Nina Tassler, the CBS Entertainment chief who was first to meet with the TV Critics Association when sessions formally began Wednesday in Beverly Hills, began by saying “it was a terrific year for us.”
But later, she seemed to be admiring the sudden departure of her ABC counterpart Steve McPherson this week. as far as Steve goes, I said, “Damn it, he got out of doing press tour. I think that was his whole motivation.”
She may not have been kidding.
In her own job, she added, “stability is a good thing.” But she also said, “we’re restless and motivated, and, as I like to say, paranoid. And as we turn the page to a new season, we’re continuing to mix up all different resources for what inspires our hit shows.”
She pointed out the different roads several of the new CBS shows took to their place on the fall schedule.
One new comedy “$#@! My Dad Says” is what she calls “the first show ever based on a Twitter feed.
“ ‘The Defenders’ was originally a reality series in development at Fox about two real-life Vegas attorneys. It was pitched to us as a reality series, and we didn’t quite see it that way. We loved the characters but used it as an inspiration to develop a scripted drama.”
And for the remade “Hawaii Five-0,” Tassler says, “we tapped into our library of remakes to develop a reboot of the series.”
Even the new, untitled women’s daytime talk show “came from Sara Gilbert, inspired by a mommy group she had in her living room.”
What she called “great diversity in resource source material for our new shows” grew out of successes CBS had this past season, “when our freshman hits were a spin-off, a character drama inspired by recent tabloid headlines, and a reality format from across the pond that hadn’t even aired yet when we bought it.”
That would be: “NCIS: L.A.,” “The Good Wife” and “Undercover Boss.”
“You just never know where your next hit is going to come from, and as the world gets smaller and online and social media gets bigger, the pool of potential ideas and source material is going to expand dramatically. It’s an exciting time to be a creative executive in TV.”