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I'll play Eisner devil's advocate to point out that he more than lucked into his positions and that he once was able to not only succeed, but to lead great teams forward.
Notable notes:
In 1975, Eisner served ABC as Vice President for Program Planning and Development and as Senior Vice President for Prime Time Production and Development in 1976. In these posts, he fostered programs such as Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, Barney Miller, and Starsky and Hutch. During Eisner's years in the programming department, ABC had moved from a perennial third place among television networks to first place.
Eisner was the creative producer of SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK, which entertained and educated a generation.
The average Paramount production during Eisner's tenure cost only $8.5 million to produce, when the industry average was $12 million per picture. During this time, Paramount moved from last place to first place among the six major studios. In October 1978, half of the top ten box office attractions were Paramount films.
Films produced at Paramount during Eisner's reign include: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, Ordinary People, Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman, The Elephant Man, Reds, Flashdance, Footloose, Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Airplane and three installments of the Star Trek cycle.
While at Disney, Eisner was credited with the successful aquisition of Mirimax.
Eisner has received the lion's share of the credit for transforming Walt Disney Productions from a well-known but fading brand name entertainment firm into a powerful multimedia juggernaut. When Eisner came aboard as chairman and CEO in 1984, nearly 80 percent of Disney's revenue, then totaling around $1.7 billion, came from its theme parks. By 1994, corporate coffers were bulging with over $10 billion in revenues with an impressive $4.8 billion streaming in from Disney films, a hefty $3.5 billion from theme parks and a neat $1.8 billion in Disney merchandise.
The aquisition of Capital Cities/ABC is still considered a major coup and the crown jewel in Eisner's career.
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