Erspamer firing latest trouble at OWN

The dismissal of longtime The famous host oprah Winfrey confidant and OWN professional Vice president Lisa Erspamer means the cabler still has not found its mojo and corporate owner Discovery may be losing persistence. Erspamer, who was simply by Winfrey's side for 18 years but didn't have network experience, was fired because OWN has fell greatly lacking anticipation if this was released last year. Although thought fans of "The The famous host oprah Winfrey Show" would instantly follow her brand to possess, that merely has not been the situation. In May 2011, the professional shuffle started when Boss Christina Norman was release and changed by Peter Liguori. Erspamer's niche was together with her associations with celebs, nurtured while she was on "The famous host oprah." She showed up a complete year prior to the network debut and was instrumental to get reality skeins "The Judds" and "Why Don't You? With Shania Twain" around the air. Yet, associated with pension transfer series on OWN, the two unsuccessful to ignite. Parent company Discovery has ponied up $300 million to date, with little return on its investment, and also the Maryland-based conglom might be making personnel choices with increased authority than in the past. Changing Erspamer with an interim basis is Discovery vet Rita Mullin, who's senior Vice president of content technique for Discovery Fit & Health insurance and continues for the reason that role. She also performed most in a number of TLC hits, including "Jon and Kate Plus 8," and there is hope that they can steady the ship at OWN prior to the internet finds a lasting alternative. Presently within the company like a consultant is former network chief Suzanne Daniels, who went the WB and Lifetime. It's unclear whether Daniels would want to consider dealing with greater duties at OWN. Winfrey, who assigned a lot of the duty if this found starting OWN, is becoming more hands-on in recent several weeks and it is dealing with presidents Erik Logan and Sheri Salata to locate a winning mixture of programs. Among the couple of vibrant spots continues to be "Oprah's Next Chapter," that is off and away to a proper begin with a typical 924,000 audiences tuning in every week. And there is also docuseries "Thanks for visiting Sweetie Pie's," concerning the goings-on in a St. Louis restaurant. Missing the objective, however, may be the much greater profile "The Rosie Show," with Rosie O'Donnell. The talkshow is calculating only 200,000 per episode. The 2009 week "Rachael Ray" vet Shane Farley was hired to exchange Page Hurwitz as professional producer. Contact Stuart Levine at stuart.levine@variety.com