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The new POP TV channel, which celebrates ‘80s and ‘90s culture, isn’t sure what it might do with one of the era’s biggest stars, Bill Cosby.
Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment and media, told TV writers at TCA Friday, “I don’t want to dodge the question, but I’d have to think about it. To be honest, I’m not fully informed on it, and I don’t want to sound like a jerk.”
POP, which launches Jan. 14 as the new incarnation of the present TVGN channel, has no specific projects related to Cosby, the long-time national father figure who recently has been the subject of multiple sexual abuse allegations.
But Schwartz tacitly acknowledged that on a network aiming at “the modern grownup” — viewers who grew up in the last years of the 20th century — Cosby would come into the conversation.
He noted that TVGN quickly cancelled “Seventh Heaven” when sexual abuse allegations surfaced against star Stephen Collins.
“The lead character was a priest,” Schwartz noted. “It also wasn’t that big a show for us. So it was an easy decision to cancel it. Cosby would be a little bigger.”
He added that he “didn’t want to comment” on the decision by TV Land to terminate reruns of “The Cosby Show” itself after the allegations against Cosby started becoming public.
