TV in 3: Dana Walden’s Reorg Winners — and Who Got Layered; ‘Pitt’ Politics
I decipher Disney’s latest ‘consolidation of power’; plus, Carol Mendelsohn on her Fox Bible series, ‘The Faithful’
I wrote about who slayed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, interviewed creator Bill Lawrence, dug into Jeff Shell’s absence at Paramount and mapped the org chart from hell looming at Paramount-Warners. Email me at lesley.goldberg@theankler.com
Happy spring, Series Business readers!
The World Baseball Classic is in the books (wow, what a great tournament!), and MLB’s Opening Day — on Netflix and now officially with home run king Barry Bonds! — is less than a week away. I am hyped!
One place that’s not hyped right now? Disney. ABC just killed the upcoming season of The Bachelorette after a hard-to-watch video surfaced featuring its star, Taylor Frankie Paul (from Hulu’s breakout The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which has now paused production on its fifth season) involved in a domestic dispute with her husband. The network was obviously aware of the incident involving the woman at the center of two of Disney’s biggest unscripted hits after her arrest featured on the premiere episode of Wives in 2024. But sources tell me Disney — and presumably Warner Bros. Television, which produces the franchise — hadn’t seen the 2023 video leaked Thursday, in which Paul throws barstools at her then-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, with one of her children (from her marriage to Tate Paul) sitting nearby. The controversy, which could cost Disney millions in lost ad revenue, capped a week that saw Disney also face backlash over the spiking of Hulu’s Buffy pilot, Oscar ratings hit a four-year low and an announced reorg (more on that soon) that will undoubtedly lead to layoffs. Welcome to your new gigs, Josh and Dana!
In today’s column, I read the tea leaves of that Disney reorg and speak with The Pitt showrunner R. Scott Gemmill about (spoiler alert!) Thursday night’s ICE episode. Lastly, I take a deep dive with former CSI boss Carol Mendelsohn and her longtime producing partner, Julie Weitz, about moving from procedurals to stories of women in the Bible with Fox’s The Faithful.
Let’s get into it.