Some things are systemic problems with ABC. Jamie had a stroke during the fall of 2020 and died in Los Angeles. And sometimes she hates my advice, but it's her division to run. Tarses says the play is not autobiographical--he has been married for 30 years and has three grown children--but that he had wanted to write for some time about marriage and mortality. That doesn't happen with Les Moonves at CBS'' -- that network's entertainment chief -- ''or Warren Littlefield at NBC. Credit:Getty. Jamie Tarses attends the Women In Film 2018 Crystal + Lucy Award at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Her talent and contribution to our community will be sorely missed.. . And then, Tarses had Morton attending network promo meetings in New York. This comes after an intensive week of pilot screenings in Los Angeles attended by, among others, Bloomberg, Iger and Eisner. Gossip swirled in Hollywood that she solved the problem by claiming that she had been sexually harassed by Don Ohlmeyer, a senior NBC executive. 2. [7], Tarses left NBC in 1996 amidst a significant amount of press coverage. He began talking to Tarses about taking over ABC. Iger now had to convince her to accept essentially the same job she had had at NBC -- No. ''We break Roseanne and Dan up, we get them together -- nobody cares.''. She was 56. The audience laughs. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. ''And I counseled Jamie, never be arrogant. As Warren Littlefield, her boss there, put it, ''She completely understood the process.''. She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself. Sara James Tarses was born in Pittsburgh on March 16, 1964 to Jay and Rachel (Newdell) Tarses. Some things are her fault. ''Jamie was an excellent developer of shows,'' says Littlefield, her former boss. And they have to negotiate, deftly, the perilous maze that is the TV business -- knowing whom to stroke, when to give up, how to say one thing and then, the following day, precisely the opposite. ''It was better than we thought it would be,'' says Betsy Frank, an advertising executive and close observer of the television business. ''He was fun to play with. Tarses smiles. Several television pilots failed, but she ultimately found a few modest hits, including My Boys, a comedy created by Ms. Thomas and centered on a female sportswriter, and Happy Endings, a sitcom that dusted off the Friends formula. Women are emotional, and Jamie is particularly emotional, one male agent, speaking anonymously, was quoted as saying. ''And that's her problem. 'The Last Don.' Simultaneously, Ovitz was also trying to convince David Letterman to break his contract with CBS and move to ABC. ''You want a letter,'' Bochco told her, ''I'll send you a letter,'' and he did. Once Tarses accepted Ovitz's offer to go to ABC, there was the matter of her existing contract. ''Are you questioning my loyalty, Jeff?'' Asked about this, Tarses says: ''People truly believe that Iger is going to program the network. You think of her as a girl, and it changes how you do business with her. The work is a blast. 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. ''Why were you watching CBS?'' ''We're $(expletive$),'' she says. His coverage of the television industry has appeared in TV Guide, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Fortune, the Hollywood Reporter, Inside.com and Adweek. [26] Tarses also dated Robert Morton, executive producer of Late Show with David Letterman. First the sexual harassment charges; now this. Some things are just goofs. 1, where it had been only four years before. Her death was confirmed by a family spokeswoman, who said the cause was "complications from a cardiac. appreciated. Amanda Peet, who played Jordan McDeere, the head of fictional network NBS on the NBC show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, said her character "is loosely based" on Tarses. Whom to believe, what to believe -- it's all exhausting. The industry trailblazers family confirmed her passing, Deadline reported. The implication, in all the talk, was that this was not how a network executive acted -- this was how a girl acted. The ABC scheduling meetings drag on for nearly a week. First, there is Steven Bochco, the creator and executive producer of ''N.Y.P.D. Not long before Harbert left, Ovitz was fired from Disney after only 14 months. Jamie Tarses Dies at 56: Cause of Death. Eisner seemed pleased, and so did Iger. 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. While still hugely profitable, the big three networks can no longer be complacent and are scrambling for solutions. A Disney+ series, The Mysterious Benedict Society, which Tarses worked on as an executive producer is expected to premiere later this year. Jamie Tarses Death. To calm herself, Tarses lights a cigarette. 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. ''Hiller and Diller'' is a Disney-produced show, but Valentine isn't crazy about it. (Ohlmeyer blamed Ovitz for the rumour and publicly called him the Antichrist, leading to a media frenzy.) Watch TV.''