ABC at TCA

ABC's session gets very testy

ABC entertainment chief Steve McPherson was forced to reveal the big news that he was holding for fans of Comic-Con down the road in San Diego on Thursday (thanks to prodding by a lot of pissed-off TV critics:) that Harold Perrineau was reviving his role as Michael on Lost.

Meanwhile, the ABC television executive took shots at NBC's new entertainment chief Ben Silverman, for blowing off the firing of his successor, Kevin Reilly. Among the hardballs lobbed at Silverman: “Kevin Reilly stood up for the The Office … made Reveille [a production company] money … then to stand up [at TCA] and say ‘I just got here ...“Be a man.”

And McPherson wasn't done. Then he said, "If [Silverman] was talking to him before he was available … he’s either clueless or stupid." “You guys let [Silverman] off the hook … that’s your prerogative,” he said.

Who does he think he is, a Chicago television executive?

Meanwhile, in other tidbits:

-ABC will launch its fall schedule over two months, from September to after Thanksgiving.

- St. Pete Times critic Eric Deggans wonders if the real reason ABC is making Cavemen is because the network is too scared to make a show with black people in it. (Wasn't ABC the home of Family Matters and My Wife and Kids?) ABC concedes that it has no idea what Cavemen is.

- While he was taking heat for withholding the Lost announcement, McPherson joked to the critics that Don Imus was cast for Lost, almost to no laughs. Critics noted that McPherson is about as funny as the network's sitcoms.