TV Three

Jeff Carroll ’02, Charlie Dehne ’00, and Chris McCumber ’89 are behind the scenes making things happen.

by Dan Edelen

The theme song from one of television’s most successful comedies begins like this:

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away?

While that program, Cheers, is long gone, many people are answering yes in these tough economic times and are finding television, which has seen substantial increases in viewership in the last year, to be the means of escape. Jeff Carroll ’02, manager of digital marketing at Comedy Central, knows why.

“If people come home and turn on The Daily Show or South Park and they laugh for an hour and forget that the economy is bad or that politics in this country is down the tubes or that their jobs are in jeopardy, then I have done my part in making their day better,” he says.

Carroll shares his understanding of that need with two other alumni in the television industry, Charlie Dehne ’00, the Emmy-winning producer of the MTV program MADE, and Chris McCumber ’89, the executive vice president of marketing, digital, and brand strategy at USA Networks. All are based in New York City.

McCumber says people’s desire to latch onto messages that counter the gloom drives viewership today. “For USA, it’s about having a unique show that’s blue-sky positive and quirky in its characters. You walk away from some TV shows and you feel depressed. USA fills a big niche providing positive, upbeat, fun programming,” he says.

Dehne, too, has tapped into a longing to find hope. He’s proud of making a difference in the lives of the young people who seek help to turn a dream into a reality on MADE, where a “pampered princess” can become a high-scoring soccer player and “a sci-fi nerd morphs into a hardcore rapper.”

“Our whole show is about changing lives,” Dehne says. And it happens fast. Dehne has six weeks to hire professional coaches and effect and document the transformation of the show’s profilees. Making a compelling show that’s worth watching demands 24/7 response from the production team: crews sleeping on floors, phone calls at 4 a.m., editors poring over tape.

In June 2008, Dehne experienced his own dream come true when he won an Emmy Award as the producer of MADE. The year prior, he worked in post-production when the program was awarded its first Emmy statuette. But it’s the phone calls from grateful parents and their children that make his job worthwhile.

In an episode dubbed “Geek to Chic,” a girl wanted to be more visible to the opposite sex. “She’s a bookworm, incredibly bright, great personality, but no one ever saw it because she was afraid to show it,” Dehne recalls. He and his team of personal coaches helped her break out of her shell—typical material for the show. What Dehne didn’t expect during the process was a series of irate phone calls from the girl’s mother chastising him for what the team was putting her daughter through.

“I thought she hated me,” he says. But after the show aired, the mother called one more time.

“She said, ‘I just want to thank you for making such a wonderful show about my daughter. You made her look so beautiful and special, the way she really is. She feels like a different person, a happier person.’ It meant so much to hear that from a parent and know I made an impact on this kid’s life.”

To breathe life into MADE, now in its 10th season, the English graduate often digs for personal motivations. “It’s fascinating to really break these kids down. There’s more than just wanting to be a homecoming queen, a rapper, or a ballroom dancer. There’s something else they want.” Finding that desire and putting it onscreen continues to fuel the show’s success.

While Dehne draws viewers into the hopes of real people, McCumber—who drives the strategic and creative vision at USA while overseeing marketing in both traditional and digital media—takes them into the lives and stories of USA’s unique characters. From neurotic detective Adrian Monk and his germ- phobic sleuthing to cocky pro wrestler John Cena and his “Attitude Adjustment” move, USA’s program- ming reflects its award-winning motto, “Characters Welcome.” Viewers like it. Since 2006, USA Network is TV’s No. 1 cable television destination.

Accolades and big growth in viewership weren’t always the case for the network. In early 2004, USA’s new owner, NBC Universal, handed McCumber a career-defining challenge.

“We had no brand identity. People could tell you the shows but couldn’t tell you about USA Network. People didn’t like the network’s flag motif and Americana,” he says. “We had a big problem.”

War-room discussions with advertising and creative agencies ensued, and McCumber brainstormed with his team to find the linchpin that would unify programming and message. The answer came at an unlikely moment.

Bedridden with the flu, McCumber was discussing taglines, wondering how any short phrase would capture the flavor of USA and generate lasting excitement. “Then, all of a sudden, among a list of 50 taglines, there was one just two words long, ‘Characters Welcome,’” he recalls. “A light went on that cut through the fog of my flu. We should talk about people rather than a place. That unlocked the value within USA, because characters were the brand mantra.”

McCumber has brought the focus on characters to USANetwork.com, evolving it into a social-networking destination featuring games in the Character Arcade section, now a model for similar efforts at other networks within NBC Universal.

He also relishes his other role at USA, executive in charge of production for the character-driven wrestling extravaganza WWE Raw, a ratings titan. Working with WWE’s head honcho, Vince McMahon, McCumber and his team have developed epic publicity-garnering ideas.

“We were brainstorming about what would be a great feud or match, and the idea of Donald Trump challenging Vince was funny. So we suggested it to Vince, and he ran with it.” The ensuing clash, dubbed the Battle of the Billionaires, was wildly popular with fans. McCumber also was delighted when Raw scored the coup of having presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain appear on the program, which contributed to some of its highest ratings ever.

With USA’s ratings soaring under the “Characters Welcome” message, the cable network routinely draws more viewers than its broadcast-TV rivals. For McCumber and his 60-person team, that’s a feel-good vision that works.

Over at Comedy Central, Carroll checks the pulse of the digital age. It’s his job to bolster the Comedy Central brand online.

“Search, mobile, on-air, email, viral, wikis, gaming, and social networking—we make sure that Comedy Central speaks to our audience the way they want to be communicated to,” says Carroll, who was featured last year in Fortune magazine. “The beauty of digital marketing is our ability to react to change quickly and see results almost instantly.”

Carroll’s route to Comedy Central came partly by way of the golf course. In 2002, Carroll worked for Jay Mottola ’72, executive director of the Metropolitan Golf Association, headquartered in Westchester County, N.Y. There the English graduate learned web-design skills and tech knowledge, which he later augmented at AIG and Furnished Quarters. He got his break when an MTV Networks recruiter called about the Comedy Central position.

During Carroll’s first day on the job, his boss noted the new hire owned every South Park DVD available. The boss’ comment proved to be Carroll’s epiphany: “I get to work with cultural institutions like South Park, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. If you’re a musician, it’s like playing with the Rolling Stones.”

Now he develops viral media content based on Comedy Central’s shows for inclusion on hot web sites such as PerezHilton.com (celebrity gossip), The Huffington Post (politics), and Kotaku (gaming). He brainstorms online vertical marketing for the channel’s shows, checks search-engine placements, monitors demographics, and oversees development of desktop widgets and social-networking applications for sites like Facebook and MySpace. He particularly enjoyed creating an interactive application tied to the show Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil that asks online participants which of a pair—Coke and Pepsi, say, or red states and blue states—is “more evil.”

While Comedy Central’s irreverent work atmosphere contrasts sharply with much of corporate America, the demands of business press Carroll relentlessly. He faces market-space changes that tax his skills and keep him hunting for trends that will keep viewers coming back for more.

Working behind the scenes in the ever-changing entertainment biz, Carroll, McCumber, and Dehne have found a way to tap into the viewing public’s need for escape. When the sofa beckons and an hour or two begs to be filled, isn’t it nice to get away?