She thought little of that talk. The Stars of That '70s Show: Where Are They Now? She was 56. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. ''It colors everything,'' says one agent who insisted on anonymity because he knows Tarses well. That doesn't happen with Les Moonves at CBS'' -- that network's entertainment chief -- ''or Warren Littlefield at NBC. ''The only thing I don't like is the name. Refresh for updates Pioneering TV executive Jamie Tarses is being remembered in Hollywood today as a "fun, funny, brutally honest" and a "driving force" in some of the most beloved television series of a generation. [25] [29] Filmography [ edit] TV series [ edit] 1985-1986: Saturday Night Live - Production staff (18 episodes) [29] '', Tarses tries Morton's number again. Write by: . TERI HATCHER WAS ALMOST JAMIE. Watch TV.''. During Tarses tenure at ABC, the networks successes included hit sitcom Dharma & Greg, writer-producer Aaron Sorkins Sports Night, The Practice from David E. Kelley and Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, which introduced actor Ryan Reynolds. Tarses was exposed to television from an early age:Her father, Jay Tarses, created NBC's "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd," as well as "Buffalo Bill." He wanted to develop shows, particularly comedies, though he had no experience. 2. She was highly creative herself and, of course, came from a family of writers. (Her father, Jay Tarses, wrote for The Carol Burnett Show and created The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, an acclaimed comedic drama, from 1987 to 91. You think of her as a girl, and it changes how you do business with her. Ms. Tarsess departure from NBC was ugly. She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself. Tarses is conflicted about autonomy: she craves the power, but it brings out her insecurities. She is annoyed about something that happened at ABC this morning -- a small dust-up among her executives -- and she is late for a taping, and she hates to be late. [8], In September 1987, Tarses was hired by NBC Productions' Brandon Tartikoff as the manager of creative affairs. As an executive and producer, she was a champion for storytellers, having been raised by one of the all-timegreats, Burke said. She has just heard that Newsweek is planning to run an article claiming that Geraldine Laybourne, the former president of Nickelodeon and the current president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks, will be brought in to supervise her. ABC stars were also invited, including a young Ryan Reynolds, then appearing on a sitcom called Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. It is an afternoon in early may, near the end of pilot season, the frantic time when TV executives decide on their schedules of shows for the fall, and Jamie Tarses, the 33-year-old president of ABC Entertainment, is driving her Range Rover from her office in Century City to a meeting across town. Whether or not the charges were true, Tarses' timing smacked of opportunism. Tarses was the wunderkind who was behind much of NBC's "Must See TV" success, including "Friends" and "Frasier" and she came from TV royalty, as her father Jay Tarses is a well-known TV. And I saw 'The Last Don' promo, which was good, and it scared me.''. ''It's been a year and there are still the rumors. She broke barriers as a woman in the TV industry and turned out hit after hit, only to see it all fizzle under a very public spotlight. She was highly creative herself and, of course, came from a family of writers.. He was 57 years. ABC has very few 8 P.M. hits, and without 8 P.M. hits to hook a viewer for the evening, a network cannot succeed in the ratings. '' The Walt Disney Company had purchased ABC shortly before Ms. Tarses arrived, heightening Wall Street scrutiny and intensifying corporate politics. 2 in network entertainment -- though with a better title. She seems surprisingly calm discussing this a few days later over dinner at Gabriel's, not far from ABC's offices in New York. appreciated. ", Photo: Greg Doherty/Patrick McMullan via Getty, Richard Belzer, 'Law & Order: SVU' Star, Dead at 78. He has been married to Rachel Newdell since 9 June 1963. ''Good,'' Valentine says, ever withholding. First the sexual harassment charges; now this. Sara James Tarses was born in Pittsburgh on March 16, 1964 to Jay and Rachel (Newdell) Tarses. The indiscretion, which was reported on by some newspapers, contributed to a narrative that had congealed around Ms. Tarses: She was too impetuous for such a big job. She might sell her house in Pacific Palisades. Jamie Tarses Dies at 56: Cause of Death. Alas, her reign at NBC would only last 11 months. As president for entertainment, Tarses must oversee the development of 40-odd pilots, prime-time shows that she hopes will plug ABC's ratings holes. [2][7][9] In 1991, she passed