. Tarses attended Williams College in Massachusetts, studying play structure and receiving a theatre degree in 1985. ", "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our longtime friend and client," the agency said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. Tarses made a lot of people a lot of money, yet consider the standards to which she was held in the oh-so liberal, self-congratulatory, enlightened world of 1990s Hollywood. Tarses ponders a moment and then writes her fax reply: ''We already have a mini-series about a guy who swallows a penny and dies and a woman who takes too big a bite of steak and dies, but if you want this, too, we'd be happy to do it.''. 4:37 PM EST, Mon February 1, 2021, Television executive Jamie Tarses, photographed here at an event in 2018, has died. Her talent and contribution to our community will be solely missed.. "Jamie was a pioneer in every sense, breaking the glass ceiling of the television industry, and embodying the passion and tenacity that made her someone who was always ahead of her time. Shewas responsible for overseeing shows includingAaron Sorkins Sports Night, The Practice from David E. Kelley;Dharma & Greg; and Ryan Reynolds debut, Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place. At the time of her departure, the Wall Street Journal recognized her for her "ability to recognize hot ideas, writers and stars.". ''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. 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. Tarses is survived by her partner, Paddy Aubrey, and their two children. From Chris Rock to the SAG Awards. axis, which scores in ratings and thrills the sponsors. Nicholas Rice is an Associate Editor for PEOPLE Magazine. She was the president of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, the first woman and one of the youngest people to hold such a post in an American broadcast network. Jamie Tarses attends a 1998 screening of From The Earth To The Moon in Century City, California. Christopher Meloni, Dick Wolf, Ice-T and Others React to 'SVU' Star Richard Belzer's Death, The Black Shows That Revolutionized TV, from 'Julia' and 'The Jeffersons' to 'Empire', Issa Rae Says She's 'Proud to Show What's Possible' with Her Career and Shares What She's Still 'Chasing', Barbara Walters, Legendary Broadcaster and Creator of 'The View', Dead at 93. ''I don't want to sound silly -- this will be difficult. Life is short. She is in a good mood this morning. She spots Dean Valentine, the president of Walt Disney Television and Disney Television Animation. Whether Tarses' style bothered Harbert is hard to say. But the main action is in establishing a strong network identity that entices these viewers to make a habit of tuning in. Jamie Tarses, the first woman to head a network entertainment division, has died. She was 56. Eager to talk about Laybourne and Newsweek, Tarses dials Morton's cell-phone number. Bader tries to convince Tarses that they can promote this last ''Roseanne'' episode, turn it into an event, but Tarses is not buying his pitch. You won't find a network schedule without two 10 P.M. hits, and I told that to Jamie.''. Then she adds: ''I have never had a mentor, and sometimes, like today, I think that would really be helpful. [21], Tarses was co-producer of My Boys, a comedy about a female sports reporter starring Jordana Spiro, on TBS cable television network from November 28, 2006, until September 14, 2010. People now have some confidence that I can do this job.''. Jamie Tarses answers questions at the Television Critics Assn. Paramount to pay $122.5 million to settle lawsuit over CBS deal. She was 56. He put on ''Home Improvement'' and created ''T.G.I.F.,'' ABC's successful Friday-night family block of shows. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. ''Simply Mahvelous?'' (''What am I going to do, lie?'' 1 among 18-to-49-year-olds. She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself. With regard to Tarses' often-stated desire to create a network identity for ABC that is younger, more urban, hipper, he says, somewhat surprisingly: ''Jamie doesn't really know. ", Photo: Greg Doherty/Patrick McMullan via Getty, Richard Belzer, 'Law & Order: SVU' Star, Dead at 78. [12][13][14] She resigned in August 1999 with two years remaining on her contract. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1964,. ''But I don't understand the mechanism by which somebody could take down the president's schedule and put up a new one,'' she says. Bader nods, apparently uncertain if this is a joke. And, finally, ''Hobbies, schmobbies. ''You can discuss the pros and cons of every show only so many times, and then you have to render a decision. He is also the author of three books about television, including a biography of pioneer talk show host and producer David Susskind. He has heard the talk -- that Tarses is not up to the challenge. '', Iger, or What It Means to be Presidential. Some people spent more time trying to assassinate internal rivals than actually doing their jobs., After a year at ABC, Tarses, who had alienated some colleagues by not returning calls and missing morning meetings, gave the journalist Lynn Hirschberg unfettered access for an 8000-word cover story in The New York Times Magazine. