Sorry, NBC: Looks like ABC is trying to usurp your customary position as “turmoiled network of the year.” Just over a week before the start of the new fall season, Vulture hears that ABC is parting company with its longtime co-head of marketing, Mike Benson, a move that comes just weeks after the resignation of entertainment chief Steve McPherson and the arrival of new boss Paul Lee. While Benson has been credited with helping launch such hits as Desperate Housewives, Lost and, most recently, Modern Family, there’s been lots of grumbling both inside ABC and around Hollywood recently about just how not-good the network’s fall marketing campaigns have been this year. Posters for new drama No Ordinary Family make it hard to see star Michael Chiklis, and the social media-inspired campaign for My Generation has been widely panned. So who’ll take over marketing? ABC didn’t respond to calls for comment, but according to an e-mail Lee just sent to staffers, it will be Lee himself. He said he’ll oversee the department along with Benson’s former partner, Marla Provencia. “At this point in our progress, my priority is our marketing effort, specifically taking it in a new direction,” Lee wrote. Come on, ABC, just start firing talk show hosts and you can grab the title from Zucker for sure!
