EXCLUSIVE
NEW ORLEANS -- Buena Vista TV senior VP of development Michael Davies is ankling his post in the next few weeks to join ABC Entertainment, where he will oversee alternative series and specials.
Davies, 31, will report directly to ABC Entertainment president Jamie Tarses, and while his title still is being determined, it's expected that he'll be named an executive VP. Among his duties, Davies will oversee development of a growing area in network TV: reality programming.
ABC Entertainment chairman Stu Bloomberg is said to have recruited Davies after helping him get the top creative post at Buena Vista TV a year and a half ago. Davies joined BVTV in 1992 as a manager.
The move calls into question the future role of ABC Entertainment exec VP Alan Sternfeld, who now oversees specials and movie acquisitions.
Sources say Sternfeld, who joined ABC in 1990, may remain with the network in a slightly altered post. Before taking his current slot in 1996, Sternfeld was senior veep of program planning and scheduling at ABC.
Also in flux is Marilyn Wilson, ABC's senior veep of specials and latenight. Her contract is up soon, but insiders say Davies wants her to stay and work with him.
Buena Vista TV has not decided on a replacement for Davies, who oversaw the development and launch of "The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show" in syndication and several cable gameshows since he took over development for the division.
His departure will not affect the production of "Keenen" because Davies did not oversee current programming.
At ABC, Davies is expected to explore new types of programming for the web, such as reality series and specials, gameshows, sketch comedy series, magazine shows and docus.
ABC is developing several alternative series for this summer that Davies will oversee, including a half-hour sketch comedy series, possibly with Drew Carey, a one-hour reality show with Cindy Crawford and a gameshow.
Details on all the projects are sketchy, but sources say the gameshow may come from Buena Vista TV, where Davies was developing, among other shows, "The $640,000 Question."
The reality-programming genre is suddenly a hot priority at several of the broadcast webs. Fox was really the first to rely heavily on reality specials, including its "When Animals Attack" and "World's Deadliest Swarms."
But a lighter form of reality shows has spread across the web schedules this season. Most of the specials were created as inexpensive stopgaps to plug into problem timeslots. But with high ratings, many specs quickly turned into regular series.
Among them are CBS' "Kids Say the Darndest Things" and "Candid Camera," NBC's "Bloopers" and Fox's "World's Funniest ... ."
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