December 12, 2007

Family Man

Name: Paul Lee
Title: President, ABC Family
Age: 46
Years in industry:  9

Why Him? Remember when ABC Family was an amorphous holding station for TV movies? Neither can we. The network has grown by leaps and bounds since 2004, when Lee solidified its focus on the 18-34 demo and began dishing up edgy fare that teens and females, in particular, are lapping up. Now he’s out to prove runaway hit “Kyle XY” was no one-hit wonder. New dramedy “Greek” scored big in 2007, drawing high ratings and showing multiplatform chops as the most downloaded TV series on iTunes this summer. Up next are “Samurai Girl,” based on the popular book series, and “The Middleman,” about a struggling young artist enlisted to fight comic-book-like villains.  CAO

Favorite sports team: “My staffers Dave Humphries and Annie Fort tell me it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. Apparently, debate on this subject is not allowed.”
My perfect vacation goes like this: “Camping with my sons in Yosemite National Park.”
Favorite line from a movie or TV show: “This has been, hands down, the best night of my life. Even better than when they announced Pluto wasn't a planet. I hated Pluto… it  was so obviously just a dwarf planet." — Rusty to Casey on “Greek”
The world would be a better place if: “More conventions and promotional events were like Comi-Con. Having the cast of ‘Kyle XY’ interact with a couple thousand screaming fans was a total blast for everyone involved.”


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