on her father's pilot about jazz musicians, called Baltimore. Before she blasted through glass ceilings for female executives in the TV industry, Tarses played a major role in the development of modern TV. Jamie Tarses, who in 1996 became the first woman to serve as entertainment president of a broadcast network, died on Monday. She was among the young program development executives at NBC who helped create signature comedies such as Friends and Frasier that appealed to young, urban upscale viewers, which led the network to ratings dominance in the 1990s. Valentine, who is smart and is responsible for the biggest hit on ABC, ''Home Improvement,'' is said to have problems with Tarses, to think she is unfit for her job. I always felt I had to do it on my own. Even so, Tarses faced extreme challenges. Only 32 when she was recruited by then-Disney executive Michael Ovitz in a move that angered executives at NBC, Tarses received inordinate media attention, including a New York Times magazine profile in which she surprised her bosses by allowing the reporter, Lynn Hirschberg, to unknowingly listen in on her calls with them. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Tom Sizemore puts on brave face in his final red carpet appearance, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dead at 61 after brain aneurysm, Coley Laffoon honors late ex-wife Anne Heche in birthday post to son, Forensic expert doubts homicide claims from Aaron Carters mother. Asked about this, Tarses says: ''People truly believe that Iger is going to program the network. At NBC she had served up a steady supply of hit sitcoms, including Mad About You, Frasier and Friends.. This isn't what someone with a production deal gets to do; this is what her boyfriend gets to do. ''Maybe we should get a song,'' she says flirtatiously. '' The work is a blast. Jamie Tarses, the TV executive and producer who was the first woman to head a Big Three network entertainment division, was remembered Monday by former colleagues and television executives as a. She asked why, and Iger told her, simply, that she needed the help. ''What do you think, Dean?'' Jamie Tarses, who broke the glass ceiling for female TV executives as the first woman to run a network entertainment division, passed away this morning from complications stemming from a You won't find a network schedule without two 10 P.M. hits, and I told that to Jamie.''. Tarses was a television executive who developed and worked on some of the most significant broadcast programs in the '90s, including Friends, Frasier, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Sports Night. Customer Service. ''Bob sent me a funny fax.'' She had shepherded the cuddly Mad About You and the neurotic Frasier to NBCs prime-time lineup. Her client's room choice surprised Shamshiri. But she is worried that she may need the show. WME, the agency that represented Tarses, said in a statement: "We are deeply saddened by the . To calm herself, Tarses lights a cigarette. ''And that's her problem. Blue.'' William Morris Endeavor, the agency that represented Tarses, paid tribute toher in a statement to USA TODAY. She was a mentor and friend, and many of us owe so much to her., Jamies creative genius sparked culture-defining shows that have spanned decades. He was pursuing this plan with Robert Morton, the longtime executive producer of Letterman's show. 2023 Cable News Network. They have to deal with the affiliates, which own and run local stations. She is in a good mood this morning. She had the ability to make writers feel safe and to get the most out of them. he says later. Tarses pulls her knees up to her chest and swivels a bit in her chair. Tarses stares a second, as if to say, What did I do now? 1 network. She smiles, stands up and makes her way down some rather steep stairs to a podium on the right of the stage. Such was the show business life of Jamie Tarses, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at 56. She was the ultimate fan. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/13/magazine/jamie-tarses-fall-as-scheduled.html. The News of Her Demise May Not Be Exaggerated. Jamie Tarses in 1996. did she wind up instead as a case study in dysfunctional corporate She needs a protector, and without Harbert or Ovitz, she was left with Iger, who was 3,000 miles away in New York and not interested in watching out for her on a daily basis. her, sparking a nasty internal political battle that she lost. Tarses helped pave the way for female creatives, as she was the first woman to run a network entertainment division. Credit:Getty. ''What would the premise be?'' He is also the author of three books about television, including a biography of pioneer talk show host and producer David Susskind. '', The ABC announcement is held at Radio City Music Hall and begins with several staged tableaux -- two kids watching ''Home