ABC entertainment president Paul Lee summd up his fall season by saying his network has "a lot to shout about, and we also have a lot to do."
Lee's network finished the fall in fourth place in the key 18-49 demographic and third place in total viewers. He lamented the fall's lack of any "big breakout hits on broadcast on any of the networks and on ABC in particular."
NBC, which passed ABC and its other rivals to become fall's top-rated network in 18-49, might dispute that: It has touted the new drama "Revolution" as a hit.
Lee assessed his network's fall at a Television Critics Association panel on Thursday. He said he was particularly disappointed not to see better numbers for reality standby "Dancing With the Stars," which adapted an "all-star" format in the fall and brought back former contestants. He said that for its spring cycle, the show would go back to recruiting fresh talent, in hopes of drawing a younger audience.
Looking for a positive spin on the disappointing ratings for the show -- which still averages 16 million total viewers per episode -- he said the dancing this fall may have been too good.
"It turns out people like to have bad dancing as much as they do good dancing," he said.