A&E is charting new territory, execs with whom we spoke acknowledged. “You’ve got an immovable object who actually believes he has God on his side. He’s a multimillionaire who lives in a swamp!” one industry image specialist acknowledged. “I don’t’ think he gives a flying fuck whether or not [A&E] agrees with him. I don’t think there’s any fear in this guy.”
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In addition to Know Your Star, execs we spoke with said the basic tenets of Surviving Reality TV Series Hits also include Know Your Show, Know Your Audience — and, last but not least, Get Out Of Your Own Way (aka, Hollywood and New York Are Not the Norm in the Country).
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Meanwhile, as A&E has learned during the past few days, if it didn’t know it already, a vocal chunk of the show’s audience subscribes to Robertson’s views on the Bible, Christianity, and homosexuality. Putting a show’s star on “hiatus” during the show’s hiatus, and with the next run of 10 Phil-featuring episodes already in the can might have seemed utterly logical from inside the industry, and the jaded press gave the network points for a move that looked like doing something while actually doing not much — and certainly no damage to the franchise. But, to Duck Dynasty’s religious followers, it was a battle cry.
Said one exec, “Their statement … should have been simply along the lines of, ‘The opinion stated by Phil is his opinion only; it’s not the opinion of A&E’ — and let it go.”
Added another: “Gay groups and others can come after [the network], but that’s a lot better to deal with than to have the stars of your [hit] show want to take it elsewhere for not supporting them.”
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So, where does A&E go from here?
“Someone’s going to have to back down,” said one industry vet, predicting it’s not going to be the Robertsons. “Either [A+E Networks CEO] Nancy [Dubuc] says, ‘This is not the position of the network and we respect Phil’s religious beliefs,’ and we all move on from there, or I don’t think the show survives on A&E,” the source continued.
“They’re going to have to apologize,” agreed another. “If they want them back, they’re going to have to eat crow. They’ll probably do it right after Christmas. Look for a note sometime over the next week and a half.”