TCA Press Tour: ABC

Hello Folks

Gathered from various sources, here's what went down in ABC's portion of the TCA Summer Press Tour - which also includes ABC Family, of course.

- Well first off, ABC Communications chief Kevin Brockman brought in a pink elephant, to the laughter of many. The "elephant in the room" was of course the switch on the top, with Steve McPherson having exited his post as entertainment president, and former ABC Family chief Paul Lee now officially announced as his replacement. And from what I gather, he did very well without saying much.

- OK, that one above is normally part of the stuff I tend to skip, but it was cute. Anyway, let's go to the juicy bits now, shall we? - Or, better, a semi-juicy bit. Paul Lee acknowledged that canceling shows with a small, but loyal following is hard. Point in case: "The Middleman". Even Lee "loved" that show, and he still gets letters, but "we are all slaves to ratings", he said. Yeah, and we viewers are all slaves to the networks and their sometimes questionable decisions regarding their shows, but we get you, Paul…

- Don't worry, Lee said he won't be making changes on the fall schedule, saying that late changes could only hurt the launch of the new season. "We're all locked and loaded."

- OK, but now, the really juicy bits. Balthazar Getty is off "Brothers & Sisters" - effective immediately. When the show returns for its fifth season on September 26, Tommy Walker will be MIA. His absence, which was a "creative decision", will be explained in the episode. How about "Where's Tommy?" - "Don't know."- "Oh…OK."

- Nathan Lane has booked a guest starring spot on "Modern Family". In an early episode of season two, he is set to play Cam's extravagant friend, Pepper.

- Don't expect ABC to become more like ABC Family now because of Lee at the helm. He knows about different programming environments, having run BBC America earlier.

- Steve Levitan of "Modern Family" wishes his show would not be available online - because those views aren't properly monetized. He lobbies that roughly two million viewers watch the show on other media than ad-supported TV. Well, take a hint from The CW, Steve… they tried it with "Gossip Girl". Result: Zilch. No better ratings. But a lot of bad propaganda from the fans…

- Paul Lee certainly loves "Modern Family": “I feel very, very lucky that I what I consider to be the best new comedy on television is on this network."

- Matthew Perry hopes for some "Friends" stunt casting around the third season of his new show "Mr. Sunshine". Well, we gotta hand it to him, he's optimistic…

- About his character on "Mr. Sunshine", Perry quipped: "“This character was my life five years ago. I’m very in touch with that kind of selfish guy who wants a better life.” And on his movie success, or better, lack thereof, in the past years: "“You can tell how successful my movies have been by the fact that I’m here.” Take that, TV!

- On "No Ordinary Family" being a clone between "Heroes" and "The Incredibles", its star Michael Chikis responded: "This is "No Ordinary Family". It’s a fun throwback to some of the action-adventure shows I used to watch and love as a kid blended with a family show." So, yeah, completely different…

- On being asked what turned him to "No Ordinary Family" after his much more violent part in "The Shield", Chiklis said: "“I had an opportunity to do something that had mass appeal. I want to entertain people -- 8, 18 or 80 (years old) appealed to me."
Fine, just don't beat anyone with chains now, OK? Because that would be hard to explain to an 8-year old…

- JoAnna Garcia confessed that it was her who recruited Jennifer Finnigan to play her sister in "Better For You". And Finnigan made sure Josh Cooke plays her boyfriend. OK, now we really know why so many fresh actors with no connections don't get any jobs…

- New series "My Generation" launches in the very competitive timeslot of Thursday at 8. Exec producer Warren Littlefield of cours knows that. “It’s a very competitive world. It’s not just about the network choices; each household has a hundred other channels. We don’t ask for guarantees. We know there are no guarantees. We respect that it’s a tough time period. The only thing we can do is do the best possible show we can.” Don't they all?

- Dana Delany said while doing research for her new show "Body Of Proof", she also went to witness an autopsy. "It’s fantastic. It will make you take care of your body.” And sure is less expensive than all those Pilates classes…

- "Detroit 1-8-7" will undergo major retooling to remove the docu-style approach of the show. The reason: The highly publicized shooting of a 7-year old during a police raid, with a camera crew from A&E's "First 48" filming the whole thing. Detroit has now banned news crew ride-alongs with law enforcement, which forced producers of "Detroit 1-8-7" to adapt their way of storytelling.

OK, that's a wrap. FOX is up to close things off for the broadcast networks today.