Mike Darnell

Mike Darnell
Mike Darnell at a Hollywood Reporter photoshoot

Michael H. "Mike" Darnell is an American television executive who is currently the President of Unscripted & Alternative Television at Warner Bros. He spent nearly 19 years at the FOX network as President of Alternative Entertainment, overseeing the network's reality television division during the genre's rise.[1][2] TVbytheNumbers' Masked Scheduler claims that Darnell is “the king of reality TV and one of the more interesting, offbeat characters ever to occupy an executive suite.”[3]

Early Life & Career

Mike Darnell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Eileen and Gene Darnell.[4] His father was a policeman, and Darnell was raised and attended public school in Philly's Northeast section. When he was 10, a talent manager saw him singing at a Police Athletic League event and encouraged him to do commercials.[5] When he was 12, his family moved to California, where he eventually appeared in or voiced-over some sixty commercials. He also appeared in TV episodes such as Sanford and Son, Welcome Back, Kotter and Kojak.[4][5] Later he worked as a bank teller to help pay his way through Cal State-Northridge. He also played piano at a night spot.[4] Soon after graduating, in 1994, he had an internship at Entertainment Tonight, which he says he "hated,"[4] before he started working in the news unit of the new Fox affiliate station in Los Angeles, KTTV.[6]

Darnell is married to Carolyn Oberman, a public relation executive who works for the Emmy awards,[7] and they have a daughter.[8]

Fox Broadcasting Company

During his tenure at FOX, Darnell was responsible for hundreds of series and specials, which included American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, So You Think You Can Dance, The X Factor, Kitchen Nightmares, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Temptation Island, The Simple Life, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé, Joe Millionaire, and the launch of the animated series Futurama and Family Guy.[9]

With more than 30 million viewers at its peak, American Idol catapulted FOX from the last place network to eight consecutive seasons as the #1 network.[10] Darnell oversaw American Idol from its creation through Season Twelve.[11] Darnell told Variety that his proudest achievements during his time at FOX was American Idol and the success he had with Gordon Ramsay, as well as the season finale of Joe Millionaire, which became the "highest-rated entertainment telecast in the history of Fox.”[12]

Darnell began his television career in the news department of Fox’s owned-and-operated Los Angeles affiliate, KTTV-TV and then became an executive producer of specials for the Fox Television Station Group before moving to the network to become Director of Specials. Darnell made a name for himself by launching more than sixty specials a year on FOX,[13] including When Animals Attack!, World’s Scariest Police Chases, Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, and Man vs Beast. One of his earliest specials came when a producer brought Darnell some old black-and-white footage that appeared to be an alien being dissected. The special was called Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction? and drew a huge audience with nearly 12 million viewers in a single airing [14][15]

Warner Bros Television

Within his Unscripted & Alternative division at Warner Bros, Mike Darnell is responsible for overseeing three WB companies: Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, Telepictures Productions, and Shed Media. Darnell and his team currently oversee 35 series across 20 different networks [9] including primetime series such as Little Big Shots (NBC), Ellen’s Game of Games (NBC), The Voice (NBC), The Bachelor franchise (ABC), Love Connection (FOX), as well as TMZ, The Real, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, among others.[9] In 2017, Deadline reported that since Darnell joined Warner Bros, its primetime unscripted portfolio has grown from 3 series to 12 – currently more than any other producer or studio in America.[16]

Darnell is developing and executive producing a new talent competition series called The World's Best, to appear on CBS.[17] The series will be produced by Darnell and his Warner Horizon Unscripted division, along with Mark Burnett and MGM Television.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Lesley Goldberg & Michael O'Connell (24 May 2013). "Mike Darnell Exits as Fox Reality Boss". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Friedman, Wayne (7 August 2007). "Darnell Stays At Fox, But Upped To Prez, Alternative Entertainment". MediaPost News. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  3. ↑ Scheduler, The Masked (2017-12-15). "Masked Scheduler: Rupert Murdoch may not be done with deals for FOX". TV By The Numbers. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Weiner, Jennifer (29 December 1998). "Inventing A Fox Formula ``when Good Pets Go Bad. ``when Stunts Go Bad. ``when Disaster Strikes. Critics Cringe, But Programmers Love These Profitable Specials. Where Do The Ideas Come From? Meet Mike Darnell". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  5. 1 2 Carter, Bill (2007). Desperate Networks. NewYork, NY: Random House. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7679-2786-4.
  6. ↑ Carter, Alex Kuczynski and Bill (2000-02-26). "Fox's Point Man For Perversity; 'World's Scariest Programmer,' Starring Mike Darnell as Himself". New York TImes. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  7. ↑ Seal, Mark (2003). "The story behind the reality TV golden era". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  8. ↑ Koblin, John (2018-05-13). "Reality TV Kingpin Mike Darnell Wants One More Hit". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  9. 1 2 3 "Mike Darnell to enter Realscreen Awards Hall of Fame". realscreen. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  10. ↑ Bradley, Laura. "Meet the Mad Genius Who Invented Reality TV as We Know It". HWD. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  11. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (2016-04-07). "'American Idol' Finale: Former Fox Reality Chief Mike Darnell On The Show's Origin Story & If It's The Right Time To Say Goodbye". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  12. ↑ Kissell, Rick (2003-02-18). "'Joe Millionaire' mega-money for Fox". Variety. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  13. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (2013-05-25). "Mike Darnell's Greatest Hits: 'Joe Millionaire,' 'Alien Autopsy' and Seth MacFarlane". Variety. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  14. ↑ "How an Alien Autopsy Hoax Captured the World's Imagination for a Decade". Time. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  15. ↑ Carter, Bill (2006). Desperate Networks. Doubleday. p. 97. ISBN 9780385514408.
  16. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (2017-03-28). "Warner Bros' Mike Darnell On Growing Slate, Expanding 'The Bachelor' Franchise, Possible 'American Idol' Return & More". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  17. 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (2018-02-07). "CBS Orders 'The World's Best' Global Talent Competition Reality Series From Mark Burnett & Mike Darnell". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
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