Carroll: Mad Men’s Made Man

The first days of 2009 already have been tough on cable people, and many in other industries. Nobody’s spending, growth forecasts are being revised downward and layoffs are the result.

It’s not difficult to conclude, as the president-elect has for the general economy, that things will get worse for cable before they get better. That’s why it’s important to celebrate whenever possible.

There was plenty of celebrating in AMC’s suite in the Beverly Hilton hotel Sunday evening when Mad Men gained its 2nd Golden Globe in as many years. Not bad for AMC’s first scripted foray, which is only 2 seasons old.

Today the celebrating at AMC and at parent Rainbow is also for Ed Carroll, the president of national entertainment services, who was upped Wednesday to COO.

In an industry reputedly filled with empty suits, Carroll stands apart. His frame is slight, but it’s packed with a lot of experience. Carroll has been working at Rainbow or companies acquired/once owned by Rainbow for more than 20 years. His journey to COO began in the late 1980s, when Carole Shander hired him as a young man to work in PR for Bravo. “I had a good feeling about him. I knew he was bright when I hired him,” says Shander, who’s hired and mentored so many cable pros she’s lost count. “Ed was a laid-back guy who had great PR instincts and a special way of dealing with senior executives as well as reporters…He’s truly one of the nicest persons in the industry.”

Carole’s Carroll is certainly bright. Overseeing AMC,  IFC and WE tv since December 2004, he’s helped keep these networks afloat through some difficult times, when everyone in cable expected them to be sold. Instead, they’ve concentrated on building their brands. The strategy’s worked. Led by AMC, Rainbow’s networks are surging under Carroll’s guidance. And he’s inherited Shander’s instincts for people, as he’s manned the nets with top-notch folks like Kim Martin, Charlie Collier, Evan Shapiro and Jen Caserta. The Rainbow empire now includes Sundance, and its chief Laura Michalchyshyn, who’d been with the network for years before it was acquired.

Perhaps one of the best things about Ed Carroll is his sense of humor. It’s a dry and quick wit, and he uses it strategically. “His staff meetings are like Broadway shows. He tells jokes, he even sings and dances,” a Rainbow GM told us a few weeks ago about Carroll-run meetings.

While we can’t get you into a Rainbow staff meeting, we can bring you a sample of Ed Carroll’s wit in action. Take a look at the video on our site called Rainbow’s Ed Carroll Goes Mad, especially if you are a fan of Mad Men. In short, the video is a hoot, with Carroll taking a lead role as a marketer pushing cable TV in the early 1960s to Mad Men stalwarts Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Roger Sterling (John Slattery). Although he’s pretty good in the film, the self-deprecating Carroll notes, not inaccurately, “I’m the only one in that video who’s not been nominated for an Emmy.”

Fans of the Emmy winning series will recognize the writing and  situations in the video mimic quite well the work of Mad Men show runner Matthew Weiner. Since the narrative style of the piece hews so closely to the AMC  series, I assumed Weiner or one of his staff had written the video’s dialogue. No, Carroll wrote it.

If being COO of Rainbow gets old, Carroll can make it as a screen writer. And that’s not a joke.