New President of Discovery/TLC is Gay

[toejamflipflop]

If this hasn't been posted yet please post or merge with correct post. TLC Discovery has a new President and he's gay. I saw the picture of him and his mate somewhere on the net. I wonder if he will crack the whip and tighten the reins on the 19 kids and Counting show. Rich Ross, is now the President of Discover/TLC. He is in charge of branding strategy.

[jerkit]

#awkward

[BrownieMomma]

I thought Eileen O'Neill was president

corporate.discovery.com/leadership/eileen-oneill/

In August 2014, Eileen O’Neill was named to the newly created position of Global Group President, Discovery Studios, which she will assume in March 2015.

[Firiel]

Link?

[toejamflipflop]

http://corporate.discovery.com/discover ... president/

Rich Ross

Nationality American

Alma mater University of Pennsylvania

Fordham University School of Law

Occupation President of Discovery Channel Discovery Channel

Spouse(s) Adam Sanderson

[eh02]

I got my hopes up, but I googled it and it looks like he's only the president of Discovery Channel, not Discovery Corporation :( TLC still has its own president.

Though when you're that high up in your career, you probably care more about your paycheck than making a statement almost by default. I doubt anyone's going to do anything to possibly result in TLC's biggest "stars" getting the boot, at least not until people lose interest.

[Ursula]

http://corporate.discovery.com/discover ... president/

Link not broken because it's a corporate site and I doubt they care where hits come from.

This article seems to imply he's only the new president of Discovery Channel alone, not Discovery Communications which owns TLC and a crapload of other smaller channels (I had no idea there were so many under the Discovery banner!) I assume the larger ones, like Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, etc. have their own presidents and they lump a bunch of smaller stations together. This guy may have nothing directly to do with TLC.

I did lolololol at the fact he looks a lot like an older Ben Seeweed though :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Becket70]

I, too, don't think the Duggars will be impacted and their show is safe. Of course, this begs the question....why did the Duggars stay with TLC in the first place? Their former boss, Eileen O'Neill, is a gay woman. It takes a lot of chutzpah or ignorance to go on tours deriding gay marriage when your boss is a gay, and I believe, married woman. It's always much easier (and cowardly) to denounce an entire group in front of a friendly audience rather than confront a gay individual directly, particularly when they control your fate. By rights, shouldn't Jim Bob move his show to the UP channel? I think we all know why JB stays with TLC even if that network is somewhat gay-friendly: money.

[toejamflipflop]

I, too, don't think the Duggars will be impacted and their show is safe. Of course, this begs the question....why did the Duggars stay with TLC in the first place? Their former boss, Eileen O'Neill, is a gay woman. It takes a lot of chutzpah or ignorance to go on tours deriding gay marriage when your boss is a gay, and I believe, married woman. It's always much easier (and cowardly) to denounce an entire group in front of a friendly audience rather than confront a gay individual directly, particularly when they control your fate. By rights, shouldn't Jim Bob move his show to the UP channel? I think we all know why JB stays with TLC even if that network is somewhat gay-friendly: money.

I bet O'Neill could have stomped on Jim Bob like he was a little bug. With the scandal involving that Honey Boo Family whose show was one of the top shows it was obvious Jim Bob would vie for No 1 spot kicking out the Little Couple out of the running. Jim Bob must believe that only The Duggars can hold Discovery/TLC together and make it as profitable as it is when they are on the air. In a way I hope The Bates Show beats out 19 kids in the ratings and that the Bates become more popular than the Smuggars. As for Eileen O'Neill, she is in it for the bucks and the prestige of the job. If the Duggars are making them money she is not about to have their show dumped.

[eh02]

If any president of TLC canned the Duggars, they'd probably lose their own job. You can't be in a management position responsible for the financial wellbeing of the company, paying likely HUNDREDS of peoples' salaries, and then make a really financially harmful decision. Your company would be PISSED. Honey Boo Boo was different; something that opens them up to being involved with illegal acts - especially child abuse - is not only despicable ethically, but a HUGE financial liability. I doubt TLC would want to set themselves up for getting their footage subpoenaed, being held responsible for potentially not reporting anything that could be perceived as unsavory, etc.

I like to believe that maybe TLC will turn things around on the Duggars and really make them look awful in coming years. When the show started, they made them look stupid all the damn time. Now they make them look quirky and charming. I miss the good old days with the funny cuts and sound effects and montages. We'd never see Jim Bob and Michelle making a fool out of themselves in a head shop these days. And they SKEWERED poor Josh and Anna during their courtship.

[socalrules]

Jim Bob couldn't move the show if he wanted to. He doesn't own it, TLC does. He could leave when his contract is up but any show on a new channel would need a new name. Plus, there is no one guarantee that he could get another show on another channel, especially for the same money. The show has good ratings for TLC but even its highest rated episodes is lower than any network show or even cable shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men. I highly doubt that there is any channel the Duggars could go to where there are no gay people with powerful positions. Entertainment companies only care about making money. If anything, entertainment is probably one of the most gay friendly industries. TLC/Discovery make money based on freak shows and crazy murderers like on the Discovery ID channel. They do not have a conservative, "wholesome", agenda or they wouldn't be putting on shows like Deadly Woman and Wives with Knives.

[lilwriter85]

Maybe they could join the Bates family at Up. I agree with eh02, at some point TLC will make the Duggars look bad. They have done it in the past. For now, TLC seems content with the newlywed Duggar girls and their impact on the show. I think eventually people might get bored, even if the other adult Duggar kids marry. The Duggars' time on TLC will end eventually, the question is when. As someone else pointed the Duggars still have lower ratings than many scripted TV shows and other reality shows. The Duggars are always going to have to compete with scripted and other reality shows both on cable and broadcast.

I still think the Duggars have limited marketability. They still don't have a lot a mainstream appeal and you can tell because you never see them on late night shows promoting 19kac and we all know they would never appear on Ellen. Theresa Caputo is a bit marketable than the Duggars in some ways. The Duck Dynasty family knows how to promote themselves because they hang out at country music awards and events, they do a lot of promo stuff in hunting communities, and they allowed Sadie to do Dancing with the Stars. The Duggars wouldn't give into that kind of stuff unless they were told their show was really on the line of being canned.

[BrownieMomma]

I could see a scenario where the Duggars will compromise their brand in order to retain some kind of marketability, i.e. Jessa on DWTS and b&JB&M prominently seated to the front while Jessa dresses and dances "modestly."