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    Channing Dungey To Exit ABC; Karey Burke Named Successor

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments6213 Views
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    In this June 13, 2018 file photo, Channing Dungey arrives at the Women In Film Crystal and Lucy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Disney-owned ABC said Friday that Dungey has decided to exit as ABC Entertainment president. She will be replaced by Karey Burke, a programming development executive at Freeform. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

    By Lynn Elber, Television Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey, who created a deep bench of ethnic diversity in the network's shows and fired Roseanne Barr for a racist tweet, will be stepping down.

    Her decision announced Friday comes amid ABC corporate parent Walt Disney Co.'s pending acquisition of 21st Century Fox and the planned reorganization of Disney's television units.

    Dungey, who became the first African-American programming chief for a major broadcast network when she was named to the job in February 2016, will be replaced by Karey Burke, head of programming development at ABC sibling cable channel Freeform since 2014, the network said.

    Dungey will remain during a transition period as Burke takes over.

    Burke's resume includes overseeing production of NBC prime-time series including "ER" and "The West Wing" from 1999 to 2003, during which time she developed "Scrubs," ''Freaks & Geeks" and other shows.

    In a statement, Dungey said she could have called ABC home for many more years but wants to tackle new, unspecified challenges.

    Under Dungey, both as president and in her previous job as head of ABC's drama development, the network became the home of "Scandal," ''How to Get Away With Murder" and other multiethnic shows from powerhouse African-American producer Shonda Rhimes.

    But Rhimes, whose shows own ABC's Thursday prime-time schedule, and another prominent producer, Kenya Barris of the network's sitcom "black-ish," have both jumped ship for lucrative streaming deals.

    More recently, Dungey made news for her quick action in canning Barr from her revived namesake show "Roseanne" after the actress-comedian posted an insulting tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is African-American. Barr apologized, but the show, which had been an immediate success for ABC, was revamped without her and debuted this fall as "The Conners."

    In October, Disney said it was bringing in Fox executive Dana Walden as chairman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment.

    Burke will report to Walden after the Fox acquisition is completed, with Burke's replacement at Freeform to be announced, ABC said.

    In a statement, Disney CEO Bob Iger lauded Dungey for her "curiosity, passion and creativity" and predicted she will be successful at whatever she chooses to pursue.

    Burke, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, said she was honored to continue Dungey's legacy of "excellent storytelling that touches so many people's hearts."

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    Category:News
    Tags:ABC EntertainmentChanning DungeyKarey Burke



    George Clooney Doesn’t See Jay Kelly When He Looks In The Mirror–But The Role Sparks Some Reflections

    Thursday, December 4, 2025

    George Clooney is not Jay Kelly. That much he is sure of. But when a famous movie star of a certain age decides to take on a role as a famous movie star of a certain age, full of regrets and realizing that he's missed out on so much of his own life in pursuit of greatness and fame, it does invite some questions. Clooney, 64, wasn't thinking about all that when Noah Baumbach called him about the part. He was just thinking about how hard it is to get good roles the older he gets. "I was predisposed to want to do it before I even read it," Clooney said in a recent interview. He wasn't the only one. Adam Sandler, Laura Dern and Billy Crudup were just a few of the many stars of "Jay Kelly," streaming on Netflix on Friday, who pretty much signed on script unread. Baumbach's name, as the writer-director behind "Marriage Story" and "The Squid and the Whale," has that kind of effect on actors, from those he's worked with before, to those who've just admired him from afar. "Jay Kelly," which Baumbach wrote with Emily Mortimer, wasn't just a clever character study but a lovingly clear-eyed portrait of the strange business of Hollywood moviemaking and the personalities involved — the managers (Sandler), the publicists (Dern), the makeup artists (Mortimer), the best actor from acting class who didn't make it (Crudup), and, of course, the one who did (Clooney). "It's so lush in its appreciation for the sort of carnival life of actors and the proximity to some kind of gilded, glorious life that's always tantalizingly close," Crudup said. "We use movie stars as some kind of analogy about what it means to be successful and have a happy life, when in fact, that's smoke and mirrors. And if you're too busy looking out for that, you're gonna miss the life that you... Read More

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