While at the TCA Press Tour, ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee talked about their current and upcoming projects. During the press tour he talked about Grey’s Anatomy, Suburgatory, Betrayal, Revenge, another Once Upon A Time spin-off and the network relationship with Marvel, Disney and LucasFilm.
What
will ABC’s relationship be with Marvel, going forward? Do you have other things actively in
development, or are you waiting to see how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does?
PAUL
LEE: We are loving this
relationship. We have lots of little
schemes, in the back of our mind. We
haven’t quite got one ready that we can announce yet. But the relationship with Marvel, and
actually with other Disney IP, across the company, is something that we’re
ambitious to build, absolutely.
Now
that LucasFilm is part of the family, have there been any conversations about
long-term plans that you might want to do there?
LEE: Yeah, I certainly have a glint in my
eye. Look, they have a lot on their
plate with the features that they’re planning and rolling out for the next few
years. But, we’ve started conversations
with them, and it would be nice to see, over the next few years, that we could
use other strong Disney IP, besides the ones lying behind S.H.I.E.L.D. I would love to go there. I’m a particular fan of LucasFilm. It’s an amazing world.
LEE: Well, we just fell in love with it. Partly, we were looking to build a real
block, on Thursday night, of empowered women.
This is Alice like you have never seen Alice before. She’s a truly kick-ass Alice. And our amazing creators with Adam [Horowitz]
and Eddie [Kitsis] have created a very, very interesting story. As we started to go down that rabbit hole, it
was a rabbit hole that I wanted to go down for the full season. They are excited about it. We have great showrunners on it, and we think
it’s going to be great on Thursday night.
Are
you considering any other Once Upon A Time spin-offs?
LEE: I think our guys have got a lot on their
plates. At this moment, we’re not
considering any other spin-offs. Once is
heading into the world of Neverland.
Peter Pan is going to be a fascinating character, and I think Adam and
Eddie have got a really good take on how the show continues, in that
direction. And then, we go down the
rabbit hole on Thursday nights at 8 o’clock, and I think they’re having lots of
fun with that. So, at this point, we’re
just concentrating on the two shows.
If
Rebel Wilson is known for being Australian, why does she have to be an American
in Super Fun Night?
LEE: No, it was actually Rebel’s choice to put on
an American accent, but she’s going to be fantastic at it. She’s actually extremely good at it, and she
has such a creative force. She’s one of
the writers, with John Riggi. She’s so
funny, and she brings such a presence to everything she does. She has an in-built fan base, who are already
very engaged with the show. So, it was
her choice, and we fully supported it.
LEE: I have to give Mike [Kelley] and Phillip
Noyce, who directed the pilot, credit because it was fabulous. I think we stumbled a little bit in second
season, but Mike is one of the great showrunners. What Sunil Nayar is bringing to us is a
slightly less complicated and really interesting take. I don’t know how much we’ve revealed, and
we’re not allowed to reveal anything, but the first episode back is a fantastic
episode, starting with a magnificent hook.
I think you’re going to see that one enjoying itself, in its third
season.
What
are your hopes for Betrayal?
LEE: Well, we’ve constructed it as a 13-episode
run and we’re really making it like a cable series, inasmuch as we are very
happy to push the boundaries on that show.
We do think that it’s going to be a more natural pairing with
Revenge. We think those two will sit
very well together. We’ll market them
both together. Revenge has a bright,
glossy, deliciousness about it, and Betrayal has a slow build that gives it a
different tone. On the other hand, I do
think the two of them are very well matched together, and we’re looking forward
to seeing the flow-through from those two.
Do
you have a timetable for how much longer Grey’s Anatomy will run?
LEE: Yeah, I think it should, and I hope it will,
go on for many, many years to come.
Shonda [Rhimes] is an extraordinary creative force. But, the reality is that she certainly is
planning a number of series out. She
will, as she always does, bring changes that are extraordinary. But, it is the #1 drama on television, when
you look at the C3s, and that’s an extraordinary accomplishment, after so many
years. So, we would like to see it on
the network for many years to some.
We’re very, very proud of it.
What
do you see as the future of Suburgatory?
LEE: We have a little inkling, in our mind, where
that show is going to go. I think Emily
Kapnek’s got an extraordinary voice.
She’s going to bring the show back to the fish-out-of-water story that
it was originally intended to be, and that the first season enjoyed. I know she’s having a lot of fun with it.
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