Hmm. That is true.
But maybe that was because Universal was able to extend enough goodwill to Paramount, I think the two studios were close.
When you Wish Upon a Frog (Book II of the Jim Henson at Disney saga)
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But maybe that was because Universal was able to extend enough goodwill to Paramount, I think the two studios were close.
He survived his heart condition OTL. Still, him having a real heart attack does mean his chances of survival are much lower.
Disney Chairman Makes Quick Recovery from Heart Surgery
LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner left the hospital Thursday, mending quickly from quadruple heart bypass surgery.
apnews.com
To be honest, I would prefer if Eisner survives the heart attack, but it's going to be a dark legacy for both Katzenberg and Bluth if he dies, as no one can definitively blame the other for his death. It's just going to make an already strained relationship even worse.
How do you Fix a Broken Heart?
Chapter 9: The Big Breakup (Cont'd)
Excerpt from Man of Iron: The Michael Eisner Story, an unauthorized biography by Anthony Edward Stark
Michael Eisner was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Hospital where cardiologists discovered that he had a 95% blockage in a coronary artery. Already on cholesterol medication and with a family history of heart disease, Eisner had been intending to get another stress test for years now, but hadn’t found the time[1].
He received a quadruple bypass and was released back into the care of his wife Jane after a short recovery stay at the hospital.
“One hell of a week,” he faintly told her, looking to her like a near corpse.
As he recovered in his Bel Aire home, Jane, in turn, ran interference, keeping visitors and reporters away. In one case, she angrily chased away Capital Cities CEO Tom Murphy, who’d come, he said in “good faith”, to check up on an “old friend”.
“You are the fourth-to-the-last person that he wants or needs to see right now, Tom,” she told him.
Recovery was slow and frustrating that summer. He tried to relax, exploring everything from yoga to meditation, but the quiet moments only brought his mind back to Katzenberg and Iger. His wife and doctors urged him to rest (he had plenty of money saved up and a generous severance package from ABC and didn’t need to work) but he knew in his heart that the tedium and anger would consume and kill him[2]. He needed to find purpose. He needed a second chance. And most of all, he wanted revenge against those whom he felt had betrayed him.
But first of all, he needed a job.
He called up Lew Wasserman at Universal, but Wasserman was still angling for a potential merger with ABC and regretfully turned him down. His friend Barry Diller offered him an ill-defined executive billet at Triad’s corporate office “at least until a leadership slot opens up in one of the studios”, but to Eisner that felt like a demotion and charity-job and knew that Hollywood would see it as such. Warner Brothers wasn’t looking for a creative executive at the moment and John Peters was clearly the rising star there. He considered Disney-MGM, but knew that he’d be back into a junior executive position.
But one obvious place remained. Columbia Entertainment had been struggling, particularly on the movie side. While CBS was doing well under Brandon Tartikoff, Columbia Pictures was fighting to stay relevant after some noteworthy underperformers like The Rocketeer. Only the successes of Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, and the surprise hit Forrest Gump had kept the studio solvent amid a long series of losers and underperformers. Rumor had it that the studio was losing over $500 million a year. Eisner had little doubt that Turner was looking for a replacement for Columbia head Dawn Steel, whose fate was deemed “sealed” by Industry Insiders.
Eisner called in a few favors and flew to Atlanta for an interview with Ted Turner, who immediately liked his “game”. Eisner showed him the returns that he’d earned, the growth of both Paramount and Hollywood Pictures under his leadership, and the many creative and fiscal accolades that he’d earned.
Turner was duly impressed, and seemed unbothered by his untimely release by ABC. “Mikey, this is a cruel and cutthroat business that we’re in. I’ll give you a chance. If you deal me a straight hand each and every time, we’ll get along swimmingly, I’m sure.” He didn’t have to say what would happen if Turner ever felt that Eisner was not dealing him a “straight hand.”
Turner ultimately offered Eisner the Chair and Presidency of Columbia Pictures (replacing the outgoing Dawn Steel, who’d had a “challenging” working relationship with Turner) and also made him the CCO of Columbia Entertainment[3]. It would require leaving LA and relocating to Atlanta.
“There you go, son, a whole new mountain to climb,” said Turner, extending his hand.
Eisner, without hesitation and uncharacteristically without consulting his family[4], accepted on the spot and shook Turner’s hand, doing his best to match the force and firmness and maintain eye contact. He now had yet another blank slate to remake in his own image, and plenty of marginalized former allies at Hollywood/ABC to bring over with him. Eisner smiled.
Turner smiled. “Great handshake, Mikey. Welcome to Y’allywood!”
[1] All per our timeline. He avoided the heart attack in our timeline (the one in this timeline was relatively mild with no major ischemic damage) but still had emergency quadruple bypass surgery after experiencing growing chest pains following the death of Frank Wells, leading ultimately to a stress test that revealed the 95% blockage. With Eisner in surgery shortly following the recent death of Frank Wells, the future of Disney was briefly left in doubt.
