The New York Times reveals it at the end of a glowing tribute to the executive in Sunday's Arts & Leisure section.
Ross heads 62 Disney channels and their offshoots, and according to the Times, "probably has more influence than anyone else on the television that young children and adolescents are watching these days-- not just in this country, but also in many of the 100 other nations that now carry Disney Channel programming... His shows aren't just big children's shows. They're among the biggest shows, period. In fact, Disney Channel is responsible for all but two of the 30 highest-rated television movies, specials and shows on cable television in 2005-6 among viewers ages 6 to 14, according to Nielsen Media Research..."
So how does he do it?
The Times points put that Ross didn't create or conceive of any of the shows like High School Musical, Lizzie McGuire or Hannah Montana. His genius is in coordinating "different parts of the Disney machine, from radio stations to Disney-branded magazines to Web sites, and his uncanny connection to young people's sensibilities."
The Times saves Ross' secret for the tail end of the story. And it's not that he's a gay male, in a childless relationship with his "partner of nearly 20 years." The paper does tell us that, but the outing is no surprise, this being Disney and the NY Times. It's the words that follow-- the explanation for how this childless gay Hollywood male is able to gauge the interests of kids worldwide: For the past decade, he's been getting all his ideas approved by a little kid!
"She is Alexis Teixeira, age 11, of Connecticut, who is the daughter of his law school roommate," the Times reveals. "Mr. Ross has been soliciting Alexis's opinion since she was 4, when he asked her to critique Bear in the Big Blue House... Most recently he sent her a version of Cheetah Girls 2 in Spanish with English subtitles. Their discussions take place by e-mail, sometimes daily..."
"I always tell him the truth," Alexis tells the Times. "I've never told him I didn't like something. I might have given him advice on how something wasn't perfect."
Now wait a minute! We're pretty sure we've already seen that Disney movie. But if we haven't, Rich Ross oughta get the scriptwriters busy now: A middle-aged executive suddenly has his finger on the pulse of young America, and no one understands how he's doing it. No one knows he's just a beard, relaying the words of an 11 year old girl! But then comes the big surprise meeting. He's on the spot... and she's stuck in class, taking an English test...
Comments (9)
I have honestly been giving Tabloid Baby a chance, and pretty much ignored all the bashing, but I must say that I will join the annoyance bandwagon.
This is by far the most pointless story yet.
1 of 9 | Posted by crazee4mullets | Posted on October 21, 2006 10:25 PM
What the hell... I'll complain, too! I've been trying to be patient, but it just ain't working.
Someone else suggested "digests" for tabloidbaby posts (like the old-school Newsgasms were); I wholeheartedly agree. There wasn't always great stuff in those originals, either, but at least our RSS feeds didn't show 842 posts a day by the same person for every bit of aren't-we-clever secondhand news.
2 of 9 | Posted by mikey | Posted on October 21, 2006 10:31 PM
Jesus Christ, this isn't even interesting. Time for an exorcism.
3 of 9 | Posted by JTContinental | Posted on October 22, 2006 1:01 AM
I actually enjoy TB's stories, but this one IS pretty bad.
4 of 9 | Posted by Zharak | Posted on October 22, 2006 10:36 AM
This site has totally sold out. This tabloid baby character is probably paying them to run this crap. This mixed with this stupid hyperlinking to ask.com is pretty much killing my interest in tvgasm.
5 of 9 | Posted by Vidle | Posted on October 23, 2006 7:53 AM
Sadly it appears that tvgasm.com is being heavily diluted into a general "tv news" site. I take back any statements I made about the "up to the nanonsecond" coverage of Big Brother and Laguna Beach. That is nothing compared to the swarm of Tabloid Baby posts about some extra on some show just bought a Nissan.
I didn't complain when the articles went to a multi-page format.
I didn't complain when there's hyperlinking for advertisements, when before it was just hyperlinking to relevant stuff in the article's context.
I didn't complain when my favorite show had missing recaps or late recaps(Prison Break, The apprentice).
However, I will complain of the 2000 newsgasms/day by tabloid baby. If I wanted harder hitting tv news, I go over to realityblurred, which I wish had a comment system.
6 of 9 | Posted by BigTeebo | Posted on October 23, 2006 8:56 AM
Well stated, BigTeebo. And I have to agree with each of your points.
7 of 9 | Posted by mountain_girl | Posted on October 23, 2006 9:17 AM
I agree with BigTeebo too. Remember when it was absolutely hilarious here!? Like when J-unit and B-side went to the "Blackberry Factory"? Ahh, good times.
8 of 9 | Posted by Clair | Posted on October 23, 2006 10:32 AM
Holy crap do we need another Apprentice season to drown out these boring newsgasms.
Yeah, 20000 newsgasms, not one bit about the Flavor of Love finale. Don't mind it's VH-1's highest rated show, and probably everyone's guilty pleasure. :)
9 of 9 | Posted by BigTeebo | Posted on October 23, 2006 12:06 PM