‘People Not Thinking It’s Going to Work Is the Motivation’

The fast-rising head of Paramount Media Networks — and now Showtime — explains how the doubters fuel him, the logic behind his franchise strategy and why he leaves the script reading to his deputies: ‘I often get confused for a creative’

It’s been six months since Chris McCarthy added Showtime to his portfolio, and he knows what a healthy swath of Hollywood has said. He’s read the network eulogies and seen the variations on “RIP Showtime” tweets. He’s even sat with folks who have bemoaned his stated plan to lean into franchises, be it more Billions or Dexter. And it would all probably irk him more if it weren’t exactly what he needed.

“People not thinking it’s going to work is the motivation. Like, great, perfect,” he says as he dives into a rotisserie chicken salad.

It’s a rainy March afternoon, and The Terrace at The Maybourne Beverly Hills, which McCarthy has selected for lunch (and lodging), lacks its usual bustle yet still has a smattering of soggy stars like Halle Berry, Jerrod Carmichael and Justin Bieber. The executive, who floats through anonymously, has been here in Los Angeles every other week since he inherited Showtime, which shares space in his vast portfolio with Comedy Central, MTV, VH1 and Paramount Network. Home is and will continue to be New York, however, where McCarthy, now in his mid40s, lives with his 150-pound rescue dog, Pumpkin.

The truth is, McCarthy has been ascendant at what is now Paramount Global for close to 20 years, but the heavies in Hollywood have only recently started to pay attention. Of course, his achievements were primarily in nonscripted until late 2019, when he was handed the keys to Paramount Network and its then-pricey new Western Yellowstone,

which McCarthy spun into one of the most successful franchises in television. Those who have worked with him as he climbed the cable ladder, from Logo to MTV, play up his deft handling of data and his ability to maximize resources and ratings, a skill set that appeals to MBA turned CEO Bob Bakish. What McCarthy is not is a creative, and to the apparent bafflement of Hollywood, he’s not pretending to be.

“I think I often get confused for a creative, and I like to say, ‘I’m a creative businessperson, I’m a creative strategist,’ ” McCarthy tells me, noting that he isn’t the guy poring over scripts at night. In fact, he doesn’t read scripts at all. He says he leaves that to his team of creative executives, led by Nina L. Diaz and Keith Cox, whom he references often and is quick to praise. “I’m more at the concept level. It’s like, ‘If I can see the title, the star and the key art, you’re going to break through the clutter.’ ”

(If you’re looking for tea leaves, his personal viewing tastes tend toward The White Lotus,

the Paramount-owned LGBTQ comedy Uncoupled and anything that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow does.)

As he laid out for the rep community during a recent round of agency visits, McCarthy’s Showtime, which will be rebranded Paramount+ With Showtime until someone comes up with a better name, will focus on three distinct lanes. The first, he explains, is about “diverse cultures,” which has been a part of Showtime’s DNA dating back to Soul Food and Queer as Folk. “And even to this day, some of our biggest shows are in that lane,” he says, citing The L Word and The Chi, though he argues that there are not nearly enough of them to retain subscribers. In fact, he’s certain The Chi could be four to five times bigger than it currently is if Showtime had more to offer its audience. “So instead of being just one show a year, I want to have six shows a year,” says McCarthy, noting that he doesn’t mean Chi prequels or sequels, though he also doesn’t rule those out. When it comes to LGBTQ fare, he’s already saved Uncoupled,

which was canceled after one season at Netflix. McCarthy says the show, from Emily in Paris creator Darren Star, will become “a little edgier, a little more mature” on his air.

The second lane will feature the kind of antiheroes that the Bob Greenblatt era at Showtime introduced with shows like