After weeks of speculation, TNT, TBS and TCM programming president Michael Wright is expected to exit the Turner entertainment group he's been a part of for a decade, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The news comes amidst major changes at the Time Warner-owned network group, which included significant layoffs earlier this week. Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes has repeatedly expressed his desire to revamp and streamline the media conglomerate, which means revolutionizing its Turner Broadcasting unit. Wright, who has been with Turner since 2002 and has served as president and head of programming at the trio of nets since May 2012, will remain at the company while the search continues.
Wright had his hat in the ring the larger Turner gig once that has been left open since Steve Koonin departed in April. According to multiple sources, top Turner execs have spent much of the summer vetting candidates, including seasoned TV execs from one-time Fox chief Gail Berman to former NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin to recently departed Fox Broadcasting chief Kevin Reilly.
Wright spoke candidly about the need for swift and sizable changes at his flagship TNT during Turner's May upfront presentation to ad buyers. Expressing disappointment that the cable network had begun to skew too old and too broad -- a point Bewkes had made on an analyst call weeks earlier -- Wright introduced a new tagline, "Boom," and a desire for "edgier," "noisier" and more "dual" fare.
Perhaps ironically, the news of his exit comes as TNT has had a particularly strong summer, debuting Michael Bay's post-apocalyptic drama The Last Ship ranking as the No. 1 scripted series among total viewers, adults 25-54 and the strong returns of staples Rizzoli & Isles and Major Crimes as well as a decent debut for Howard Gordon's Sean Bean starrer Legends.
Wright, who got his start as an actor, served as vp movies and miniseries for CBS before joining Turner. The latter stint included supervision on some of the network’s highest-rated and most acclaimed movies, including Sharing the Secret, The Long Way Home and the live production of On Golden Pond with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummmer. Before that, he was a packaging agent at CAA.