[2] Closely mirrors his experiences in our timeline following his 1994 emergency quadruple bypass, where he recovered surprisingly quickly after getting back in the action, in direct defiance of doctor’s recommendations. The thrill of the job was, for him, the best medicine, in our timeline and this one alike.
[3] @Shiny_Agumon called it!
[4] For all of his mercurial reputation as a studio head, Eisner is famously devoted to his family.
Excerpt from Man of Iron: The Michael Eisner Story, an unauthorized biography by Anthony Edward Stark
Michael Eisner was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Hospital where cardiologists discovered that he had a 95% blockage in a coronary artery. Already on cholesterol medication and with a family history of heart disease, Eisner had been intending to get another stress test for years now, but hadn’t found the time[1].
He received a quadruple bypass and was released back into the care of his wife Jane after a short recovery stay at the hospital.
“One hell of a week,” he faintly told her, looking to her like a near corpse.
As he recovered in his Bel Aire home, Jane, in turn, ran interference, keeping visitors and reporters away. In one case, she angrily chased away Capital Cities CEO Tom Murphy, who’d come, he said in “good faith”, to check up on an “old friend”.
“You are the fourth-to-the-last person that he wants or needs to see right now, Tom,” she told him.
Recovery was slow and frustrating that summer. He tried to relax, exploring everything from yoga to meditation, but the quiet moments only brought his mind back to Katzenberg and Iger. His wife and doctors urged him to rest (he had plenty of money saved up and a generous severance package from ABC and didn’t need to work) but he knew in his heart that the tedium and anger would consume and kill him[2]. He needed to find purpose. He needed a second chance. And most of all, he wanted revenge against those whom he felt had betrayed him.
But first of all, he needed a job.
He called up Lew Wasserman at Universal, but Wasserman was still angling for a potential merger with ABC and regretfully turned him down. His friend Barry Diller offered him an ill-defined executive billet at Triad’s corporate office “at least until a leadership slot opens up in one of the studios”, but to Eisner that felt like a demotion and charity-job and knew that Hollywood would see it as such. Warner Brothers wasn’t looking for a creative executive at the moment and John Peters was clearly the rising star there. He considered Disney-MGM, but knew that he’d be back into a junior executive position.
But one obvious place remained. Columbia Entertainment had been struggling, particularly on the movie side. While CBS was doing well under Brandon Tartikoff, Columbia Pictures was fighting to stay relevant after some noteworthy underperformers like The Rocketeer. Only the successes of Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, and the surprise hit Forrest Gump had kept the studio solvent amid a long series of losers and underperformers. Rumor had it that the studio was losing over $500 million a year. Eisner had little doubt that Turner was looking for a replacement for Columbia head Dawn Steel, whose fate was deemed “sealed” by Industry Insiders.
Eisner called in a few favors and flew to Atlanta for an interview with Ted Turner, who immediately liked his “game”. Eisner showed him the returns that he’d earned, the growth of both Paramount and Hollywood Pictures under his leadership, and the many creative and fiscal accolades that he’d earned.
Turner was duly impressed, and seemed unbothered by his untimely release by ABC. “Mikey, this is a cruel and cutthroat business that we’re in. I’ll give you a chance. If you deal me a straight hand each and every time, we’ll get along swimmingly, I’m sure.” He didn’t have to say what would happen if Turner ever felt that Eisner was not dealing him a “straight hand.”
Turner ultimately offered Eisner the Chair and Presidency of Columbia Pictures (replacing the outgoing Dawn Steel, who’d had a “challenging” working relationship with Turner) and also made him the CCO of Columbia Entertainment[3]. It would require leaving LA and relocating to Atlanta.
“There you go, son, a whole new mountain to climb,” said Turner, extending his hand.
Eisner, without hesitation and uncharacteristically without consulting his family[4], accepted on the spot and shook Turner’s hand, doing his best to match the force and firmness and maintain eye contact. He now had yet another blank slate to remake in his own image, and plenty of marginalized former allies at Hollywood/ABC to bring over with him. Eisner smiled.
Turner smiled. “Great handshake, Mikey. Welcome to Y’allywood!”
[1] All per our timeline. He avoided the heart attack in our timeline (the one in this timeline was relatively mild with no major ischemic damage) but still had emergency quadruple bypass surgery after experiencing growing chest pains following the death of Frank Wells, leading ultimately to a stress test that revealed the 95% blockage. With Eisner in surgery shortly following the recent death of Frank Wells, the future of Disney was briefly left in doubt.
[2] Closely mirrors his experiences in our timeline following his 1994 emergency quadruple bypass, where he recovered surprisingly quickly after getting back in the action, in direct defiance of doctor’s recommendations. The thrill of the job was, for him, the best medicine, in our timeline and this one alike.
