Paramount Media Networks President and CEO Chris McCarthy's mismanagement

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I was recently reading some disparaging comments about Chris McCarthy on Deadline following the announcement that MTV News was shutting down after 36 years. I won't post all of the comments, but somebody who lists themselves as a "Former MTVer" said that "Chris McCarthy is the worst. No vision. No leadership. Just a corporate troll." Another comment from a supposed Paramount Group employee said point blank that "McCarthy destroyed Logo, CMT, Pop, TVLand and is now eyeing Smithsonian. He has no creative bone in his body and he will take down the Drag Race franchise as well."

Here's some further insight on Chris McCarthy:

Finding a new host for The Daily Show wasn’t on anyone’s to-do list at Comedy Central. Not anytime soon, anyway. That changed Sept. 29, as the face of the network’s late night franchise, Trevor Noah, revealed on air that he’d be stepping down after seven years in the role. Until then, executives including Noah’s boss, MTV Entertainment Group CEO Chris McCarthy, who’d had lunch with Noah the previous day, believed he would be staying put at least through the 2023-24 season. After all, he had re-upped his eight-figure deal for two more years at parent company Paramount Global in June. Then, in a stunning twist, Noah announced that he was done.

“We were completely shocked,” says one high-ranking insider, with others there acknowledging they’d watched Noah’s signoff with mouths agape. The South African comedian, who gathered his staff after the show to discuss what he clearly didn’t feel comfortable sharing before, is said to be eager to spend more time on tour and building out his Day Zero production company. “I feel like it’s time,” he told viewers, noting how clarifying the pandemic had been. If all goes as Noah hopes, he’ll be off the show by the year’s end.

To many in Hollywood, it was the latest reminder, albeit a particularly glaring one, that Comedy Central is no longer the comedy force it once was. In fact, plenty argue that the brand, formerly home to seminal hits like Key & Peele, Inside Amy Schumer and Broad City, has been so dismantled, it’s barely in the comedy business at all. “Comedy Central never even comes up anymore,” says a prominent comedy producer. “It’s like no one takes pitches to them.” A scan of the network’s primetime lineup today consists largely of reruns of old, non-Comedy Central programming. And the company’s all-important streaming service, Paramount+, hasn’t provided viewers a comedy home the way, say, Hulu has for FX.

To be sure, Comedy Central has struggled with talent retention for years, with the first exodus happening around Jon Stewart’s Daily Show departure. At that time, the company was being run by then-Viacom chief Philippe Dauman, who’d famously offered the network and its stars little by way of resources or cross-company opportunities. Still, the late 2019 ousting of Comedy Central president Kent Alterman, who’d made do on a strong reputation and long-standing relationships in the comedy community, is often cited as “the beginning of the end” for Comedy Central. His No. 2, Sarah Babineau, and the remainder of their programming team were booted some six months later.

In the nearly three years since, McCarthy, a Wharton MBA who came up through unscripted at Viacom, has ushered Comedy Central out of the live-action, scripted comedy business. As part of the strategy overhaul, he’s also reversed renewals (Tosh.0, Drunk History), off-loaded series (South Side, The Other Two, both to HBO Max) and nixed deals, including one with producers Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello, who went on to create Emmy darling Hacks for HBO Max. “There’s more DNA of Comedy Central on HBO Max than on Paramount+, which is crazy,” notes a comedy producer.

By all accounts, McCarthy is focused on adult animation instead, with a heavy emphasis on still gestating nostalgia plays like Ren & Stimpy, a Daria spinoff and an animated version of Everybody Hates Chris. (An exec was hired in summer 2020 to run a centralized adult animation unit for the MTV Entertainment Group.) South Park remains a programming priority, and a new animated project from its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is said to be in the works.

