At the Television Critics Association Press Tour CBS CEO Les Moonves had to fill in for CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler due to a death of one of Tassler’s friends. Among the topics that Moonves addressed why “Hawaii Five-O” is getting kicked out of its Monday night slot and heading to Friday nights
“We didn’t have a lot of space for new 10 o’clock drams,” explained Moonves. “We fell in love with ‘Hostages’ and said it’s going to be very powerful. ‘Hawaii Five-O’ skews a little older, so with ‘Blue Bloods’ doing well, Friday has become more of a total demo night. It became pretty evident that putting ‘Hawaii Five-O’ there would be a good move.”
Moonves also spoke about the highly controversial departure of Cote de Pablo from the hit show “NCIS.”
““We offered Cote De Pablo a lot of money,” said Moonves. “And then we offered her even more money. We really didn’t want to lose her. We love her. She was terrific. We obviously were in discussions. The rest of the cast and producers were aware of what’s going on. Ultimately she decided she didn’t want to do the show. It was purely her decision.”
Moonves kept abreast of all the social media outcry on behalf of de Pablo, but clarified that he made every effort to keep her. “Look, ‘NCIS’ the highest rated show on television last year, we don’t like losing anybody. We did everything possible and exhausted every opportunity.”
I personally asked Moonves about the “Beverly Hills Cop” pilot his network did not pick up. It seemed like a sure thing with the title and Eddie Murphy even reprising his role as Axel Foley to introduce Brandon T. Jackson as his son. What could have gone so wrong with the pilot that he wouldn’t move forward? Moonves wouldn’t tell me.
“We do a lot of pilots and the best get on the air. We felt we had better choices than that pilot.”
It seems to have worked out for Murphy. Reports broke over the weekend that Beverly Hills Cop 4 may be back on.
