Susan Lyne atop ABC as Bloomberg exits network

The Walt Disney Co. moved to stanch the bleeding at ABC on Monday by promoting the network's highly regarded telefilm chief Susan Lyne to head of entertainment programming, while ABC Entertainment Television Group co-chairman Stu Bloomberg resigned his post after nearly 23 years at ABC.

Lyne moves from executive vp movies and miniseries to president of ABC Entertainment, a post that has been vacant since Jamie Tarses left the network in mid-1999. Lloyd Braun, who had been co-chair of ABC Entertainment alongside Bloomberg for the past 2 1/2 years, is now the sole chairman of the division that encompasses ABC's entertainment arm and the Touchstone Television production unit. Lyne will report to Braun.

Rumors that Bloomberg would resign from the network where he grew up as an executive have swirled for weeks, but sources said the final decision regarding his departure and Lyne's ascent came together quickly during the weekend. ABC's plunge in the Nielsen ratings this season has come at a time when Disney is under pressure on Wall Street and speculation is mounting about the company being a takeover target.

Observers of the latest executive shuffle at ABC note Monday that the network has endured management turmoil ever since Disney acquired ABC in 1995.

Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner and president and chief operating officer Robert Iger had faced much criticism in the industry and in the media for signing new long-term employment contracts with Bloomberg and Braun in the summer even as ABC's shortcomings in primetime snowballed, despite the yearlong respite provided in 1999-2000 by the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" phenomenon.

ABC has limped through the first part of the current season, its fall from first to fourth place in the Nielsen rankings compounded by a relatively lackluster new crop of shows and the softness of such veteran franchises as "The Drew Carey Show," "Dharma & Greg" and "Monday Night Football."

Sources said Bloomberg is considering a production deal with the studio as a means of settling out some of his contract, though an ABC news release issued Monday said only that he "would continue to make meaningful contributions to ABC's creative process."

Meanwhile, Lyne's promotion came as no surprise to the industry -- she has been a rising star at Disney ever since she joined the studio on the feature development side in 1996. And at a time when CBS and NBC have struggled to score in the longform arena, ABC has had a string of creative and commercial successes on Lyne's watch, including last year's best miniseries Emmy winner "Anne Frank" in addition to biopics on Judy Garland, the Beach Boys and the Three Stooges, the remake of "The Miracle Worker" and "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie," which earned the Emmy for best telefilm in 2000.

On Monday, Lyne acknowledged that ABC faces the formidable challenge of "rebuild(ing) the network night by night," adding that the key will be to foster strong relationships with top creative talent.

"I am someone that believes powerfully in developing and holding on to strong relationships with great producers and great talent -- it has been key to what we have done in the movies and miniseries division with (Winfrey's) Harpo, Stephen King, (Craig) Zadan and (Neil) Meron," Lyne said.

"I want to make ABC the first choice for anybody with a great piece of material, because we're the best network to work at -- that we protect people's creative vision, we launch shows well," Lyne said. "We have a great collection of people working at ABC, and I want to make the talent out there feel that all of these resources will be put to making their shows."

In a statement announcing the changes at ABC, Braun called Lyne "an enormous talent," citing her "great taste, commercial instincts and clarity of vision."

Kate Forte, president of Winfrey's Harpo Films unit, underscored that sentiment and had nothing but superlatives to describe Lyne.

"She's bold, she's creative, she's very smart, and she's unwavering in her support," said Forte, who worked closely with Lyne in developing "Tuesdays With Morrie" and "Amy & Isabelle," among other projects.

"I think really what makes her so unusual is that she absolutely goes with her instinct; she's never looking over her shoulder or comparing what she's doing to anybody else," Forte said.

Before joining ABC in March 1998, Lyne spent two years on the studio side as executive vp acquisitions, development and new business at Walt Disney Pictures and Television. Lyne previously made her mark in journalism as the founder and editor-in-chief of Premiere magazine and as a top editor of the Village Voice. Quinn Taylor, Lyne's No. 2 in movies and miniseries, is expected to succeed Lyne as head of ABC's longform division.

Bloomberg, who joined ABC in 1978, had spearheaded programming for the network since June 1997, when he was appointed chairman of ABC Entertainment in a corporate coup that brought him out from an East Coast-based programming post to be the boss of then-ABC entertainment president Tarses.

During his long run at ABC, Bloomberg helped develop such hits as "Webster," "Who's the Boss?" "The Wonder Years," "Roseanne," "Coach," "Home Improvement" and "NYPD Blue." Bloomberg got behind the network's experiment with "Millionaire" in the summer of 1999, but ABC has since had little luck developing new comedy and drama franchises.

Disney's Iger, who served as ABC's programming chief in the late 1980s and early '90s, cited Bloomberg's "rich legacy" in a statement issued Monday.

Added Lyne: "Stu has been my greatest ally here, and he has taught me so much about television. I will really miss him."