Depending on who in town you ask, McCarthy is either “a smart, thoughtful straight shooter” who’s executing a strategy that’s necessary in an increasingly challenged entertainment environment, or an “aloof bean counter” more interested in squeezing margins and pumping out press releases than in cultivating talent or hit shows. At one of his first all-hands meetings at Comedy Central, McCarthy allegedly was asked what his favorite show was, and, according to one employee present, he said he liked watching CNN. “He couldn’t think of one TV show,” offers the still incredulous source.

What’s become clear is that McCarthy isn’t interested in playing the traditional Hollywood game. While he’s said to have forged a good relationship with Noah — though some question how good, if Noah couldn’t trust him with his news over lunch 24 hours before going public with it — he’s spent very little time wooing talent or their representatives. “At least David Zaslav did the tour when he took over,” snipes an agency partner, referring to the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO’s series of get-to-know-you meetings and meals, which preceded a string of cuts and cancellations.

Nevertheless, McCarthy is committed to keeping The Daily Show the keystone of Comedy Central, which is why Noah’s announcement hit as hard as it did. Though the show’s viewership has plummeted in seven seasons from 1.09 million night-of viewers and a 0.44 rating among the 18-49 demographic to 384,000 viewers and an 0.11 rating, it maintains a massive social footprint and, in the first half of 2022 alone, generated nearly $25 million in advertising revenue, per Kantar. According to sources close to production, McCarthy made clear to Noah that the company would be willing to accommodate his schedule so that Noah could pursue other projects and “feel creatively energized.” In fact, over lunch, the two had even discussed the prospect of having his Daily Show correspondents fill in for him in different weeks. Now those same correspondents’ names will come up as possible full-time replacements for Noah.

Though the precise timeline of Noah’s Daily Show departure was still being hammered out at press time, he continues to have plenty of business at parent company Paramount Global, where he has both a deal and a joint venture through his Day Zero productions. There’s a podcast, for instance, and a growing collection of films in development, at least some of which he will now have the time and bandwidth to star in. But on Sept. 30, a day after announcing his Daily Show exit, Noah had moved on. In fact, that night, he stood before a packed audience in Toronto, filming his next hour of comedy. Fittingly, it will be available on Netflix rather than Comedy Central.

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I now wonder how much of a hand that Chris McCarthy has in the apparently current destruction of Showtime.

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Did he have a hand in destroying Nick at Nite, too?

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Originally Posted by TMC

I now wonder how much of a hand that Chris McCarthy has in the apparently current destruction of Showtime.

Showtime Cable Network Is No More

By Chris Snellgrove | Published 20 hours ago

Showtime is one of the most well-known names in the entire entertainment industry…at least, it was.

While the cable company has been a standalone brand since it was first introduced back in 1976, it will now be moving forward with a different name that better reflects the unique brand proposition offered by the network.

According to Variety, “Paramount Global will rebrand the linear Showtime cable network as Paramount+ With Showtime — the same name as the company’s top-tier streaming package.”

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I've already posted this elsewhere, but this video goes into great detail of Chris McCarthy's management strategy when it comes to programming the Paramount Global related networks like MTV:
LANGAUGE WARNING

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Paramount Co-CEO Troika, TV Businesses Eye Consolidation Once Skydance Merger Closes

By Anthony D'Alessandro, Jill Goldsmith

December 3, 2024 2:25pm

The Paramount co-CEO threesome of Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks and Brian Robbins is apt to look quite different once the Skydance-Paramount merger goes through in late March-early April, according to sources and not surprisingly. However, we hear that no decisions have been made on the comings and goings of McCarthy, Cheeks and Robbins.

A Bloomberg article Tuesday reported that of the three, only Cheeks is bound to survive once incoming CEO and Paramount buyer David Ellison arrives. This in addition to further consolidation of the conglom’s TV assets.

Those familiar with the Skydance-Paramount merger tell us that Ellison has yet to have talks with McCarthy and Robbins about their futures under the new merger.

Chatter indicates that Cheeks looked well positioned to stay on as he oversees CBS, the division that has the least overlap with Skydance and one that has been doing well. The broadcast network added new hits this year including Tracker, Matlock and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage that are delivering strong ratings.

