Jamie Tarses Dies: Trailblazing TV Executive & Producer Was 56
He was not on the list.
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.
A superstar TV executive, Tarses was instrumental in
developing such iconic shows as NBC’s Friends and Frasier and reached the
pinnacle of the network programming executive ladder by age 32, becoming
president of ABC Entertainment. Young and phenomenally successful, Tarses
transcended the media business to become a bona fide celebrity who was both
admired and scrutinized. The enormous pressure of the job and relentless media
attention took a toll on her ABC tenure, which Tarses followed with a
successful second career as a TV producer of such popular shows as ABC’s Happy
Endings, TBS’ My Boys, TNT’s Franklin & Bash and Amazon Prime Video’s The
Wilds.
Tarses never regained consciousness following her event and
could not witness the breakout December debut and Season 2 renewal of The Wilds
or the great pre-launch buzz for The Mysterious Benedict Society, solidified
with the recent decision by Disney to move the series from Hulu to Disney+.
Born Sara James Tarses in Pittsburgh in 1964, Tarses and
grew up in Los Angeles. Both Jamie and her brother, TV writer Matt Tarses,
followed in the footsteps of their father, television writer Jay Tarses, by
pursuing a career in television.
After graduating from Williams College in 1985 with a degree
in theater, Tarses got a job as an assistant on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. She
went on to work as a casting director for Lorimar Productions.
In September 1987, Tarses was hired by NBC President of
Entertainment Brandon Tartikoff as manager, creative affairs for NBC Prods.,
setting off a meteoric rise. Just three months later, in December 1987, she
moved to the network as manager of current comedy programming, overseeing such
series as Cheers and A Different World. By July 1988, Tarses had switched to
development as manager of comedy development and was upped to director of
comedy development within seven months. She was involved in the development of
such hit series as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Wings and Blossom.
In 1994, Tarses was promoted to SVP Primetime Series and No.
2 to NBC’s entertainment president — and Tarses’ mentor — Warren Littlefield.
She played a major role in the development of such signature NBC comedies as
Friends, for which she gets a lot of credit; Frasier; NewsRadio; and Mad About
You.
“Jamie’s development skills were extraordinary,” Littlefield
said. “In her NBC days, surrounded by superstar executives, she stood out. She
had the ability to make writers feel safe and to get the most out of them. She
fought for them. Understanding writers’ wants and needs probably began by
growing up in a household with her dad who wrote and produced comedies. She
perfected that understanding as she became a development exec. When she left
NBC we knew she would be missed but opportunity knocked at ABC.”
The rising-star network executive got the attention of
then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who approached Tarses in February 1996 about
becoming president of ABC Entertainment while she was still under contract at
NBC.
The move triggered corporate intrigue and a media storm.
After months of speculation, Tarses was named president of ABC Entertainment in
June 1996. At 32, she was one of the youngest executives and the first woman to
be named entertainment president at a major network.
The high-profile position cemented Tarses’ celebrity status.
It also brought even more media attention, with her every move scrutinized in
the mainstream press and her personal relationships chronicled in the tabloids.
In that pressure-cooker environment, Tarses developed and
launched hit comedy series with Chuck Lorre’s Dharma & Greg and the Ryan
Reynolds-starring Two Guys and a Girl, a hit drama with David E. Kelley’s The
Practice, and a critical darling with Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night. (She also
oversaw the launch and growth of Spin City.)
“I was lucky to know Jamie. I was lucky to laugh with her,”
said Reynolds, for whom Two Guys and a Girl marked the first leading role. “She
put me on a path I’m still on today. What an incredible life she lived.”
But, as ABC’s ratings slid during the first year of Tarses’
tenure with a slate she had inherited, and with Tarses had a hard time
navigating the corporate politics required for the top job but kept at it as
the network’s fortunes started to improve. She resigned in 1999 after a Disney
corporate restructuring.
The turbulent end to Tarses’ impressive executive career
launched her second act as a successful TV producer. Over the past two decades,
she developed a slew of projects that went to pilot and more than a dozen
series on her own, through her production banner FanFare, or in tandem with
high-profile producing partners.
After leaving ABC, she served as president of James Burrows’
Three Sisters Productions. She then partnered with now-20th TV president Karey
Burke; with Gavin Polone; and, more recently, with now-Netflix Films head Scott
Stuber. She had overall deals at Universal Television, Sony Pictures Television
and ABC Signature.
“Jamie was a trailblazer in the truest sense of the word,”
said Burke, now President of 20th Television. “She shattered stereotypes and
ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for
others, at a cost to herself. She was a mentor and friend, and many of us owe
so much to her. As an executive and producer, she was a champion for
storytellers, having been raised by one of the all-time greats. Her talent and
contribution to our community will be solely missed.”
The series Tarses executive produced include comedies Happy
Endings, The Mayor and Mr. Sunshine for ABC; Mad Love, created by her brother
Matt, and Made in Jersey for CBS; Marry Me for NBC; My Boys and Men at Work for
TBS, as well as Hawthorne and Franklin & Bash at TNT.
Tarses and Stuber were only partnered professionally for a
brief period of time before he took the Netflix job, producing together ABC’s
The Mayor, but their personal friendships goes back decades.
