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They both nod. Carter looks like he’s ready to get down to business, but Marion still looks hesitant.
“I’m not saying these aren’t good ideas,” she says. “But I can tell you right now it’s going to be a hard sell getting Paxton Greenwood to agree to sharing the desk.”
Wait. What?
“I’ve been through his contract,” RJ says. “There’s nothing in there about solo air time.”
“It’s calledThe Pax Greenwood Hour,”Marion says with a note of exasperation in her voice. “NotThe Pax Greenwood and Some Other Person We’ve Picked to Add More Diversity to Prime Time Hour.”
Carter offers a wry smile. “She might have a point.”
“And while you were going over his contract with a fine tooth comb, did you also happen to notice Pax doesn’t have a non-compete?”
RJ arches a brow at her. “You seriously think he’d jump if he had to share time with a co-anchor?”
Marion shrugs. “I’m just pointing out the possibility.”
I turn my attention to RJ. “Why don’t we focus on some of your other ideas? We can talk about changes to Pax’s show another time.” I have no idea if RJ actually mentioned anything broader while I was zoned out, but he did tell me the other day that Pax Greenwood was just an example and that he had thoughts on changes that could be made in other areas of the network.
“Feel free to mess with daytime all you want,” Marion says with a lazy shrug.
My lips curve into a wry smirk. There’s no love lost between daytime and prime time at BCN, that’s for sure. To be honest, we probably should have included Lee Kopek, the head of daytime programming, in this meeting, and if my head had been on straight over the past few days I probably would have insisted on it. But this is RJ’s thing so if he wants to deal with Lee’s bruised ego when he finds out he’s been left out of this discussion, that’s on him.
RJ frowns. “Sure, we could make tweaks to daytime, but that’s not really where the audience is. I still think tightening up the prime time block is the best move for now.”
“By pushing Paxton Greenwood out?”
“Jesus, Marion, no one’s talking about pushing Greenwood out,” RJ says, clearly growing frustrated.
I rub my hand over my forehead, tempted to just zone out again and daydream about Deacon’s cock. But I’ve already let my dirty mind distract me for long enough this morning; it’s time I actually contributed something valuable. “Everyone just take a breath. We arenotpushing Pax out,” I say firmly. “But RJ’s right that prime time needs a bit of a shake up—and that’s not a criticism of you, Marion.”
She sighs and gives a nod of acknowledgement. “I guess we have gotten a little comfortable. What are you thinking?”
“I don’t think a co-anchor would work for Paxton,” I say. “He’s been around way too long. He’s too popular. Whoever we put with him would just be playing second fiddle. And if the co-anchor was female or a person of color it would have the exact opposite effect of what we’re trying to achieve.”
Marion flashes a dry smirk. “Or even better, a woman of color. There’s nothing we love more than playing back-up dancer for an old white guy.”
I let out a soft chuckle. “Watch it with theoldtalk. Pax is younger than I am.”
“And prettier, but I wasn’t going to point that out,” she says with a wink.
“Not a co-anchor then,” Carter pipes in, getting us back on track. “What have you got in mind?”
I shrug. “Give him some competition. Someone new in the nine o’clock slot—young, fresh, hungry. The way Paxton used to be before he got too comfortable.”
Marion arches a brow at me. “You want to make him a warm-up act?”
“I wouldn’t put it like that when you’re selling it to him. We want the prime time block to be as tight as possible.”
Carter leans forward, looking intrigued. “I’m not sure I understand how this would work—are you suggesting this person replace Lexi Haas?”
My eyes widen. “God no.” Lexi Haas is the host ofTalking Points,a nightly panel show that airs out of our Atlanta studio. She doesn’t have the ratings that Pax Greenwood has, but she’s still a big asset for the network. “I’m thinking we do something completely new. We could moveTalking Pointsto ten, and moveLate Newsto eleven.” I’m totally making this up as I go—it’s not even something I considered doing before now—but now that it’s in my head, I can’t help feeling like it’s the right move.
Both Carter and Marion are looking a little shell-shocked now. RJ looks pleased, though. I wonder if this is something he’s considered in his plan to shake up the network. It’s certainly more dramatic than anything I’d anticipated before this meeting, but I think it could work.
“This would take a while to implement,” Carter warns me. “And a significant investment. We could lose advertisers—they might not want to stick around at nine with a new face, or they might not want to follow Lexi to ten. Not to mention a new production team…”
I nod. “I’m well aware of what it takes to get a new show off the ground. This is just a suggestion I’m throwing out there for now, but if we go ahead with it you’ll have what you need.”