There had been questions about Cheeks’ relationship with Ellison’s incoming No. 2 Jeff Shell, though sources have indicated the two are currently on good terms after smoothing over any past fractures. Cheeks resigned from NBCUniversal in early 2020 just weeks after Shell replaced Steve Burke as NBCU CEO, following a sweeping restructuring that impacted Cheeks’ role at the company.

Some insiders believe Robbins, who oversees both Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, will be departing and was always meant to as Ellison is planning to have Skydance Head of Production Dana Goldberg lead Paramount’s film business. Sources tell us that Robbins hasn’t made any hard decisions about staying or going, but he’s not without options, including potential start-ups. The film division under his tenure has generated several No. 1 box office hits this year in IF, Bob Marley: One Love and Smile 2, as well as solid tentpoles in Gladiator II and A Quiet Place: Day One, in a domestic box office year at the studio bound for $800 million-plus.

McCarthy has overseen the Taylor Sheridan universe, which has delivered a string of hits including tentpole Yellowstone, 1923, Tulsa King and most recently Lioness, as well as the revamp of Paramount+ with Showtime with shows like the upcoming Dexter reboot and The Agency.

Ellison and Shell have also been meeting with Paramount department heads to assess the future, even though no decisions have been made.

From early in the deal process people close to Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital had indicated the potential for millions in savings in TV and streaming — even beyond the half billion in savings already taken out with cost cuts and hundreds of layoffs by the current Paramount regime. With its linear TV business still profitable, though declining, Paramount is slashing 15% of its U.S. staff, pink-slipping around 2,000 positions before the end of this year.

Ellison’s rumored plan is to combine all the Paramount TV networks, currently run by Cheeks and McCarthy, including CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, etc., into one division.

While the previous Donald Trump presidential administration was a hurdle for the AT&T/WarnerMedia merger, sources say no monkey-wrenches are expected for Skydance-Paramount merger once Trump resumes office.

“If Kamala Harris became president, then we’d have a problem,” one source close to the merger told Deadline recently about the Democrats’ tough stance on deals. The FCC hasn’t OK’d the Paramount-Skydance merger yet; those opposing the merger can petition the agency by December 16, with final response due January 13, according to Bloomberg.

Shari Redstone, who controls Paramount, put McCarthy, Cheeks and Robbins in charge as co-CEOs last summer in a surprise move after ousting former CEO Bob Bakish, as she and Bakish weren’t seeing eye on the sale process.

The CEO structure has been a bit unwieldy, and there has been a fair amount of skepticism among industry players and Wall Streeters, but in the end it’s for a limited time.

The months before a merger is announced and closes are difficult times at companies, and keeping executives in place during the transition is key. To that end, Paramount last month awarded each of the three another $3 million worth of stock grants that, unusually, are valid whether or not they are CEOs at Paramount or doing some other job at the company.

Par previously sweetened the trio’s compensation in June to reflect their new roles. That SEC filing said Cheeks, Robbins and McCarthy would qualify for a severance payment of twice their base pay if the company changes hands – which it likely will. They also can continue to receive benefits for 24 months after their departures. For the period they serve in the Office of the CEO, each also is eligible for an annual cash bonus of $2.75 million.

Last week, Paramount said HR head Nancy Phillips, EVP, Chief People Officer, and Doretha Lea, EVP, Global Public Policy and Government Relations, are both eligible for a $1 million bonus if they remain until the deal closes.

The long anticipated merger is expected to close in the first half of next year.

Paramount reps had no comment on possible executive changes — which would, in any case, concern the new Paramount brass and be outside their purview.

Ellison has said AI and tech will be key to the merged entity working in part with Oracle, the software giant co-founded and run by his father Larry Ellison.

