Oprah’s OWN Network Takes Another Hit – Executive Vice President, Lisa Erspamer Flees To The Oxygen Channel
The hits keep coming for Oprah’s OWN network. I don’t mean hits, like great shows, I mean hits, like body blows and punches.
Lisa Erspamer, the Executive Vice President of Product and Development – said “Deuces” to the OWN network on Wednesday.
Erspamer has been with Harpo Production for 15 years and Co-Executive produced “The Oprah Winfrey Show” since 2006.
She will be succeeded by Rita Mullin, a Senior Vice President from Discovery Fit & Health.
The executive exodus happens in bunches because they don’t want to go down with the ship. Leaving OWN now as opposed to being a part of the collapse looks a lot better on the resume. Erspamer’s exit is the fourth in a string of recent upper management exits from the Network.
- May 2011 – CEO Christina Norman
- Jan 2012 – Gayle King
- Jan 2012 – Programming Boss Rod Aissa
I think Rod’s exit, might be Ok. Although he had a pretty impressive track record in the genre of Pop Culture, coming from MTV and having worked on “Punk’d” and “The Osbournes”. He new gig is at the Oxygen network, but in my “humble” opinion he did little since 2010 for Oprah.
The programming is the weakest aspect of the network. The Rosie Show might be doing more harm than good. Rosie’s times has come and go. Her energy is not 2012, it no longer stands for the Progressive movement of women as it did at the height of her career. When Rosie is spoken of, women think of vulgarity and belching. Ellen, who’s show, has won 32 Daytime Emmy Awards is an example of someone who has adjusted with the times, and represents a new era of the confident career women, who can be successful, gay and funny without being rude, obnoxious and embarrassing.
SIGNS OF LIFE
Oprah’s Next Chapter has given the channel the boost that she hoped, with an audience growth of 45% over the Premiere episode where the Big “O” was back to her old self. As I continue to say, OWN fans want one thing and that’s Oprah. She has set the bar high, and not many shows, or people can compare. The key to the network succeeding will be taking the Oprah formula for success and spreading it from 1 hour to 23 – and doing it 7 days a week. That was the original intent of the channel, but it’s proven a lot easier said than done.
-Cosmo
