He discovered ‘Lost’, and then lost his job…

Lloyd Braun gave the go ahead for ‘Lost’ and then lost his job:

The man who discovered ‘Lost’ – and found himself out of a job

“The discovery could not have come at a better time. ABC had dropped to fourth in the ratings after NBC, CBS and Fox, and had not posted a profit for seven years. There was just one stumbling block. Braun’s bosses were unconvinced. While he, swept along on a tidal wave of enthusiasm, commissioned JJ Abrams, the award-winning scriptwriter of the hit series Alias, to write an initial episode and lavished £7 million on what was to become the most expensive television pilot in history, his bosses at Walt Disney, which owns ABC, looked on in horror.

“A crazy project that’s never going to work” was how Michael Eisner, the chairman and chief executive of Disney, described it. “This is a waste of time,” said Bob Iger, his deputy. They could not have been more wrong.”