CBS at TCA: Executive Session Live-Blog

CBS big boss Les Moonves will be sitting down with critics during today’s Television Critics Association executive session, so follow along as he talks about all things CBS…

8:32 AM: First up, Moonves announces UNDER THE DOME will officially return for a second season.

8:36 AM: Moonves says that negotiations are ongoing with the CBS/Time Warner dispute, but he feels they shouldn’t be dealing with things through the press. The deadline is 5 PM ET today, and he hopes they won’t go dark.

8:37 AM: “It was established as a social experiment,” Moonves says of BIG BROTHER. “I find some of the behavior absolutely appalling, personally.”

8:39 AM: “We do a lot of pilots and the best get on the air,” Moonves says of why the network passed on the BEVERLY HILLS COP reboot.

8:40 AM: “It’s a new world,” Moonves says of green-lighting shorter run shows like things like HOSTAGES (which will have a 15 episode order).

8:41 AM: “I really want to clarify: we offered Cote de Pablo a lot of money and then even more money,” Moonves says. “We didn’t want to lose her, we love her…and ultimately she decided she didn’t want to do the show.” He notes they did everything possible to keep her.

8:45 AM: “You saw where it could lead…we didn’t put [HOSTAGES] on just to have 15 episodes,” Moonves says of limited series and the potential for viewer frustrations. “And why couldn’t they just be under the dome for years [on UNDER THE DOME]? It’s a television show.”

8:47 AM: THE CRAZY ONES advertising leans heavily towards McDonalds in the pilot, and Moonves says that the show came to them with that in there, and that while there could be future advertising revenue there, the other half could be fictional products.

8:51 AM: “I heard a rumor they were going to put him at 10 PM,” Moonves jokes about the upcoming departure of Jay Leno. He defends Letterman, calling him “our guy” and the best guy currently doing late night.

8:55 AM: “We’re confident we’re going to be up this year,” Moonves says of the new season, in response to NBC’s take that flat is the new up.

8:57 AM: “They’re doing well, they’re profitable,” Moonves says of YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS and BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. “Our daytime has gone way up this year and profitability has gone way up.” He notes they’re expecting the soaps to be around for a long, long time.

8:59 AM: “We didn’t have a lot of space for 10 o’clock dramas,” Moonves says of moving HAWAII FIVE-O, noting Friday nights are more about total viewers (which H5O does well in) versus the demo (where it’s a little weaker).

9:00 AM: “The CW, as an entity might lose some money…but [since the network is owned by two groups who own the shows] the shows bring us more revenue than the losses do,” Moonves says.