Michael Eisner on Larry King tonight

[Wilt Dasney]

I'm not in the "anti-Eisner" crowd, but after reading so much of the commentary on this site, I did notice that the first time Eisner seemed to "come alive" in this interview was when Larry mentioned the amount of the Comcast bid...I'm not going to say he doesn't care about the other topics he discussed, but it seemed clear that the economic questions were the ones he really enjoyed talking about.

 

[Carrousel Lover]

Was that an interview or a commercial?

Originally posted by Defend10
Quite honestly, without basing anything on my opinion, he sold himself and the company very well, and handled the questions like a pro. Any way you look at it, he's got the charisma and charm, that's for sure. For those who call him an idiot and say he can't speak, I don't know, it just seems like they may be blinded by their anger towards the man.Once again, I am expressing neither positive nor negative opinions towards Mr Eisner, I just think his salesmanship was in top shape tonight.

Absolutely easy to sell oneself if you know everything will be fluff. I was very disappointed with the interview but let's be honest did you honestly expect larry King to hit him with difficult questions - well okay maybe we thought maybe hence the wasted hour. I could not believe not one question on the DL maintenance. How could that be - a question about him selling hotdogs - oh come on! They did a fantastic job prepping him - the kinder gentler Michael - the one who begins the episodes at the Wonderful World of Disney. He is not a dumb man, no way would he come out with guns blasting on Roy Disney or Steve Jobs. He is playing the gracious "turn the other cheek" and "I'm the wounded party" role. Excellent Marketing ploy. He is counting his days down to March 3rd and will take any win he can. That said, I am disappointed that he didn't have a Diane Sawyer or heavy hitter interview him and push his buttons. Again though how dumb would that have been. He is fighting for his job - he's going to take the easy road every time. Would anyone be surprised to see excepts of this one as a commercial.

 

[meanmice]

lol, i love that he thought that ToT wasn't scarrey enough since that's what he thought of AE the first time.

I try not to say anything for or against Mr. Eisner. He has done tremendous things for the company in the past, but lately he has been lagging. I will say, though, that he was very good at promoting the strong points of the company and at dodging the bigger and sometimes more important questions. It was interesting to watch.

BTW, did anyone else notice how bad he looked? Either make-up did a shotty job, or he hasn't been getting much sleep lately.

 

[monorail256]

Really... a few months ago, I really didn't give a rats behind about Eisner or the company... but after reading all the articles and other peoples views on this forum, I cant stand to even look at the man on tv!

Whenever I see him, a sudden anger takes over...

..I dont like him. :fork:


....how can I submit an idea for a sitcom?
Shameless plugs for attractions
Snow White Disneyland Show

I can't wait until this shareholders meeting. He's going down.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Originally posted by ISTCrew20
MICHEAL IN HIS UNDERWEAR:hurl:

Someone wash my brain!!!

 

[monorail256]

Originally posted by ISTCrew20
MICHEAL IN HIS UNDERWEAR:hurl:

I thought the same thing! :lol:

 

[Carrousel Lover]

Originally posted by imagineer99
Also, he continued to repeat the fact that he is a family man (like Walt Disney himself). Thus, the average viewer will see this interview and infer that things are going great.

In a nutshell I think that was his objective and Larry King gave him the forum to do so.

 

[cherrynegra]

How Eisner performed in this interview is in the eye of the beholder. If you're in his camp, he did well. If you're for new leadership and fresh blood in the leadership positions, he didn't do well. However, I think even those who would count as his supporters would admit that some of his answers were rather non sequitor and didn't quite make sense.

And I agree with the previous post about the hot dog story. Hot dogs sold at cost for employees?? How generous. So instead of an arm and a leg it cost them maybe just their hand.

 

[civileng68]

/

Originally posted by cherrynegra
There were two really good questions. I really liked that first one about DCA. YOU GO GIRLFRIEND!! She hit it right on the mark. And personally, I didn't feel he answered it adequately. And his answer to the animation question was just such a, "Pardon me while I throw everything I can think of at you to evade answering the question." She should have been more pointed and asked him how he could turn away from traditional 2d animation. Notice how he mentioned 3d, but not 2d.

right, She said the park is not fun and is too expensive to take her family. He responded "I disagree".

Let's see, a GUEST who pays to enter the park said it's not fun and it's too expensive. CEO says "I disagree".

Ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE A FREAKIN PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[General Grizz]

The Cast is always on tune, blah blah. That's right, Eisney. You just cut Traditions down to FIVE hours and the new Cast flow, in general, stinks.

DO NOT TRUST THIS GUY. He sells well, but he LIES.

..."OUR BOARD IS ETHICAL."...

. . . .and where does ography and "Are You Hot?" fit into this??

 

[civileng68]

RIGHT

Originally posted by Wilt Dasney
I'm not in the "anti-Eisner" crowd, but after reading so much of the commentary on this site, I did notice that the first time Eisner seemed to "come alive" in this interview was when Larry mentioned the amount of the Comcast bid...I'm not going to say he doesn't care about the other topics he discussed, but it seemed clear that the economic questions were the ones he really enjoyed talking about.

yOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT. He sure perked up from his sleep when they mentioned more money. Never noticed until you mentioned it.

 

[cherrynegra]

Re: /

Originally posted by civileng68
right, She said the park is not fun and is too expensive to take her family. He responded "I disagree".

Let's see, a GUEST who pays to enter the park said it's not fun and it's too expensive. CEO says "I disagree".

Ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE A FREAKIN PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, this is part of customer service in general these days that unfortunately has affected Disney. "I'm sorry YOU feel it's expensive, but WE believe it isn't." What happened to the customer is always right.

He could have responded with, "I apologize if you feel that DCA is not an attraction worthy of your hard earned dollars and your valuable time. However, I believe that in the next few months we will be adding attractions and shows to DCA that I believe will change your mind and I encourage you to come back for another visit and I'm sure that you will change your mind."

He could have said that. It would have been more positive than his "I disagree" comment.

 

[civileng68]

l

Originally posted by meanmice
I will say, though, that he was very good at promoting the strong points of the company and at dodging the bigger and sometimes more important questions. It was interesting to watch.

BTW, did anyone else notice how bad he looked? Either make-up did a shotty job, or he hasn't been getting much sleep lately.

He's good at dogding those questions because he's been doing it the last year non stop. He's become a pro at dodging the legitimate stuff.

Man he looked like a freakin deamon on set tonight.

 

[civileng68]

.

I have one question for him.


If the parks are doing so well by your own admission tonight, and you have all this cash flowing and attendances are great..................where's our midnight peak season closings, where's our Eride nights?

He keeps saying that the reason for the "tight" ship was 9-11 yet he by his own statements says things are so great now, yet still not everything in the park is even open the whole time the parks are open, and even the parks still dont open later during peak.

 

[General Grizz]

Re: .

Originally posted by civileng68
If the parks are doing so well by your own admission tonight, and you have all this cash flowing and attendances are great..................where's our midnight peak season closings, where's our Eride nights?

I'll answer it just as poorly!

I think at the Magic Kingdom and other theme parks our guests have decent park hours - I mean, I get pooped even when the parks close at 8 or 9 o'clock.

We have a lot of brand new exciting Magical Gatherings plans coming up for our guests. Also, we brought back early entry for our guests.

We're still recovering from 9-11. Let us all bow our heads in silence.

(Three minute pause to forget the question).

So it's an exciting future, and our sharedholders will get money. And I'll get money.

Wait. What was your original question? Oh, he hung up.

NO, I am not Eisner. :lookaroun

 

[Carrousel Lover]

Overcharging and Larry trying to help

Originally posted by Calamar
As I understand it, he implied that he overcharged his customers.I believe there's a valuable lesson to be learned from this.

This was the funniest /best part of the whole interview. Larry trying to add to the kindler,gentler, warm fuzzy .you didn't count change properly and lost money buddy? I laughed out loud when Eisner said "just the opposite" or whatever he said. Now that was classic. My second favorite quote was the comment about Comcast and the Disney brand pricing for their products- I did have to smile when he at least dropped the facade a little to say he wanted Comcast to pay more now for using their products. You absolutely can see how he got to be where he is - he is a cagy dude. My other favorite was him talking about keeping his job and then the "private citizen" comment. If any of you think that this man is not going to need to be dragged kicking and screaming from his position I have some swamp land to sell you. His ego is ENORMOUS as is the case with most CEO's and just that alone makes you know that he will make anyone in his way PAY (literally and figuratively) for his wrath. If that board is as weak as they look you can see how he dominates them.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

As for the "I disagree" comment...

I took it that he was disagreeing with her statement that there is only one good ride at DCA. That's really the only thing she said that was specific, and so it's the only thing he could have disagreed with, since the rest was her opinion about the park.

 

[HennieBogan1966]

I didn't even see the interview, but from reading some of the comments of those who did, here's what I've gotten so far:

(1) The Eisner Fan Club is alive and well (brainwashed). Can I tell you that just because someone is "smooth" and speaks well doesn't make him/her a good leader. In laymans terms it's called "bs". And he's got tons of talent in that area.

(2) Clearly, he didn't address any of the concerns of the castmembers, shareholders, or patrons of the parks.

(3) He gave no vision for the future, other than to plug all the new "attractions" and upcoming events. (i.e. Pirates Christmas?)

When are the Eisner faithful going to understand that it's time for him to go? A return to the core values of the company is what is desperately needed here. Not more "over hype" of upcoming attractions, events, etc. More training, better hours, better pay for all castmembers, a rebirth of the animation department, and a once over of DL and WDW, from stem to stern is what is really needed. And once again, he is trying to buy his way out of financial woes, (can you say Muppets?) Does anyone know how much was laid out for that little project of his? I mean, he's loved Kermit for 30 years right? He's been CEO since 84. Couldn't buy them back then huh? I thought he was a financial genius? Well to be sure, there will be profits from this purchase; SOMEDAY (insert Jeopardy Theme song here.)

And for those of you Eisner faithful out there, how many of you have sinced "crossed over" to our side? Umm, the GOOD SIDE and not the DARK SIDE?

 

[Carrousel Lover]

Muppet Comment

That was also masterful. He implied that the only reason the Muppet deal fell through (the first time) was due to taxes??!! Hello?!

 

[joefox97]

Want to talk about another smooth operator who did more than his fair share of screwing his "company" over -- look at none other than former Prez. Bill Clinton. He had the absolute BEST presidential image... he could walk into a room and convince eskimoes to buy Alaska and all the ice in the Antarctic and pay a premium for it... Mikey's the same kind of guy... except slimier, and on one positive note, apparently a bit more interested in his family (and his wife, although it's a bit understandable... Hilary's scary!)

Mikey's smooth, to be sure, but he got caught in his own ego tonight -- he went on a live show and while giving smooth answers, gave bad content in the answers -- and as a leader in the industry for providing content, he should have known better. Evidently, the distribution network is more important than content in the leader AND the company.

Joe