More loving on Les Moonves and CBS

(click to enlarge)

Note: the CW [UPN+WB] networks number for 06-07 was charted as if it were UPN

in a more flamboyant piece I pitted Mark Cuban vs. Moonves over the Dan Rather flap and said, I'd pick Mark Cuban. But Les Moonves deserves a lot of credit for what he's done at CBS. The ratings are leaving the big networks: that's not a function of anything the networks have control over, but rather a function of increasing choice.

Given that's the case, really the best you can do is hope to stave your losses and keep the people around as long as possible. In this way, since joining as head of CBS Entertainment in 1995 on his rise to run the whole shebang, Moonves outperformed all his rivals, and based on the chart timing it would be hard to make the case that Moonves doesn't deserve any of the credit, especially relative to his peers at ABC and NBC.