[3] @Shiny_Agumon called it!
[4] For all of his mercurial reputation as a studio head, Eisner is famously devoted to his family.
Oh - it seems I was wrong. Eisner and Katzenberg are getting ready for war.
And this is going to be interesting... especially for Don Bluth.
Prior to this weekend's posts, I assumed that, after his disastrous experience on Retriever with Katzenberg and Eisner, Bluth would end up going back to the independent side of things (what with Disney and Hollywood Pictures, he's had two too many bad experiences with the studio system).
What's going to be in store for him?
And this is going to be interesting... especially for Don Bluth.
Prior to this weekend's posts, I assumed that, after his disastrous experience on Retriever with Katzenberg and Eisner, Bluth would end up going back to the independent side of things (what with Disney and Hollywood Pictures, he's had two too many bad experiences with the studio system).
What's going to be in store for him?
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It's a good thing that Eisner survived. I mean, he is the best person in this timeline to stir up any kind of executive drama given his personality, and even with his back against the wall, he manages to bounce back. Eisner and Katzenberg are definitely to be at each other's throats from now on, and I can't wait where Columbia Entertainment goes next with Eisner's direction.
Eisner lives! And he's at Columbia now? Fascinating.
Thought he was gonna make his own entertainment company off his own clout.
Thought he was gonna make his own entertainment company off his own clout.
Oh definitely, getting fired and then almost dying is not how you want to start the weekend.
Too soon Tommy boy, he barely made it out of your building and the NDA poking out of your pocket is not a good look either.
It's all coming together!
I can already see the headlines:
"Columbia, going from Steel to Iron"
Not but seriously, I'm excited to see where this partnership will go. We always like to dump on Eisner, but he might be what Columbia always needed. Not that Mrs. Steel did a bad job or anything, but she was clearly held back from reaching her full potential.
Something that I don't think will happen to Eisner.
Probably a bit too big of a bite to shallow for him, despite his ambitions. I mean just look at how many favours and friends OTLs Katzenberg needed to open up DreamWorks and unlike both OTLs and ITTLs Michael Eisner he had lots of experience in the production field, something that's very needed when you are opening your own studio and don't have dedicated executive Producers and directors yet.
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Maybe many of the OTL Disney films greenlit by him will be under Columbia here.
Dinosaur as a Hanna-Barbera film?
Well, at least Dinoland U.S.A. would be at some other media mogul's theme park chain instead of Walt Disney World.
I mean, if something like Animal Kingdom still pops up at Disney World TTL, it could have a dinosaur area themed to Land Before Time and/or Jurassic Park
I dunno, DAK generally shied away way from specifically IP-themed areas (prior to Pandora), so I doubt it.
I'm just saying more than one theme park chain can have dinosaur-themed attractions
No I'm saying Dinoland USA will probably not be at Peach Grove.
Well, if Disney's Animal Kingdom did have a dinosaur-themed land, basing it on Land Before Time and Jurassic Park would be a LOT better in the long run!
Here's something interesting with regards to the Rock (Dwayne Johnson) and his football skills: Warren Sapp (an NFL Hall of Famer who played with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and with the Oakland Raiders later in his career), who took over the Rock's position at the University of Miami (1), said in an interview with Shannon Sharpe (linked here: https://www.foxsports.com/watch/1887213123972) that the Rock wasn't going to dominate a game as a football player, but he was good enough that he wouldn't lose the game for his team...
IMO, if the Rock sticks with college football at the University of Miami in TTL, he likely goes late in the first round or in the second round of the NFL draft the year after his senior season (which would have been in 1995)--hell, I can see the Dolphins drafting him in TTL...
(1) Here's another fact: Sapp was originally going to play tight end at UM, but his teammate Mark Caesar convinced the UM coaches to switch him to defensive tackle, because Caesar thought he'd be better at that position (he saw Sapp as the next Russell Maryland or Cortez Kennedy, who were both good UM defensive players (2))--and he was right, IMO...
(2) Along with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, among others (Reed and Lewis would be teammates on the Baltimore Ravens, and would win a Super Bowl together)...
IMO, if the Rock sticks with college football at the University of Miami in TTL, he likely goes late in the first round or in the second round of the NFL draft the year after his senior season (which would have been in 1995)--hell, I can see the Dolphins drafting him in TTL...
(1) Here's another fact: Sapp was originally going to play tight end at UM, but his teammate Mark Caesar convinced the UM coaches to switch him to defensive tackle, because Caesar thought he'd be better at that position (he saw Sapp as the next Russell Maryland or Cortez Kennedy, who were both good UM defensive players (2))--and he was right, IMO...
(2) Along with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, among others (Reed and Lewis would be teammates on the Baltimore Ravens, and would win a Super Bowl together)...
Eisner survived his heart attack, then joins Columbia.
This is def gonna be an interesting saga.
This is def gonna be an interesting saga.
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