Improvement,'' some guys in a bar staring at ''Monday Night Football,'' a young couple enjoying ''The Drew Carey Show'' and an executive in a high-backed leather chair watching ''N.Y.P.D. FRIENDS executive Jamie Tarses has died at just 56 after reportedly suffering from complications following a cardiac event. Robert Iger, who had also recommended Tarses, was supportive of the choice. ''It's fine to have the desire to be head of a network,'' Harbert says, ''but when it comes to Jamie, it's hard to know exactly what happened. The implication, in all the talk, was that this was not how a network executive acted -- this was how a girl acted. Nealon is a responsible dad, with a loving blond wife and three precocious children, one, age 10 or so, reminiscent of Jamie (a brainy kid who tells her dad how to structure his jokes). You have the sense that, in the end, Iger usually wins. ''It's up against the birth of the baby on 'Mad About You' '' -- the NBC hit that helped push ''Roseanne'' off its Tuesday-night perch. LOS ANGELES A young, female executive arrives in the mens locker room that was broadcast television in the 1990s and snaps a few towels of her own, working with writers to shape juggernaut comedies like Mad About You and Friends. She is so good at spotting hits that she becomes, at 32, the president of entertainment at ABC, the first woman ever to serve as a networks top programmer. Tarses was born into the industry as the daughter of famed comedy writer-producer . Morton has an easy charm and seems to know everyone in the business on both coasts. The legendary NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff hired her in 1987, and she worked her way up through various creative positions to oversee comedy development. He has heard the talk -- that Tarses is not up to the challenge. The network executive played by Amanda Peet in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a short-lived 2006 NBC series from writer-producer Aaron Sorkin, was loosely modeled on Tarses, who served as a consultant. As Warren Littlefield, her boss there, put it, ''She completely understood the process.''. ''Take this calendar and peruse it,'' Bader says. She learned the television business through osmosis -- her father had a complicated relationship with his bosses, most notably Brandon Tartikoff, then president of NBC entertainment, who adored Jay Tarses but challenged him. [2][28] She was a volunteer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Bader sits facing Tarses' desk. (Mr. Ohlmeyer blamed Mr. Ovitz for the rumor and publicly called him the Antichrist, leading to a media frenzy.) Let her do her job.''. Her death was confirmed by a family spokeswoman, who said the cause was complications from a cardiac event. She is particularly keen on developing some good comedies -- a hit like ''Seinfeld'' might help revitalize an entire schedule. We will miss her greatly. And then, Tarses had Morton attending network promo meetings in New York. Some things are just goofs. '', At the party after the announcement, in the American Festival Cafe in Rockefeller Center, Tarses is beaming. What she didn't realize was how much she needed him. Paramount to pay $122.5 million to settle lawsuit over CBS deal. FRIENDS executive Jamie Tarses has died at just 56 after reportedly suffering from complications following a cardiac event. Weeks later, when the network announces that a 47-year-old ABC executive named Stuart Bloomberg will become chairman of ABC Entertainment -- will be put in charge of Tarses and loom as an invitation for her to leave -- she will seem almost relieved. Iger knows that turning ABC around will be difficult. ''But Eisner wasn't bad. ", Women:50 most powerful women in entertainment, In 1996, Tarses was appointed president of ABC Entertainment, one of the youngest executives to lead a large network entertainment division. Despite her tinkering, Tarses is pleased with ''Hiller and Diller. Getty Images. '', ''This is the best taping we've had so far,'' she says to Bukinik. She sounds almost convinced. "The allotment was to work on one room," Shamshiri notes. When Michael Ovitz became president of the Walt Disney Company in August '95, he saw hiring a new programming chief as one of his first tasks. ''And how you say it and when you say it determines how successful you'll be at the job. ''We're not loud enough about stuff,'' Tarses says, staring at the long list of potential sweeps programming. Tarses' day began with a pile of scripts, breakfast at 8 with an agent at the Peninsula Hotel (''He was 15 minutes late,'' she keeps mentioning) and some talk concerning casting for a pilot about a genie. Did you encounter any technical issues? By the end, ABC had changed 13 hours out of a 22-hour schedule. When Tarses was hired by ABC, at an estimated salary of $2 million a year for five years, ABC had a rather vague identity: