Michael H. Darnell (born 1962) is an American television executive and former child actor. He is currently the president of unscripted and alternative television at Warner Bros. He spent nearly 19 years at the

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

network as president of alternative entertainment, overseeing the network's reality television division during the genre's rise. In 2017, Preston Beckman, a former FOX executive who writes under the pseudonym The Masked Scheduler, called Darnell "the king of reality TV and one of the more interesting, offbeat characters ever to occupy an executive suite."'

Early life and career

Mike Darnell was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, to Eileen and Doyle E. Darnell. His father was a policeman, and Darnell was raised and attended public school in Philly's Northeast section. When he was 10, a talent manager saw him singing at a

Police Athletic League The Police Athletic League (PAL; Police Activities League) is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-rel ...

event and encouraged him to do commercials. When he was 12, his family moved to California, where he eventually appeared in, or voiced-over, some sixty commercials. He also appeared in TV episodes such as ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the Unite ...

'', ''

Welcome Back, Kotter ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class called the "Sweathogs." Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the serie ...

'' and ''

Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American Action film, action Crime film, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theodopolis "Theo" Kojak. Tak ...

''. Later he worked as a bank teller to help pay his way through

Cal State-Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

. He also played piano at a night spot. Soon after graduating, he had an internship at ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aust ...

'', which he says he "hated", before he started working at

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

's West Coast flagship station

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

, within their news department. Darnell is married to Carolyn Oberman, a public relations executive who works for the Emmy Awards, and they have a daughter. , he lives in

Calabasas, California Calabasas (from Spanish ''calabazas'' "gourds") is a city in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, between the foothills of the Santa Monica and Santa Susanna mountains. One of his first that came to broad attention was in 1995, when a producer brought Darnell black-and-white footage that appeared to portray an alien being dissected. As the network feared accusations of propagating a hoax, the show was broadcast with the title '' Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction''; it drew an audience of nearly twelve million viewers and was rebroadcast several more times. At one point, he produced over sixty specials a year for Fox, including: '' When Animals Attack!'', ''

World's Wildest Police Videos ''World's Wildest Police Videos'' (shortened to ''Police Videos'' in Season 4) is an American reality TV series that ran on Fox from 1998 to 2001. In 2012, Spike announced that it had commissioned 13 new episodes with the revival of the original ...

'', '' Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed,'' and '' Man vs Beast.'' Darnell's projects were known for their often lurid and controversial nature, leading ''The New York Times'' to call him "Fox's point man for perversity" in 2000. Series that Darnell was involved with for included ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...

'', '' Hell’s Kitchen'', ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and J ...

'', ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'', ''The X Factor'', ''Kitchen Nightmares'', '' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'', ''Temptation Island'', ''The Simple Life'', ''

My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé ''My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance'' is an American reality television series broadcast by Fox Broadcasting Network (Fox). The series premiered on January 19, 2004, while its sixth and final episode aired on February 23, 2004. Filmed in Los Angeles ...

'', '' Joe Millionaire'', and the launch of the animated series '' Futurama'' and ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ...

''. With more than thirty million viewers at its peak, ''American Idol'' helped

rise from the last place network to eight consecutive seasons as the number one network. Darnell oversaw ''American Idol'' from its creation through its twelfth season. Darnell told ''Variety'' that his proudest achievements during his time at FOX included ''American Idol'', the success he had with

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a to ...

, and the season finale of ''Joe Millionaire'', which drew about forty million viewers, outranking that year's Academy Awards, and became the network's most-viewed entertainment telecast.

Warner Bros Television

In 2013, Darnell left Fox and began heading up the Unscripted & Alternative division at Warner Bros. where he is responsible for overseeing development and current programming for alternative broadcast series, high-end documentaries, unscripted streaming and cable series, and first-run syndication. In 2017, Darnell and his team oversaw 35 series across 20 different networks, including primetime series such as ''Ellen’s Game of Games'' (NBC), ''The Voice'' (NBC), '' The Bachelor'' franchise (ABC),

Mental Samurai ''Mental Samurai'' is an American television game show that aired from March 19, 2019 to July 20, 2021 on Fox. Described as an "obstacle course for the mind", the show features contestants answering knowledge-based questions while being moved aro ...

(FOX), ''

The Real In continental philosophy, the Real refers to the remainder of reality that cannot be expressed, and which surpasses reasoning. In Lacanianism, it is an "impossible" category because of its opposition to expression and inconceivability. ...

,'' and ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pr ...

'', among others. That same year, ''Deadline'' reported that in Darnell's first four years at Warner Bros, the studio had twelve unscripted series airing in primetime, more than any of its rivals. Darnell created and produced talent competition series '' The World's Best'' on CBS hosted by

James Corden James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom '' Gavin & Stacey''. In the ...

. The series was produced by Darnell and his Warner Horizon Unscripted Television division in association with

Mark Burnett Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows ''The Apprentice'', ''Survivor'', The Voice (franchise), ' ...

and

MGM Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/dis ...

and

Ben Winston Ben Winston is a British producer and director who established the production company Fulwell 73 with Gabe Turner, Ben Turner, and Leo Pearlman. He is co-executive producer of ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' alongside Rob Crabbe and Mike ...

and

Fulwell 73 Fulwell 73 is a British television, film and music production company based in London. It was founded in 2005 by brothers Gabe and Ben Turner, Leo Pearlman, and Ben Winston. James Corden became the fifth full time partner in January 2017. Fulwe ...

. Darnell also created and executive produced the competition series ''

'' on

hosted by

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom '' A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles i ...

. The series is produced by Darnell and his Warner Horizon Unscripted Television division in association with Arthur Smith and A. Smith & Co. Productions and Jeff Apploff and Apploff Entertainment.

References

External links

"Mike Darnell on ‘Little Big Shots,’ ‘The Bachelor,’ Ellen DeGeneres and ‘Love Connection’"
April 3, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Darnell, Mike 1962 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American businesspeople American male child actors American television executives California State University, Northridge alumni Fox Broadcasting Company executives Living people Male actors from Philadelphia People from Calabasas, California Warner Bros. people