One of the architects of reality TV is leaving his position.
Mike Darnell, president unscripted television at Warner Bros. TV, is leaving the studio after 10 years. The former Fox executive says his departure comes after conversations with WBTV Group chairman and CEO Channing Dungey.
“Channing approached me a couple of months ago, and although I was given the opportunity to stay, it would have meant more changes for both my personal deal and to the general structure of the division,” Darnell said in a statement. “Call it fate, or just good timing, during my discussions with Channing, a couple of new ventures have come my way. Even so, deciding to leave was difficult. (Those who know me know I am not a fan of change.) I want to thank my amazing studio team. I am, of course, going to miss everybody — not the least of which is Channing — I couldn’t ask for a more supportive boss, first class all the way.”
Darnell came to Warner Bros. after 15 years at Fox, where as head of unscripted programming he launched hits ranging from American Idol to Joe Millionaire and long-running staples including So You Think You Can Dance and much of Gordon Ramsay’s oeuvre for the network.
Since joining WBTV, he has shepherded The Voice, the Bachelor franchise, daytime talk shows from Ellen DeGeneres and Jennifer Hudson, the New York City and Salt Lake City iterations of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise and Extra, among others.
“When Mike joined Warner Bros. in 2013, he was already an industry legend — one of the most influential figures in the history of unscripted programming. In his 10 years with WBTVG, he truly supercharged the unscripted department by more than doubling the series output, making Warner Bros. the top unscripted studio in America for seven straight years,” said Dungey. “Mike oversaw an all-star lineup of the top unscripted properties in the business, and his record of success is unparalleled. I had hoped we would continue to work together, but I understand Mike’s decision to leave. If there’s such a thing as a genius in this business, Mike definitely qualifies. I am incredibly grateful for his inspired leadership, both in the industry and within the company, and for his warm friendship and unforgettable style. We’re losing a legend and an icon, one of the most creative executives in the industry, and he will be well and truly missed.”
Darnell is a figure that looms large in unscripted entertainment, not just because he presided over American Idol at its absolute zenith — a success the likes of which linear TV won’t see again, with more than 30 million tuning in live on average at its prime — but because of his experimentation with the genre at the onset of its boom years. Some of the more outlandish entries on his résumé include plastic surgery competition The Swan, Celebrity Boxing, Married by America, and Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie travelogue The Simple Life.
But Darnell’s place within Warner Bros. Discovery, merged over a year ago, was a curious one. Previous Warner Bros. unscripted efforts — such as the entire team at streamer Max (then HBO Max) — have taken a back seat to the unscripted-heavy corporate siblings from the legacy Discovery networks. The entire portfolio that CEO David Zaslav brought to the new entity is populated by unscripted executives with expertise in various genres and programming buckets. And an executive with Darnell’s broader tastes, not to mention his trademark flash, never seemed like the most organic fit at the evolving conglomerate.
Source: Hollywood
