Well, I’m not sure what I think of this. I for one have not been very impressed with the management of ABC Family which only gave Ruby 10 episodes and which just ended 10 Things after only one season. Is this the kind of management Paul Lee will be bringing to the ABC Network?

Full article follows…

Paul Lee, the executive who revived Walt Disney Co.’s moribund ABC Family channel with shows that appealed to the sensibilities of the millennial generation, was elevated Friday to president of ABC Entertainment Group.

Lee immediately takes over for Steve McPherson, who abruptly stepped down this week.

The 50-year-old, London-born Lee, a former BBC television executive, will oversee creative and business operations for the broadcast network as well as ABC Studios, the company’s in-house TV production unit. It’s a massive job for the executive, who has spent the last decade keeping a modest profile at mid-size cable channels.

But Disney executives are confident that Lee is up to the task. They point to Lee’s variety of skills, which include producing and directing made-for-TV movies. He worked on spicy telenovelas, a staple of Spanish-language television.

“Paul was hired six years ago because of his great creative instincts and his ability to identify an audience and develop programming that resonates with them,” Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, said in a statement.

Broadening ABC’s audience will be Lee’s biggest challenge. A sore point for Disney was the fact that ABC ended the most recent television season in a third-place tie with NBC in the important category of viewers ages 18 to 49.

“He’s got to find some shows that attract men to the network. ABC’s audience is primarily made of up of women because of shows like ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ” said Brad Adgate, a TV analyst with Horizon Media. “But those shows are getting older. He has to create the next generation of hits for ABC. Their biggest shows have had a noticeable fall-off in audience.”

Reaching out to men has been a priority for ABC since it gave up its longtime ratings giant “Monday Night Football.” Although a huge draw, the show lost hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the network. Disney shifted the franchise to its profitable ESPN network, which has two streams of revenue — advertising and cable affiliate fees.

Despite taking big swings with shows with futuristic concepts, such as “Flash Forward,” or a look at some Neanderthal characters in “Cave Men,” McPherson was unable to bring in the testosterone crowd. During the last six years, the ABC network and TV studio has spent more than $500 million developing new shows, buying scripts and making deals with writers and producers.

“One of the mistakes that McPherson made was looking for another ‘Lost’ or another ‘Desperate Housewives,’ ” said David Scardino, entertainment specialist with the Santa Monica advertising agency RPA. “And those shows were really unique and not easy to replace.”

The shows that McPherson developed, he said, “always looked great and sounded great but they weren’t really executed that well.”

McPherson’s biggest hit was “Modern Family,” but even that show lacks the mainstream appeal of some of CBS’ comedies, including “Two and a Half Men,” and “The Big Bang Theory.”

Lee will step into the spotlight Sunday when he is introduced to more than 150 television industry writers in town for the twice-a-year gathering of the Television Critics Assn.

Lee founded the BBC America channel in the U.S. before joining ABC Family in 2004. He developed original shows for young adults who were craving sophisticated yet sweet dramas. The cable network has found success with such programs as “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Pretty Little Liars” and “Kyle XY.”

Under Lee, ABC Family has shown six consecutive years of growth and ranks among the top five cable networks in prime time for teens and young women ages 18 to 49.

Roy E. Disney, Walt’s nephew and one of the most influential people in the recent history of the Disney company passed away today.

Roy was one of my heroes. He fought for what he believed, he fought for quality in Disney animation, and he ultimately saved the company. Twice.

Without his guiding hand, I don’t know what will happen to the company. Iger seems to be doing a good job, and I have faith in John Lasseter and Steve Jobs. But we’ll all miss Roy.

What follows is the official Disney Press Release:

Roy Edward Disney, son of Disney Studios co-founder Roy O. Disney, and nephew of Walt Disney, passed away today (12/16/09) at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California, following a year-long battle with stomach cancer. He was 79 years old. Disney was a successful businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and award-winning sailor, who played a key role in the revitalization of The Walt Disney Company and Disney’s animation legacy. He was associated with the Company over a 56-year period, and from 1984 – 2003, served as vice chairman of the Company’s board of directors, and chairman of the Studio’s Animation Department. In recent years, he held the title of director emeritus and consultant for the Company.