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Tarses and NBC denied the story, as did Ovitz, but it continued to hound her, making the young Tarses appear as someone who would do anything to get ahead, as Ms Hirschberg wrote. Tarses can feel the hate, she says. In later roles, she helped grow hit NBC comedies like Friends and Frasier. After quitting ABC she avoided the spotlight and remade herself as a producer. She perfected that understanding as she became a development exec.. Updated Or silently suffering through another attack. If it works, he'll be confident. a case study in dysfunctional corporate relationships. '', Distrust, or What She Learned From Dad And Dean Valentine. It wasn't a dictatorship. -- Tarses has to figure out what to do with ''Roseanne. She joined NBC in 1987 in the current comedy programming division (shows already on the air), where she monitored scripts for shows like Cheers and A Different World, starring Lisa Bonet. You think of her as a girl, and it changes how you do business with her.. She might sell her house in Pacific Palisades. A kind of last straw may have come when Tarses gave the go-ahead to a fall pilot -- which Eisner and Iger had turned down for the schedule -- as a midseason replacement show; furious, Iger ordered her to cancel the show. 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 cardiac event she suffered in early fall.She was 56. At 32 she was named president of entertainment at ABC, the first woman ever to serve as a networks top programmer. ''She forgets that I'm her boss.''. Blue.'' Jamie had a remarkable ability to engage writers to understand their twisted, dark, joyful, brilliant complexity and really speak their language and help them achieve their creative goals, said Warren Littlefield, who was NBCs president of entertainment from 1991 to 1998. She was 56. At a time when all of the big networks were losing young viewers, Ms. Tarses seemed to speak the language of that coveted audience,the Wall Street Journalwrote at the time. ''I didn't want to be out of the creative process and just do scheduling and promotion, and she didn't just want to do creative,'' he says. My entire existence has been about defending myself. That's O.K.''. She left ABC with one popular sitcom, Dharma & Greg, and one comedy that was a hit with critics, Aaron Sorkins Sports Night. Jamie nods, clearly annoyed. Sara James Tarses (March 16, 1964 February 1, 2021) was an American television producer and television studio executive. ''But Eisner wasn't bad. It is also true that women -- some women -- have succeeded in Hollywood. There is something distinctly feline about her. It's another afternoon in May, and Tarses is trying to deal with the usual array of job-threatening problems. Tarses is pleased with her response. Already a member? Tarses says. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. 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. Jamie was a pioneer in every sense, breaking the glass ceiling of the television industry, and embodying the passion and tenacity that made her someone who was always ahead of her time," read the statement. ''It colors everything,'' says one agent who insisted on anonymity because he knows Tarses well. The constant hum of criticism has clearly got to Tarses. She doesn't want anyone to know she smokes. ''Roseanne is the lowest-rated show of the time period with blacks. ''That appeals to every network.'' '', A Day at the Office, Toying With 'Roseanne' and Others. Blue'' and ''Murder One.'' Her lawyers are talking to ABC's lawyers, and if a deal can be reached she will be gone. The rest of this nonsense I dont need.. She had smarts, drive, family connections, money, the mentor everyone wished they had, very good looks, absolutely everything going for her, Mr. Mandel said. Jamie Tarses, the first woman to run a network entertainment division, died Monday morning due to complications from a cardiac event she suffered last fall. All Rights Reserved. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / Associated Press). Tarses returns to her seat below the monitor. '', ''Oh, good,'' Tarses says. [15], Tarses was the subject of what Bill Carter of The New York Times called an "unflattering profile" written by Lynn Hirschberg in The New York Times Magazine in July 1997, in which she "was portrayed as an embattled executive whose competence and professionalism was being questioned in Hollywood show business circles".[13][16][17]. 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. 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. Twenty-five years before Peak TV, there was Must See TV.. He has been married to Rachel Newdell since June 9, 1963. A veteran television executive, Stuart Bloomberg, was installed above Tarses. ''Good,'' Valentine says, ever withholding. Tarses, embarrassed and angered, did not return Iger's calls for a few days. ", 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. Sign In. Tarses was restless, anxious to do the job she had been promised, but she genuinely liked Harbert. Once someone is typecast in Hollywood, even as an executive, getting people to see that person in a different light can be a never-ending battle. Some people spent more time trying to assassinate internal rivals than actually doing their jobs., After a year at ABC, Ms. Tarses, who had alienated some colleagues by not returning calls and missing morning meetings, gave the journalist Lynn Hirschberg unfettered access for an 8,000-word cover story in The New York Times Magazine.