When My Enemies Square Off...

As you guys know, I call ABC President Steve McPherson my TV enemy.

And as you also know, TV critics have made their way onto that enemy list as well.

So what happens when my enemies square off?

Here’s the blow-by-blow from James Hibberd of “TV Week”…

At the ABC opening panel at TCA Press Tour last week, a critic asked McPherson about a rumored “Lost” announcement at Comic-Con the next day. McPherson responded, “They do have some announcements they are going to be making that I think everyone will be pretty excited about.”

Then another critic asked, “Do you want us to go to Comic-Con tomorrow instead of this session?” McPherson joked, “Let’s go now. You want to go?”

The session moved on to other topics, but then another critic told McPherson, “I don’t think my editor is going to be very happy when she reads on a blog later this afternoon that Steve McPherson promised that the biggest news regarding one of the highest-rated shows on the network would be coming at a fan convention the next day.”

Then another chimed in. “Not to be a crybaby…[but] what’s the point of having 150 reporters with access to millions of readers sitting here?” McPherson tried to joke again. “Okay, I’ll give you the announcement…I cast Don Imus on ‘Lost.’”

The joke didn’t work. Another critic jumped in. “This is a serious question. Newspapers spend a lot of money to get us out here. A lot of us are fighting to stay out here. We write about all your television shows. If you are not going to tell us what it is, you can at least tell us why you’re not telling us.” McPherson tried to calm the growing storm. “Comic-Con has been a place that ‘Lost’ has had its presence for a long time. They have an announcement that [Damon Lindelof] wanted to make at Comic-Con…It’s not earth-shattering…It’s not going to change the face of television.”

Suddenly, an ABC publicity executive appeared on the stage and whispered to McPherson. He turned to the critics and told them that someone spoke to Lindelof and Lindelof gave his permission to give the news to the critics.

Though it’s true that I rarely agree with anything TV critics say these days, I quite enjoyed reading this exchange. I’m guessing that McPherson won’t make that mistake again…

[SPOILER ALERT]

And in case you’re wondering, the “Lost” announcement was that Harold Perrineau is returning to the show. Though that information is interesting, I have to agree with McPherson that it wasn’t earth-shattering. And most of the critics in the room agreed…