Producer Marc Cherry was so confident that his pilot for "Hallelujah" -- which he calls "'Glee' for conservative Republicans" -- would make it onto the ABC fall slate, he hired a showrunner for "Desperate Housewives" to replace himself and moved out of his "DH" office.
Charley Gallay/Getty ImagesDesperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry, Breaking Bad executive producers Mark Johnson and Joe Weisbeg, producer-writer of The Americans and a former CIA agent, will be among those making the trek from Hollywood to Washington, D.C. for The Cable Show 2013, according to an announcement Tuesday.
It is appropriate for Cherry to be at the cable show as his newest series, Devious Maids, premieres June 23 on the Lifetime Network.
They will be joined at the cable industry’s biggest annual gathering, which takes place June 10 through 12, by top cable and industry executives, as well as government officials and Michael Powell, president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which puts on the event.
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The line up for the daily general sessions includes, along with Cherry and Johnson, who appear on June 12, Disney ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney; Comcast CEO Brian Roberts (making his return after being absent last year); Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman; Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav; Time Warner Cable’s soon to retire CEO Glenn Britt; Scripps Interactive CEO Ken Lowe; along with Cox Cable CEO Pat Esser, who is co-chair of the convention with Arts & Entertainment Network’s chairman and former CEO Abbe Raven.
Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, will give the keynote address; and Ali Rowghani, chief operating officer of Twitter, will be on hand to provide a social media perspective.
David Cohen, executive vp of Comcast and John Danner, founder of Rocketship Education (who recently left his position as CEO at that company to start an online education company) will also be among those appearing.
Along with the general sessions, there will be more than 40 other panels and seminars about cable services and operations, programming, marketing, advertising, information technology, finance and public policy.
There will be educational sessions such as the Spring Technical Forum, a joint presentation of the NCTA, CableLabs and SCTE. This year will also feature Imagine Park, an amphitheater on the show exhibit floor where there will be discussions of thought leadership and industry innovation.
