BURBANK, Calif. — If he really wanted to, Mike Darnell could probably cast himself in one of the many shows he oversees as the head of unscripted programming at Warner Bros. He keeps a baby grand piano, complete with a microphone and two speakers, in his office on the studio lot. When a reporter visited him recently, Mr. Darnell, who is five feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds, tossed himself onto the piano bench and said, in his raspy voice, “I’ll play a song for you,” before bursting into laughter. And then he became one of the longest-running and most successful executives in reality TV. In his role at Warner Bros., Mr. Darnell, 55, oversees more than 30 series that appear on cable, broadcast networks or in syndication.

Source: New York Times May 13, 2018 21:59 UTC