The Man Who Would Be King (Of TV)

The Man Who Would Be King (of TV)

01.14.2015

Ben Sherwood, soon taking over for Anne Sweeney as president of Disney/ABC Television Group and the former president of ABC News, is about to be in charge of one of the most extensive TV brands there is.

New York magazine calls him "ABC's brand-new TV overlord," and the moniker isn't too far off. Sherwood's new post puts him in control of all of Disney's TV properties, a long list that includes ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC Family with an added interest in A&E.

Executives at ABC News credit Sherwood with the division's success over the past three years, bumping ratings for the morning show and climbing to the top in evening news.

The magazine's profile of Sherwood chronicles his rise to success, a career that saw him leave the television business completely several times.

He served as executive producer of Good Morning America, but before then worked on Kathleen Brown's gubernatorial election bid in 1994 and tried his hand at writing fiction. He worked at Nightly News for four years before he says that 9/11 changed his outlook on the news business and he felt he had to leave (others cite the reason for his departure being more office politics-related, Brokaw commenting that he left because he didn't get picked for the top job at the show).

He published the novel (later film) Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud only a month before being named executive producer at Good Morning America. When Sherwood arrived at the morning talker, it had been behind Today in the ratings for years, and two years later was left worse off than when he started.

But four years after another sabbatical from TV, Sherwood was named president of ABC News, where he made structural changes focused on his ideals of unity, creativity and reach. Stories began to shift more toward human interest pieces in favor or wartime updates. According to Chris Cuomo, Sherwood's leadership was "part cheerleader, part mentor, and part savant."

At ABC News, Sherwood made a deal with Yahoo that helped its new site's traffic jump ahead of other broadcasters, and partnered with Univision to create the new channel Fusion. The new network targets English-speaking millennials, introducing them to a friendly news environment.

In August of 2012, Sherwood was able to boast about Good Morning America's ratings success - it beat its competitor Today in total viewers, a moment that he called "total victory."

When he inherits Sweeney's spot, Sherwood will be getting a strong ABC lineup, with Shonda Rhimes' TGIT and Modern Family remaining one of TV's top comedies.