Leslie Moonves
Executive
About This Interview
Leslie Moonves was interviewed for two-and-a-half hours (in two sessions) in Los Angeles, CA. Moonves discussed his early years working as an actor, before producing for the theatre. He then detailed his early executive jobs at Twentieth Century Television and Lorimar, culminating in Lorimar's merger with Warner Bros. Television, where Moonves was instrumental in developing such hit series as Friends and ER. He then discussed his move to the "buyer's side" at CBS, where he ran CBS Entertainment. He discussed rebuilding the weak schedule of the network, and the development of such hit series as Everybody Loves Raymond, CSI and Survivor. He spoke about his rise in the corporate ranks to his position as President & CEO of CBS and his overall responsibilities and team management and network programming style. The two-part interview was conducted by Dan Pasternack on December 19 and December 20, 2006.
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Highlights
Leslie Moonves on getting Survivor on the air, casting the show (10m 07s)
Leslie Moonves on the nature of network politics
Leslie Moonves on CSIChapters
- Chapter 1
- On his early family life and education
- On pursuing an acting career before transitioning to producing, where he realized his talent for organization
- On beginning his career as an executive at Columbia, before moving to 20th Century Fox Television
- On working at 20th Century Fox Television
- On working at Lorimar Telepictures and his philosophy of what makes a good showrunner
- Chapter 2
- On Lorimar's purchase by Warner Bros and the team structure of his division
- On the development, casting and programming of Friends
- On the development, casting and programming of ER
- Chapter 3
- On his failed attempt to bring ER to CBS
- On his negotiations to leave Warner Bros and join CBS in 1995 and the state of the network at the time
- On joining CBS and going from a seller of programming to a buyer
- On his first year at CBS
- On the development, casting and programming of Everybody Love Raymond
- On the sitcom genre
- On his role as CBS network president
- Chapter 4
- On Westinghouse, then Viacom's acquisition of CBS and key executives Sumner Redstone, Mel Karmazin, and Tom Freston
- On his philosophy and strategy of content and scheduling
- On developing and casting Survivor; on diversity
- On developing CSI
- Chapter 5
- On expanding the CSI franchise on CBS
- On the CBS network news division, "memogate," and hiring Katie Couric as anchor
- On his 9/11 and its aftermath
- On the changing face of the industry
- On his appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman
- On his future; his successes; and his advice to aspiring executives
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What a terrific interview with a legendary TV exec! Thank you thank you thank you.
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