Ben Silverman on 'Philanthropist' shakeup

Asked about the executive producer shakeup on “The Philanthropist” after the Jimmy Fallon press conference, NBC co-chair Ben Silverman confirmed reports that the network had creative differences with original showrunner Tom Fontana.

“It’s an aspirational and uplifting show – it’s called the ‘The Philanthropist’ – and it was going more the direction of ‘OZ’ and ‘Homicide,’” Silverman said. 

Of course, “OZ” and “Homicide” were Fontana shows, and some industry insiders say the darker direction should have been expected. But Silverman said he was always clear about what he wanted.

“We had talked about it endlessly,” Silverman said. “The first script was good, then in later scripts it started to move in a different direction.”