rural- and family-oriented in the half-hour comedies (''Roseanne'') and tougher and more adventurous in the hourlong dramas (''N.Y.P.D. Watch TV.'' In the last five years the business has become increasingly competitive, demanding instant results. Ms. Tarses (pronounced TAR-siss) broke a Hollywood glass ceiling in 1996, when she became president of ABC Entertainment. ''I did know in making this decision,'' Iger says, ''that Jamie would react negatively.'' Even after leaving ABC in 1999,Tarses went on to pursue a prolificcareer as a producer with hits including "My Boys," "Happy Endings," and "Marry Me," through Sony. Vicious infighting ensued, what The Wall Street Journal later deemed a case study in dysfunctional corporate relationships.. Iger tells Tarses to make a low offer and if Carsey and Werner don't accept it, then pass. They had not thought as much of her presentation of the schedule as she thought. She makes the promise and then she has Iger make the phone call. He talks, but she doesn't seem to hear. The industry. ''I'm kidding, Jeff,'' Tarses says. Tarses asks. She left ABC with one popular sitcom, Dharma & Greg, and one comedy that was a hit with critics, Aaron Sorkins Sports Night. Lewis, meanwhile, has just been left by his second wife and is rearing two uncontrollable children. And nothing will make the decision for you and nobody wants the responsibility, so there's a lot of stalling going on. '', Smoking her way through the canyons, Tarses stares at the road ahead. Jamie Tarses, the first woman to head a network entertainment division, has died. Women are emotional, and Jamie is particularly emotional, one male agent, speaking anonymously, was quoted as saying. '', But for Tarses it's as good as over. After quitting ABC in 1999, Ms. Tarses avoided the spotlight and remade herself as a producer. ABC has settled on 30 pilots for the fall season, 17 half-hour comedies and 13 hourlong dramas. She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself, said Karey Burke, a friend and former colleague who now heads 20th Television. 1, where it had been only four years before. What lawsuit? Jamie Tarses' end, many in the business believe, was written in the beginning -- in how she got her job at ABC. Tarses can feel the hate, she says. But the same could be said about any guy in Hollywood especially then and none of them had the added pressure of breaking a glass ceiling., Jamie Tarses, Executive in a Hollywood Rise-and-Fall Story, Dies at 56, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/business/media/jamie-tarses-dead.html. Then she failed to show up at a breakfast meeting with him in Beverly Hills -- an 8 A.M. breakfast, which was already late for Iger, who is such an early riser that back in New York he is at the Reebok Sports Club when it opens at 5 A.M. Tarses, it turns out, had overslept. So were cable channels. Bader, who is rather earnest, isn't certain if Tarses is fooling around or not and says nothing. Even so, Ms. Tarses faced extreme challenges. The audience laughs, again, but the message is very confusing. Tarses had a stroke in the fall of 2020, spent time in a coma, and then died in Los Angeles on February 1, 2021, at age 56 from what a family spokesperson called "complications of a cardiac event". Jamie Tarses came to prominence in the 1990s as a wunderkind programming executive at NBC where she helped develop hits such as "Friends" and "Mad About You." She died Monday at age 56. It was the professional thing to do. Her legs folded under her, she rolls her chair back and forth, back and forth. Customer Service. So how ''Maybe at some point that part's going to start. But Bochco's letter to Iger is a rather typical Hollywood-style power play. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, How NBCs Must See TV risk takers of the 90s are still launching groundbreaking TV. Tarses decides to call Iger in New York for his advice. A lot of it was pure sexism, said Betsy Thomas, a screenwriter and friend. And that's what ABC was after. She was the president of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, the firs. To ABC, Tarses represented youth and, more important, a key to the secrets of NBC, the No. For months now she has been wooing writers, actors, agents, managers and producers. But she fizzles in epic fashion, brought down by corporate dysfunction, unvarnished sexism, self-sabotage, weaponized industry gossip and scalding news media scrutiny. Just two weeks before, the rumor was that Stuart Bloomberg was being brought from New York to supervise Tarses. She gave an early voice to some of the industrys most prolific storytellers, and boldly led ABC at a time when the industry saw very few women in leadership roles, Dana Walden, Chairman of Entertainment, Walt Disney Television, said in a statement. ''It used to be, you could have a hit show and that would turn around a network,'' explains Warren Littlefield, president for entertainment at NBC. Such was the show business life of Jamie Tarses, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at 56. a case study in dysfunctional corporate relationships. ''We break Roseanne and Dan up, we get them together -- nobody cares.''