Free The Keys to the Kingdom by Kim Masters Page A

that executives would waste their time on—but entirely with no dark vein.”
    While many wilted under Diller’s gaze, those who could cope with his scathing style sometimes developed a deep affection for him. Zimbert forged a bond with him in the summer of 1970, when ABC moved both executives to the West Coast. For a time they stayed at the Bel-Air hotel. “My kids never forgot, he was so nice to them,” Zimbert says. “He was a wonderful human being. The fact that he was a son of a bitch to work for never really bothered me.”
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    IN THE SUMMER of 1969, Eisner had become director of feature films and program development. For the first time he had to report directly to Diller, who was head of prime-time programming as well as Movie of the Week . Eisner was upset that Diller had become his superior and considered quitting. But his bosses persuaded him to stay.
    But the following year, Leonard Goldberg left the top programming job and Marty Starger took over. Eisner was named his executive assistant, which put Eisner on a more equal footing with Diller. Even today Starger seems amazed that he survived being boss to Diller and Eisner. “Imagine having the two of them, side by side, and they’re working for you,” he says.
    Starger soon sent Diller to the West Coast—in part, according to Eisner, “because Barry was difficult to manage and Marty wanted some breathing room.” No doubt, Eisner was glad to have Diller out of Manhattan. Diller had his offices on Sunset Boulevard done in a cool minimalist style, with white oak floors and white rugs. There was a patio and Diller had an extra-long cord attached to his phone so he could sit outside while he vented at his adversaries and underlings. Diller’s rise to head of prime-time programming had been based largely on the strength of his success with Movie of the Week, and his attention still continued to be engaged primarily by these made-for-television films and miniseries.
    In 1971, Eisner became head of children’s and daytime programming. ABC was in last place in daytime, and even though his new job was not as prestigious as a position in prime time, Eisner saw some advantages. Not only was he overseeing a major profit center for the studio, but he had an opportunity to garner more attention for himself. The network was already performing poorly in daytime, so he concluded, “The risks were minimal.”
    â€œBarry built a new area,” says Zimbert. “Michael took a disaster area—daytime—and suddenly there was this tall, gangly, kind of goofy guy who brought tremendous energy and focus.”
    â€œHe had very good instincts and he has confidence in those instincts and that is a very rare quality,” says Stoddard—who respected Eisner without especially liking him. To some degree, Eisner was swimming upstream in this division, Stoddard says. “He had to stand up in affiliate meetings and talk about what would happen with General Hospital or All My Children, and the audience was mostly guys [who ran small television stations] who could care less.”
    Eisner also turned around children’s programming at ABC. At the time, Stoddard recalls, the networks were facing one of their periodic bouts with parents over the lack of quality children’s shows. Eisner held a workshop and invited teachers, parents, and opinion leaders—even the other networks, which declined to participate. ABC’s award-winning Afterschool Specials emerged from this meeting. Eisner also took up a suggestion to air Schoolhouse Rock, short animated films that “cost a bloody fortune,” as Stoddard remembers, but were well-produced educational features. In a more commercial vein, Eisner put an animated series based on the Jackson Five on the air.
    Over at CBS, Fred Silverman noticed Eisner’s innovations and still praises them in a somewhat backhanded manner. “To his credit, if he