As head of Disney Animation, Disney helped to guide the Studio to a new golden age of animation with an unprecedented string of artistic and box office successes that included “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” and “The Lion King.” He personally executive produced “Fantasia/2000,” a sequel to the 1940 Disney classic, and served in a similar capacity on a number of recent animated shorts, including the 2004 Oscar(R)-nominated “Destino,” based on storyboards and original art by the iconic artist Salvador Dali. In the area of live-action films, Disney and his wife, Leslie DeMeuse Disney, most recently executive produced the 2008 feature documentary, “Morning Light,” which followed a group of young sailors as they competed in the grueling Transpac race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

His philanthropic activities included sponsorship of the Roy E. Disney Center for the Performing Arts at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center, part of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, is scheduled to open in spring, 2010.

Commenting on the announcement, Bob Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said, “On behalf of everyone at Disney, we are saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague Roy E. Disney. He was much more than a valued 56-year Company veteran – Roy’s true passion and focus were preserving and building upon the amazing legacy of Disney animation that was started by his father and uncle. Roy’s commitment to the art of animation was unparalleled and will always remain his personal legacy and one of his greatest contributions to Disney’s past, present and future.”

John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, added, “I first met Roy when I was still an animation student at CalArts. Not only did I consider him a personal friend, but he was a great man who believed deeply in the art of animation. He put his heart and soul into preserving Disney’s legendary past, while helping to move the art of animation into the modern age by embracing new technology. Roy was a visionary and passionate supporter of the art form, and he was all about quality. I was always impressed that he would make time for someone like me when I was fresh out of college, and he continued to support and encourage me throughout my career.”

Stanley Gold, president, Shamrock Holdings, said, “Roy and I enjoyed a 35-year friendship and partnership that was simply special. We faced many business challenges together, had fun in the process, and enjoyed a wide variety of professional successes. Roy was a man who was steadfastly loyal to his principles and to his friends. He was a gracious, humble gentleman who could make the tough decisions life sometimes requires. He carried the torch high and proud, and the world is a better place for his tireless efforts. I will miss him greatly.”

Roy Edward Disney was born in Los Angeles on January 10, 1930 to Roy O. Disney and Edna Francis Disney. His father and his uncle, Walt Disney, co-founded the Disney entertainment business in 1923.

After attending Harvard School and Pomona College, Disney launched his entertainment industry career in 1952, working as an assistant film editor on the “Dragnet” TV series.

He joined The Walt Disney Studios in 1953 as an assistant film editor, where his credits included the landmark Academy Award(R)-winning True-Life Adventures features, “The Living Desert” and “The Vanishing Prairie.” As a writer and production associate, he received Oscar(R) nominations for his work on the short subject, “Mysteries of the Deep” in 1959, and in 2003 for his work as executive producer for “Destino.”

Disney produced and directed some 35 other TV and theatrical production, including the landmark 1968 documentary, “Varda, the Peregrine Falcon,” before leaving in 1977 to become an independent producer and investor.

In 1978, Disney founded Shamrock Holdings, Inc., a wholly-owned family enterprise headquartered in Burbank, California, which specializes in private equity, real estate, and public equities investing. He served as chairman of the company, which has approximately $1.5 billion of capital committed to funds.

An avid competitive sailor, Disney holds several elapsed-time records for offshore races in the Pacific Ocean, including multiple wins in the 2,225-mile Transpac.

Among his many professional and philanthropic activities, Disney served on the board of trustees of California Institute of the Arts, the advisory board of St. Joseph Medical Center, and the board of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Inc. Additionally, he was an advisory member of the board of directors of the United States Committee for UNICEF, chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the Peregrine Fund, a member of the board of trustees of Ronald McDonald House charities, and a member of the board of trustees of the American Ireland Fund.

In 1993, he received the Winsor McCay Award (a special “Annie Award”) from ASIFA-Hollywood (The International Animated Film Society). The McCay Award is for lifetime achievement in animation. In 1997, Disney was awarded the first “Mort Walker Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cartoon Industry,” by the Boca Raton International Museum of Cartoon Art.

