McPherson has Reilly's back

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly — abruptly fired by NBC and replaced by Ben Silverman — tried to downplay what his former employers had done.

Reilly's good buddy Steve McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, was less circumspect. He called it like most of us saw it when Silverman insisted he was "too new on the job" to comment.

"The idea you would be able to say 'I just got here?' Be a man," McPherson said. "He didn't know what went on? Was he living in a cave?"

After reading the transcript of NBC executives addressing members of the TCA, McPherson — approached after his formal press conference — told critics "You let (Silverman) off the hook."

(Well, we did laugh at him during the session. And a number of us wrote snotty things about him, so he didn't exactly get a pass.)

Silverman obviously wasn't living in a cave. But maybe he was in the same parallel universe as NBC Entertainment co-chairman Marc Graboff, who tried to sell critics on the idea that Reilly wasn't fired. In Graboff's through-the-looking-glass version of reality, Reilly wasn't ousted, he quit ... after Silverman had been hired to do his job.

Adding to the awkwardness — Reilly, who had just been granted a big-bucks contract extension, confirmed reports that he had learned NBC hired Silverman to replace him through an anonymous e-mail.

McPherson clearly suggested that Silverman was, in effect, stabbing Reilly in the back after Reilly helped make Silverman a success. Silverman's company, Reveille, produces "The Office," which Reilly nurtured and supported despite its early ratings — which were horrible — leaving it on the air long enough to allow it to become a success.

"Kevin Reilly stood up for 'The Office' and in essence made Reveille a ton of money," McPherson said.

Ironically, Reveille also produces "Ugly Betty," which McPherson programmed on ABC.

As for Silverman's admission that he started talking to Isaiah Washington before the actor was dropped by "Grey's Anatomy," McPherson had a point when he told critics we'd let Silverman off the hook on that one.

"I think it's kind of humorous the way Ben talked about it.... It was pretty obvious what went on there," he said. "If he was, in fact, talking to (Washington) before he was available, then that's inducement to breach (contract). So I don't know. (Silverman) is either clueless or stupid."

Both McPherson and the producers of "Grey's Anatomy" said they do not intend to pursue legal action against Silverman and NBC, preferring to wash their hands of the situation and letting their competitors take the heat for hiring the homophobic Washington to appear in the remake of "Bionic Woman."