Talk-Show Mettle : Mr. Eisner Builds Dream TV Backdrop

(Wall Street Journal) – In his 21 years as Walt Disney Co.'s chief executive, Michael Eisner was known for attending to the smallest details of the sprawling entertainment empire. Four months after stepping down, he's working on a much smaller stage: the set of his new CNBC talk show, "Conversations with Michael Eisner." A table, a couple of chairs, a bookcase, a potted plant? No. For his show, slated to run once every other month, Mr. Eisner says he wanted a backdrop that spoke to "high quality and sophistication and simplicity and elegance." And he wanted it designed by Frank Gehry. The architect agreed to do it – gratis. "I told him I'd do the set if he promised not to wear a tie," says Mr. Gehry (a promise Mr. Eisner hasn't kept). The result was a set of silvery, titanium panels that echo many of Mr. Gehry's most famous buildings, along with a custom-made wooden table and a set of luxurious red leather chairs designed in Italy. When CNBC executives reached an agreement for Mr. Eisner to host a talk show, which is scheduled to launch in March, they didn't appreciate how accustomed he was to what is known in Hollywood as "creative control." The practical-minded operations department at CNBC, was skeptical. For one, NBC worried that the metal would make the set difficult to light and would be distracting to viewers. Within a few days, however, the project was set in motion. CNBC President Mark Hoffman says it was a "slam dunk" to approve Mr. Gehry's design. The cable channel paid for the materials, which cost just under $25,000. "It's not the most expensive set I've ever been associated with," Mr. Hoffman says. Gehry’s team produced tall, interlocking strips of titanium that curved like Mr. Gehry's buildings and resembled a drunk, metallic garden fence. In late January, three 10-foot walls containing a total of 44 panels were shipped to Rockefeller Center in New York. They were temporarily set up in Studio 8-H, directly in front of the main stage of NBC's "Saturday Night Live." Every item in the 450-pound pallet was labeled, including the individual panels, which were made with metal provided by Titanium Metals Corp., the Denver-based company Mr. Gehry uses for his buildings. Mr. Eisner didn't get just one Gehry set, but two. CNBC plans to build a smaller version in NBC's Burbank, Calif., studios allowing Mr. Eisner to conduct interviews in Los Angeles. Mr. Gehry has yet to see the actual set. But this week it was already in use. As Mr. Eisner was preparing to interview actress Goldie Hawn on Tuesday, having taped Regis Philbin a few hours before, he voiced his approval. "It felt original, which is what I wanted. And it felt warm," he said.