“Jamie had a great sense of humor and the most infectious
laugh that always brightened the room,” Stuber said. “Her passion and
determination to strive for greatness was something I always admired, and I
learned so much from knowing and working with her for over 20 years. She will
be greatly missed.”
After a decade and a half producing for traditional
networks, Tarses did Champaign, ILL at YouTube, her third collaboration with
creator David Caspe after Happy Endings and Marry Me. Happy Endings, Caspe’s
first series as a creator, starred Casey Wilson who became his wife and also
headlined Marry Me.
“Jamie Tarses is a legend,” Caspe said. “To say she changed
my life is a ridiculous understatement. She sold my first show which introduced
me to my wife. And then sold a show about me proposing to her. Which we shot
while my wife was pregnant with my first child. But my life was only one of
literal thousands that she changed and touched forever. She is a trailblazer,
an icon, a champion of writers, new voices, stylish, generous and kind. So, so
kind. But as good as she was at anything, she was an even better friend, mother
and person. I am heartbroken for her family and her enormous family of friends.
I love you forever, Boss. Here’s to you.”
Tarses recently reinvented herself as a producer of YA streaming
series with Amazon Prime Video’s The Wilds and Disney+’s upcoming The
Mysterious Benedict Society. She was a hands-on executive producer on The Wilds
and spent time of the set in New Zealand. The Wilds was one of the first
projects greenlighted by Jennifer Salke when she became head of Amazon Studios
as part of a push in the YA space.
“Jamie was a titan in the media industry, pioneering female
leadership for so many of us,” said Salke. “I knew we were in for a treat if
Jamie wanted to share a creative passion. She was never the producer to sit by
the side but, rather, felt completely connected to the writer and the creative
in every way. It was an honor for us at Amazon Studios to partner with her on
The Wilds and her passion and brilliance were felt throughout the series. We
will all miss her dearly and our hearts go out to her friends and family.”
Tarses blasted the door open for women to get to the
traditionally male-dominated top TV executive ranks. She was followed by
others, including current leading TV executives Burke, Salke and Dana Walden
who each spent time as Head of Programming at a Big 4 broadcast network, the
position Tarses once held at ABC.
“Jamie’s creative genius sparked culture-defining shows that
have spanned decades. She gave an early voice to some of the industry’s most
prolific storytellers, and boldly led ABC at a time when the industry saw very
few women in leadership roles,” said Walden who now oversees ABC as Chairman of
Entertainment, Walt Disney Television, as well Disney TV Studios, which is
behind Tarses’ last series, The Wilds and The Mysterious Benedict Society. “She
will be remembered as a mentor and role model for many, myself included, and an
inspiration to the entire creative community for generations to come.”
Tarses recently re-teamed with My Boys creator and close
friend Betsy Thomas for Beth & Sam, a half-hour single-camera comedy
executive produced by Jim Parsons, which is in the works at HBO Max.
“Jamie had such a true love for movies, television, theater,
books and ideas that both transcended her work and absolutely inspired it,”
said Thomas. “She was the ultimate fan.”
At the time of her death, Tarses was under an overall deal
at her longtime studio home Sony Pictures TV, which was behind most of her
broadcast and cable series, including Happy Endings, My Boys and Franklin &
Bash, and had multiple projects in development, including Why You Will Marry
The Wrong Person, a dramedy at ABC written by Matt Tarses and executive
produced by Freddie Highmore.
“We were always excited when Jamie called to talk about a
project because we knew coming from her it was going to be special – and it was
always a long call because we would spend at least half of it talking about
life, family and the state of the business,” the studio said in a statement.
“Her unparalleled taste led to the hundreds of episodes of television we made
together and we couldn’t be more proud of our joint history, both personally
and professionally.”
Years after developing and greenlighting Sorkin’s first TV
series, Sports Night, Tarses served as a consultant on his NBC drama series
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It featured the character Jordan McDeere, the
head of fictional network NBS and played by Amanda Peet, which was loosely
based on Tarses.
In a rare interview with the Los Angeles Times 14 years ago,
Tarses acknowledged that the drama accurately depicted the world of network TV
executive ranks during her 11-year executive tenure where, in “certain areas,”
there were “mainly men and only one woman.”
Whether she was breaking ground as the only female executive
in the room or producing shows, Tarses remained a “genuine fan of the medium,”
in her own words.
“I love television, I really do,” she said.
Tarses is survived by her partner, Paddy Aubrey; their
children, Wyatt and Sloane; her parents, Jay Tarses and Rachel Tarses; and her
siblings Matt Tarses and Mallory Tarses, her sister-in-law Katie Tarses, three
nieces and a nephew.
“For all her talent and success in entertainment, the thing
Jamie was proudest of and most consumed by were her two kids,” said Matt
Tarses, with whom Jamie frequently collaborated. “She was never happier than
when she was with Wyatt and Sloane.”
In addition to her career and home life, Tarses also was
actively involved in many charitable organizations including Step Up, Young
Storytellers and Save the Children. She
also spent many years volunteering at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
At the family’s request donations can be made to Young
Storytellers at http://www.youngstorytellers.com.
