Disney’s Walden on Media Mergers, Kimmel and What Makes Good TV

Walking through the ground floor of the Disney Television Animation headquarters in Glendale, California, it dawns on me that this is one of the rare moments Dana Walden is away from a television screen. The co-chairman of Walt Disney Co.’s entertainment, news and content businesses worldwide, Walden keeps a constant eye on the programming her company produces for the screen and a lot of what her competitors put out too. “I watch on the treadmill, I watch in the bathroom,” she says. “Last night I watched a couple cuts with my husband as we sat and ate dinner. Luckily, ...