Disney received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from his alma mater Pomona College in 1998. In 2002, he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Mercy College in New York. The following year, he was presented with the Trustees’ Award and honorary Doctor of the Arts degree from CalArts.

Among his other honors, Disney was named a recipient of the 1999 National Catholic Education Association Elizabeth Ann Seton Award, which recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to children and education. In April 1999, Disney received the Henry Bergh Humane Award from the ASPCA, and in spring 2000, he was awarded the Inaugural Environmental Leadership Award from the Audubon Society.

Disney is survived by his wife, Leslie, and four children from his marriage to Patricia Dailey Disney – Tim Disney, Roy Patrick Disney, Abigail Disney, and Susan Disney Lord. He is also survived by 16 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be private, followed by cremation. His ashes will be scattered at sea. Plans for a Life Celebration will be announced shortly. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.

Breaking News! Our very own Rich Ross has been selected as the new chairman of the Walt Disney Studios.

Ross was the president of the Disney Channel, and has been our #1 recomended target for letters and emails ever since the founding of SDS. But now that Ross is moving on to the film division, we need to change our strategies.

We’ll be watching as Disney reshuffles it’s personel, and we’ll keep you apprised on whom you need to write to.

Disney press follows:

Rich Ross, President of Disney Channels Worldwide, has been named Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, it was announced today by Disney President and CEO Robert A. Iger.

Ross will oversee worldwide production, distribution and marketing for the company’s range of live-action and feature animated film labels, including Walt Disney, Touchstone, Miramax and Disney/Pixar. In his new role, which he assumes immediately, he will also head Disney’s theatrical and music groups.

In his thirteen years at Disney, Ross has consistently created hit original programming, effectively expanded a worldwide creative and distribution organization, skillfully built the Disney brand with global franchises that work across borders and technology platforms and put in place a strong management team.

“Rich has an outstanding record of creating high-quality family entertainment that delights audiences around the world,” said Iger. “With his success in building the Disney brand across many of our businesses, his astute marketing sensibility, his proven ability in working effectively with talent and his skill at navigating complex global markets, I’m confident he’s the perfect leader for our studio group.”

“I am very excited to play a key role in continuing the storytelling legacy of The Walt Disney Studios. There has never been a better time to entertain our global audiences with high-quality and compelling content and introduce new characters that will become family favorites. I look forward to working with Bob, the team at the studios and all of our Disney family towards that goal,” said Ross.

Under Ross’s leadership, the performance of Disney Channels Worldwide has been consistently strong in both creative and competitive terms, in the U.S. and globally. The group now includes a total of 94 channels and channel feeds available in 163 countries in 32 languages and features such brands as the flagship Disney Channel, the boy-focused Disney XD and Playhouse Disney for younger kids.

Ross has also overseen the growth of Radio Disney and of the group’s multiplatform offerings, which includes subscription video-on-demand and content-rich broadband websites DisneyXD.com and DisneyChannel.com, the number one kid’s entertainment website among Kids 6-14.

In the U.S., Disney Channel has been the #1 TV network among Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14 for the last seven and nine years respectively, buoyed by such breakout series as Lizzie McGuire, That’s So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and Sonny With A Chance. Stars of Disney Channel programs, including Raven-Symone, Selena Gomez, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus, have become household names.

Disney Channel’s record with original movies is equally impressive. With recent blockbusters like High School Musical 2, Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie and Camp Rock, Disney Channel can claim cable’s top two movies of all time and three of the top five.

Disney Channel programming has also helped build other Disney businesses, including the quadruple-Platinum-selling Hannah Montana soundtrack and the number one US album in 2006, High School Musical soundtrack. Books, stage shows, feature films, video games and merchandise featuring original Disney Channel characters have become a critical part of The Walt Disney Company’s success in recent years.

Ross joined Disney in 1996 as Disney Channel’s Senior Vice President, Programming and Production and was promoted to positions of increasing responsibility before being named Disney Channel president in April 2004. Prior to his tenure at Disney, he was a member of the executive team that launched FX Networks. Ross also held several senior positions at Nickelodeon from 1986 to 1993 where he oversaw talent booking, casting and program development and was involved in the launch of the channel’s first successful syndicated show and its first international network.