. A veteran television executive, Stuart Bloomberg, was installed above Ms. Tarses. She joined NBC in 1987 in the current comedy programming division (shows already on the air), where she monitored scripts for shows such as Cheers and A Different World, starring Lisa Bonet. ''You know what looked good?'' Tarses had 18 months left on her NBC contract when she started talking to ABC early last year. David Lynch teases 'announcement' but not about 'Twin Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, Buster Murdaugh got 'very drunk' with dad 2 months after mom, brother murdered: source, I'm a professional cleaner ditch these 4 household products immediately, Shoeless Ariana Madix awkwardly tries to avoid cheating Tom Sandoval, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Prince Harry says psychedelics are fundamental part of his life, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss planned to tell Ariana Madix about affair. Sara James Tarses was born in Pittsburgh on March 16, 1964 to Jay and Rachel (Newdell) Tarses. ''How are you? Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, referred to her as Minnie Mouse in one article and scarily ruthless in another. Jamie Tarses, the first female president of a broadcast network, died Monday following complications from a cardiac event last fall, her family confirmed in a statement provided by Sony. She perfected that understanding as she became a development exec.. Tarses attended Williams College in Massachusetts, studying play structure and receiving a theatre degree in 1985. ABC was a snake pit in those days, said Jon Mandel, who ran MediaCom, a television ad-buying agency. Women are emotional, and Jamie is particularly emotional, one male agent, speaking anonymously, was quoted as saying. Bader nods, apparently uncertain if this is a joke. I have a job to do, and if I do it well everything should be O.K.'' Iger was hearing ever more complaints, and he was growing tired of having to defend her. William Morris Endeavor, which represented Tarses, called her a pioneer in every sense who always fought for strong creative work. When she left ABC following another management shift in 1999, Tarses sounded relieved to be moving on, telling the Los Angeles Times regarding the constant speculation and rumors about behind-the-scenes friction, I just dont want to play anymore. He is tall and handsome and has a steady, focused gaze. ''You'd think a company this big could end this,'' Tarses says of the article, sounding despondent. She had smarts, drive, family connections, money, the mentor everyone wished they had, very good looks, absolutely everything going for her, Mr. Mandel said. ''My father hated executives,'' Tarses says one afternoon, piloting her Range Rover to a taping of ''Hiller and Diller,'' an ABC comedy pilot that looks particularly promising. ''Jamie was an excellent developer of shows,'' says Littlefield, her former boss. Tarses is survived by her partner Paddy Aubrey and their two children, Wyatt and Sloane, as well as her parents, Rachel and Jay, siblings Mallory and Matt, sister-in-law Katie Tarses, three nieces, and a nephew, per The Hollywood Reporter. That's O.K.''. The audience laughs. Tarses looks relieved, and she and Bader begin discussing the May sweeps. Now, before heading off to a cast run-through of a promising half-hour comedy, ''Dharma and Greg'' -- it's about a mismatched San Francisco couple: she's a free spirit, he's an assistant D.A. I could have envisioned it going on another day, in which case I would have blown my brains out. But I put her in that job because I believe she has taste that's consistent with what this company would expect and stand for. She realizes now, she says, that the town believes that she will not even be able to program her own fall schedule, that she'll put her shows in front of Eisner and Iger and they'll do the scheduling. Jamie Tarses died in Los Angeles on February 1, 2021, at age 56, according to Tarses' family. Even so, Ms. Tarses was criticized at times as showing poor judgment. She parks outside the sound stage in Burbank where ''Hiller and Diller'' is taping. Watch TV.'' ''. My entire existence has been about defending myself. ''Hey, Bob,'' she says, as Bader listens in. It is also true that women -- some women -- have succeeded in Hollywood. Tarses became president of ABC Entertainment in 1996, following a successful run as a comedy development executive at NBC, where she participated in the launch of Friends, Frasier and other popular sitcoms during the networks Must-See TV heyday.