'Designing Women' Creator Goes Public With Les Moonves War: Not All Harassment Is Sexual

[douglas9]

Linda Bloodworth Thomason, one of CBS' biggest hitmakers, reveals the disgraced mogul kept her shows off the air for seven years: "People asked me for years, 'What happened to you?' Les Moonves happened to me."
This is not the article you might be expecting about Les Moonves. It’s not going to be wise or inspiring. It’s going to be petty and punishing. In spite of my proper Southern mother’s admonition to always be gracious, I am all out of grace when it comes to Mr. Moonves. In fact, like a lot of women in Hollywood, I am happy to dance on his professional grave. And not just any dance — this will be the Macarena, the rumba, the cha-cha and the Moonwalk. You get the idea.

I was never sexually harassed or attacked by Les Moonves. My encounters were much more subtle, engendering a different kind of destruction. In 1992, I was given the largest writing and producing contact in the history of CBS. It was for $50 million, involving five new series with hefty penalties for each pilot not picked up.

Designing Women was my flagship CBS show, and Evening Shade had just been lauded as the best new comedy of the season. CBS chairman Howard Stringer and president Jeff Sagansky attended many of the Designing Women tapings, reveling in the show, quoting the lines and giving us carte blanche to tackle any subject, including sexual harassment, domestic violence and pornography.

They even greenlighted an entire episode satirizing Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination. It was, to say the least, exhilarating. Little did I know that it would soon all be over.



https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/designing-women-creator-les-moonves-not-all-harassment-is-sexual-1142448

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. I'm from Atlanta. Designing Women premiered my freshman year in college...

and went off the air a month before I was married. I was not a huge television watcher, but that one had my attention and my admiration. It was an inspiration. In Linda Bloodworth Thomason's eloquent words, "Les, go fuck yourself!

[Me.]

2. What A Read!

[calimary]

9. NO SHIT What a Read!

She was always one of my favorite writers, and I interviewed her about the then-new sitcom "Evening Shade," which gave a whole new showcase to the late Burt Reynolds. Bloodworth-Thomason is originally from Poplar Bluff in southern Missouri, near the state line with Arkansas. I remember commenting on the title - which came from the real-life town of Evening Shade, Arkansas. She told the story about hanging out with friends and talking about this comedy idea she had - that was set in a small Southern town. She was stymied about what to call it. She wanted a really compelling name for her little community - something that spoke to the distinctive character and vibe of the town. She said the governor's wife suggested Evening Shade. Because - Evening Shade, Arkansas. She LOVED it! Thought it was perfect! And used it.

Guess who that governor's wife was?

Hillary Clinton.

Bloodworth-Thomason took me farther down "Clinton Road" with her recollection of watching the 1992 presidential campaign. They were actively supporting Bill Clinton. She said she and some friends were watching the news, and the story broke about women coming forward with personal stories about him. She said she was stunned, the instant she saw that report. She said she knew right then that he was going to win.

Bumpy as that road was, long before the #metoo era, she was right.

[Me.]

10. Hillary!

not in the least surprised

[LisaM]

3. This part got my attention (and exemplifies the kind of show I most hate)

For years, Moonves loaded up the network with highly profitable, male-dominated series, always careful to stir in and amply reward an occasional actress, like the fabulous Patti Heaton or the irresistible Kaley Cuoco. But mostly, he presided over a plethora of macho crime shows featuring a virtual genocide of dead naked hotties in morgue drawers, with sadistic female autopsy reports, ratcheted up each week (“Is that a missing breast implant, lieutenant?” “Yes sir, we also found playing cards in her uterus.”)

[Me.]

11. Well Look At Some Of Their New Line-up For Fall

very testosterone loaded

MONDAY
8 pm THE NEIGHBORHOOD
8:30 pm HAPPY TOGETHER
9 pm Magnum P.I.
10 pm Bull (new time slot)
TUESDAY
8 pm NCIS
9 pm FBI
10 pm NCIS: New Orleans
WEDNESDAY
8 pm Survivor
9 pm SEAL Team
10 pm Criminal Minds

[LiberalFighter]

12. Maybe that is why I don't care for the military or police type of shows.

I don't or won't watch the following on CBS:

Blue Bloods (Because of Tom Selleck)

S.W.A.T. (I liked Shemar Moore on Criminal Minds but SWAT is too much violence and wrong for tv imo)

SEAL Team (Why the hell? Too much violence.)

Hawaii Five-0 (Watched it for several episodes and then tired of it. Not realistic)

Code Black (Never tried to watch it. Why do I want to watch it?)

Undercover Boss (Really? Do the bosses pay to go undercover so they get PR?)

Magnum P.I. (If it is Tom Selleck I won't watch. Besides it was stupid back then.)


Shows that I do watch:

Big Bang Theory

Sheldon

NCIS (Prefer the original)

Criminal Minds (Not the off shoots. Especially if it has Gary Sinse asshole)

Elementary

Instinct

McGyver

Murphy Brown (Will be checking it out. I watched the original.)

Ransom

Madam Secretary (Sometimes)

==========

I avoid Patricia Heaton since she is a right winger.

[LisaM]

14. Yuck!

I watch a few sitcoms, but mainly I watch re-runs of old favorites, movies, sports, and HGTV and Bravo.

I read an extremely interesting piece in the New Yorker a few months ago, and this part hit me in the head like a hammer:

For the American version, the creator, Jennie Snyder Urman, added a fabulous framing device—a Latin-lover narrator who punctuates his remarks with the refrain “Just like a telenovela, right?” An excitable fanboy who tosses out Twitter hashtags like confetti, the narrator (voiced by the very funny Anthony Mendez) works as a bridge to the globally popular genre, but he also helps link it to other women’s “stories”: the soap, the rom-com, the romance novel, and, more recently, reality television. These are the genres that get dismissed as fluff, which is how our culture regards art that makes women’s lives look like fun. They’re “guilty pleasures,” not unlike sex itself.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/jane-the-virgin-is-not-a-guilty-pleasure

Too many people think it has to have men, violence, war, blood, and pain to be "art" or meaningful. The article I've linked was so validating, and LBT's interview just adds another level of confirmation.

[PatSeg]

4. K&R

[Nitram]

5. This is the kind of thing we need to hear about.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Jail and a huge financial penalty isn't

sufficient punishment for this ass. He's lucky that his punishment isn't in my hands.

[Liberalagogo]

7. One amazing thing about Designing Women

Dixie Carter (who I thoroughly enjoy, despite her being a big-time Republican) did this amazing portrayal of a Southern liberal woman.
Although the producers had to give her a musical number anytime she had to make a speech she did not agree with. Fair trade I think.
I'll miss her.

[lame54]

8. Not only was he a creep, he was also...

A lousy businessman

[Blue_Adept]

17. except for that whole being the #1 rated network year after year

[lame54]

18. I stand corrected...

Misogyny and suppression of talent is the key to success

[dlk]

13. Just Think How Moonves Toxic Masculinity Poisoned the Airwaves & Our Culture

Good riddance!

[LisaM]

15. IKR?

Eye-opening to say the least.

[LiberalLovinLug]

16. K & R