Lots of Ben Sherwood rumors going around. Some have the rumored item-planter edging to become the next executive producer of The Early Show; others say the CBS Evening News will have Rick Kaplan decamp for the morning show and Sherwood replace him at Katie Couric's haunt. (Even one that has him gunning for the American Morning EP job.)
Naturally, there are the requisite denials: Kaplan will return to News and Sherwood has only had talks about positions there.
But how do we know who Ben Sherwood The Man is? Maybe looking at some of his emails from his days at ABC's Good Morning America, where he was paired with ousted Early Show EP Shelley Ross, might shed some light.
Where Ross was belligerent to her staff, does Sherwood go out of his way to make his team feel the warm fuzzies?
We got our hands on a Christmas Eve 2004 email that Sherwood, the former exec producer, sent to the entire GMA staff — including the email editing session he had with his wife to make sure everything was phrased just right.
First came this draft, sent to his wife Karen Kehela, who works at Imagine Entertainment and is already causing a mini scandal:
Karen responds with her suggestions, including the idea to make it "more cut-throat," but that's "not your style":
So came this round of edits:
And then finally, the version that was sent out to the whole GMA staff:
Editorial Director
Wow. What a nice guy. He really cares about people and tries really hard to show it in the best way.
Gotta love that. Has a wife who supports him even in the small things. When your own wife recognizes that the person is a good person - not cutthroat - that's a compliment in my book.
What a contrast from the other EP.
Nice to see how people really are when no one is watching.
He has my vote. and so does his wife.
Oh Come on! This guy is a career operator.
Let's not forget, his same sources of information at GMA moved with Shelley to "Early". The source gave him ammunition there, and gave him plenty to leak against Shelley at CBS.
It's even the same talent recruiter at CBS who led to Shelley's rise and falls at both nets.
Shelley made her own bed, but, puhleese… does Berger really think he can get another washed up client a job through nasty blind items? I guess so!
One would think CBS would go in a far different direction than to duplicate two ABC mistakes.
What ever happened to Ben's ailing mother?
Make your mom the reason why you were fired.
um, I mean, left to spend more time with your family.
Real classy
(does anyone have a copy of his GMA adios email?)
Doesn't anyone at CBS have an original idea to run this mega-property? It's become a revolving door of EPs who just "didn't work out"
Does anyone have the Spy magazine profile from 20 years ago about Ben when he was a conniving 22 year old reading Macchiavelli and everyone at Harvard despised him? Please send it to Jossip! I'm horrified that CBS is being snookered by that fawning, sycophantic monster. There should be a New York City ordinance banning that man from a control room.
A politically safe choice for middle management talent executives and a President fighting for survival.
Does CBS not have any other producers in their rolodex?
Then again, with an opening act like Shelley, history will always look kindly on her successor.
Even if he is a failure
A good gig if you can get it.
I worked for him at GMA. While things were quieter and less dramatic, the staff wasn't anymore gleeful. Morale was never lower than after he stunted our ratings growth and sucked our will to live.
He sure is good at sucking up and appearing in control.
Not to take it all out on Ben/obvi he goes home to a loving wife–but why are all the people behind the cameras always so strange looking?
I worked there too under Ben.
He turned show from a chaotic but creative place into an Orwellian, backstabbing disaster where the only thing that mattered was Ben's career and next job.
He delegated everything and spent his day sucking up to bigwigs. When there weren't any bigwigs in the room he was just a nasty guy.
Shelley Ross lacked balance, but this guy is just plain mean. At least Shelley could deliver ratings and revenue.
Alan Berger must be desperate to score a gig for his client if he's spending his days working the blogs and planting blind items. Who would want that job anyway?
I've never disliked more working with any one person every morning. The guy's only skill was sucking up to people who could help him get ahead.
Couldn't manage his head out of a paper bag. Couldn't produce. Couldn't make a decision.
They had to build a glass wall in the control room between him and the director/ADs to block out his bitching and nasty personal comments.
I don't know anything about how Sherwood ran GMA, but I can tell you that there's no way his wife Karen wrote that second email. It's like, the antithesis of her style. And look at the email addresses. He wrote to her at her Imagine Entertainment address.
I have no idea who "bettedavis363" is, but I guess they're friends who call each other "doll." I don't think that word is in Karen's vocabulary.