Ross is a member of the Board of Directors for Hollywood Radio Television Society and Cable in the Classroom — an organization that represents the cable telecommunication industry’s commitment to education. A native of New York and a 1983 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International and English, Ross received his J.D. degree from New York’s Fordham University in 1986.

For those of you new to Save Disney Shows, I want to let you know that the SDS webmasters are just fans like you, and we certainly don’t have all the answers. I want to share my experience dealing with Disney, and I think I have a lot to offer, but I also want your ideas and input. In previous campaigns, we’ve used the SDS Forum for this, but I’m flexible. comment the blog, send me an email, look me up on twitter, whatever works for you.

But I do have one request, please join our email list! We’ll send you maybe three emails per month at the most, but the information we do send is going to be when and what we’re planning so it’s critically important we can reach you promptly. And of course we’ll never sell your information or anything like that.

Finally, I’d also like to announce the launch of the Ruby & The Rockits E-mail Program. But please, don’t spam Disney with a ton of emails! Too many can be counter productive. We place a cap on the program at 5 sets per day, but really one set a day is enough. And it’s important that you still call disney and send paper letters. Emails alone will never be enough – we have to have those letters and phone calls!

On 09/11/09, Ruby star Alexa Vega announced on her twitter that the show has not been picked up for a second season: “Ruby didn’t get picked up “

But this doesn’t have to be the end! Save Disney Shows was founded by Kim Possible fans that thought it was that wrong for a “soulless” company to arbitrarily end the show at 65 episodes. We where able to brink KP back by working together. And since then, Disney management has been much more responsive to the wishes of fans, but it’s only natural that problems still arise.

But the cancellation of Ruby & The Rockits has to be one of the biggest blunders of the Iger-era at Disney! Any show that brings together Alexa Vega and the Cassidy brothers has scores of untapped potential! There is no justification that warrens ending the series after showing just eight episodes!

Simply put, this cannot be allowed to stand. ABC Family can’t just produce ten episodes and just walk away, not only is it wrong to drop the fans once they’ve started to get invested in the show, it doesn’t make any business sense. What does ABC Family do with 10 episodes? It’s a waste of money not to order a second season.

I don’t know if there are enough fans to make a difference. ABC Family didn’t give the series much of a chance to acquire fans, but if every fan joins our movement, and shows the show to their friends that number will grow. And given the amazing success of the Save Kim Possible Campaign has made, I firmly believe that there’s nothing we can’t accomplish if we work together – starting right now!

http://savedisneyshows.org/ruby/

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Once again, it’s time for us to turn to our members for help with fund raising.

We need to raise $150 over the next six weeks in order to renew the following domain names:

SAVEWITCH.COM
MISSIONKIMPOSSIBLE.COM
KIM-POSSIBLE.ORG
SDSFORUM.ORG
SAVEKP.COM
SAVEKP.ORG
SAVELILOANDSTITCH.ORG
SAVEOURSTITCH.ORG
S-D-S.US
SAVEDISNEYSHO.WS
LEROYANDSTITCH.COM
SAVELS.COM
FIXDISNEY.ORG
ROBERTIGER.ORG
SAVELS.ORG

One of the members of the PotF Island forum one suggested: “For kids it might be easier just to send in small amounts of cash to you, then you could report how much money you’re getting. Then you could use the money for ad space, the website or anything else that would help the movement.”And that’s exactly what we plan to do.

If you’re old enough to have a PayPal account, you can make a donation directly to paypal@savedisneyshows.org. If you want to ensure that your donation helps a specific show, you can add a comment like “donation for KP ” so we know your intent. (You can use the paypal donate button on SDS Main to donate from a Credit Card without a paypal account.)

Or, you can mail a check, money order, or cash to me at this address:

SDS Fundraising
C/O Gregory Isaac
PO Box 893211
Temecula, CA 92589-3211

If you also include your email address in your letter, I’ll let you know when I’ve received it.

We know times are tough, but please give what you can, we can’t make this work without all of you.