Larry Ellison is the biggest investor in Skydance and will be as well in the merged company, which some rivals have been quick to point out. The company specified last month that David Ellison will have 100% control of the family’s Paramount interest when the deal closes, not Larry. David Ellison recently hired former longtime Netflix executive Cindy Holland, someone with firsthand knowledge of using technology to grow and scale a business with a tech mentality. She is expected to have a big role in the new merger, likely overseeing Paramount+.

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https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMw_dd...2-a5c371aa014c

Chris McCarthy served as President and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks for many years, becoming one of Paramount Global's three co-CEOs in 2024 during a leadership transition amid the company's sale process. He departed the company in mid-2025 following the completion of the Skydance Media merger, which closed around August 2025 after FCC approval.

Criticisms of His Management

Many of the points you raised align with widespread industry criticism, particularly from employees, former staff, and Hollywood observers:

• Shutdowns and Declines: McCarthy oversaw significant changes to cable networks, including the 2023 shutdown of MTV News (after 36 years) amid 25% staff cuts across his division. Comedy Central shifted away from original scripted/live-action comedy toward reruns and animation, leading to accusations of dismantling its once-dominant brand (e.g., offloading shows like The Other Two and South Side to HBO Max, reversing renewals for Tosh.0 and Drunk History). Networks like Logo, CMT, Pop, TV Land, and others were seen by critics as diminished or deprioritized.
• Showtime Rebrand and Integration: The 2023-2024 rebranding of the Showtime cable network to "Paramount+ with Showtime" (and eventual full integration) drew backlash for diluting the premium brand's identity, with some viewing it as part of a broader "destruction" of legacy channels to push streaming.
• Layoffs and Cost-Cutting: Under the co-CEO structure, Paramount implemented multiple rounds of layoffs (including ~2,000 in 2024), often attributed to economic pressures but criticized as overly aggressive, contributing to perceptions of poor leadership and instability.
• Creative Focus: Anonymous comments (e.g., on Deadline, forums like SitcomsOnline, and Reddit) frequently described him as lacking "vision" or "creative bones," prioritizing margins, unscripted/reality content, and nostalgia revivals over original development. His reported preference for CNN over comedy shows at an early Comedy Central meeting fueled "bean counter" narratives.

These views were common in trade reports and employee accounts during turbulent periods like the Trevor Noah Daily Show exit and broader cable declines.

Achievements and Counterpoints

McCarthy also received praise for strategic pivots that drove growth in challenging times:

• Taylor Sheridan Franchise: His biggest success was championing Yellowstone (inherited but nearly canceled early on) and expanding it into a massive universe (1883, 1923, Tulsa King, Lioness, Landman, etc.). This became one of TV's most profitable franchises, significantly boosting Paramount+ subscriber growth and revenue—often credited as a key driver of the streamer's gains.
• MTV/VH1 Revivals: Earlier in his career (pre-2020), he was lauded for resuscitating MTV and VH1 with unscripted hits like rebooted Jersey Shore, The Challenge, and RuPaul's Drag Race expansions, shifting to a "build" mentality that improved ratings and relevance.
• Streaming Integration: Merging Showtime into Paramount+ and focusing on hits like Yellowjackets, Your Honor, and Sheridan projects helped Paramount+ add millions of subscribers and achieve stronger hit ratios amid industry headwinds.

Trade outlets like Variety, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter often portrayed him as a "smart straight shooter" executing necessary strategies in a declining linear TV landscape, even if unpopular.

Current Status (as of December 2025)

Post-departure from Paramount, McCarthy has moved to NBCUniversal in a producing role, reuniting with Taylor Sheridan (whose deals shift there starting 2026-2029) and David Glasser's 101 Studios to develop new content for NBC/Peacock.

Overall, opinions on McCarthy are deeply polarized: detractors see him as emblematic of corporate cost-cutting that eroded iconic brands, while supporters credit him with adaptable hits that kept parts of Paramount competitive during cable's downturn and streaming's rise. The industry's shift away from traditional cable amplified both the criticisms (e.g., network "destruction") and the need for his tough decisions.