, and was responsible for all day-to-day operations of the studio. He originally joined Touchstone as an executive vice president of the studio.

During his tenure at Touchstone, Mr. McPherson developed several other successful series for the network, including: Alias,8 Simple Rules,According to Jim,My Wife and Kids,Hope & Faith,Less than Perfect,Once and Again and The Job.

He and his team also developed the successful CSI drama franchise and the award-winning alternative series Amazing Race for CBS, as well as NBC’s critically acclaimed comedy, Scrubs, and Monk, which became a hit for the USA network.

Prior to joining Touchstone Television, Mr. McPherson was vice president, Primetime Series at NBC, where he oversaw the development and production of such shows as NewsRadio and Just Shoot Me. Before joining NBC, he was senior vice president, Creative Affairs of ABC Productions, where he supervised both comedy and drama series, including My So Called Life and The Commish. He also served as director, Current Programming for FOX, where he helped launch Martin and The Ben Stiller Show. He began his industry career as director of Development for Witt-Thomas-Harris Productions.

Mr. McPherson has been recognized for his achievements and honored with several awards, including the Directors Guild of America’s 2005 Diversity Award, honoring his outstanding commitment to and leadership in the hiring of women and minorities in DGA categories. This is only the fourth time that the Award has been bestowed. This past August he received the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Committee on Diversity’s first Televisionary Award in recognition of his commitment to diversity both on-screen and behind the scenes in the 2004-05 television season. He received the Executive of the Year Award for 2005 from the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors for his contribution to the industry. He was also named the 2006 Television Showman of the Year at the International Cinematographers Guild 43rd Annual Publicists Awards in March, in recognition of his outstanding stewardship of the network in 2005.

Mr. McPherson’s efforts extend beyond the television industry. In addition to being honored by the Los Angeles Free Clinic at its Annual Dinner Gala in 2005, he is also an active member of its board.

Mr. McPherson is a graduate of Cornell University, with a BA in Political Science.

 
Stephen Mcpherson Colleagues :
Name Title Email

Anne Sweeney

Co - Chmn., Disney Media Networks, Pres., Disney - ABC Television Group Please login

Deborah Blackwell

Exec. VP, GM, Soapnet Please login

Kevin Brockman

Sr. VP, Communications, Disney - ABC Television Group Please login

Albert Cheng

Exec. VP, Digital Media, Disney - ABC Television Group Please login

Peter Dicecco

Sr. VP, Business, Legal Affairs, Music, the Disney - ABC Television Group Please login


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