Jamie Tarses

Jamie Tarses' topsy-turvy three-year run as president of ABC Entertainment took another bizarre twist on Monday when the company was sent into turmoil by what it characterized as an erroneous report indicating that the 35-year-old executive would be asked to resign. The report, posted on Newsweek's Web site, said it was "likely" that Tarses would be let go this week.

Matthew Perry returns to series television Wednesday night as co-creator and star of the ABC single-camera sitcom "Mr. Sunshine. " For insurance, he has brought along producer Jamie Tarses, who helped develop "Friends," on which Perry starred for a generation, and Thomas Schlamme, who directed and produced Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," Perry's last-known television address. Not surprisingly, what they arrived at combines the extreme characters of a traditional wacky workplace comedy with the big-canvas naturalism of the Sorkin shows.

JAMIE TARSES and Betsy Thomas, uncharacteristically made up for a photographer and relieved that the session had finished, sat in the bar of the Four Seasons Hotel and philosophized about a topic they know well: television comedy. "Everybody begins at that point of 'I want to do something that is of very good quality, I want people to enjoy it, learn from it, be inspired from it,' " said Tarses, the former head of ABC Entertainment, in a rare interview.

JAMIE TARSES and Betsy Thomas, uncharacteristically made up for a photographer and relieved that the session had finished, sat in the bar of the Four Seasons Hotel and philosophized about a topic they know well: television comedy. "Everybody begins at that point of 'I want to do something that is of very good quality, I want people to enjoy it, learn from it, be inspired from it,' " said Tarses, the former head of ABC Entertainment, in a rare interview.

NBC said Thursday that it was hanging up a new shingle on its Burbank lot for two veteran network executives with signature style: Jamie Tarses and Karey Burke. The production deal allows Tarses -- who made headlines during a rocky tenure as ABC's entertainment chief from 1996 to 1999 -- to go into business with her longtime friend. It also provides a segue for Burke, who is stepping down next month in the wake of a management shake-up at NBC.

Seeking a way out of its ratings slump, ABC is appointing network veteran Stuart Bloomberg to the top position overseeing the network's beleaguered prime-time programming arm, sources said Monday. The move is a tacit recognition that ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses, 33, who came to the network one year ago today, wasn't entirely prepared for the top job and that the division needed more management depth to dig its way out of trouble.

ABC sought to shift the focus from ongoing management turmoil at the network to the challenge of rebuilding its weakened prime-time lineup, during a session between senior management and television critics in Pasadena Wednesday.

Jamie Tarses, a former senior NBC-TV development executive, is expected to begin serious negotiations with Walt Disney Co. this weekend about joining ABC Entertainment as president. Tarses, who until recently went by her married name Jamie McDermott, is officially released from her contract with NBC on Saturday. Sources say Ted Harbert, the current president, has been offered a new position as chairman of ABC Entertainment but may not accept the job.

Re: Kim Fleary's departure from ABC ("ABC Will Take New Risks, New Entertainment President Vows," Calendar, July 27, and "Briefly," Business, Aug. 3.) As a Latino, my family, children and friends still await the day when we can watch prime-time television that looks like America. Where ethnic homogeneity is not the rule of the day. Just when it looks like the networks are about to take one step forward we discover that they are all too often taking two steps back. Kim Fleary, ABC's vice president of comedy for years, and an African American, has been shown the door with the arrival of the Jamie Tarses regime.

Matthew Perry returns to series television Wednesday night as co-creator and star of the ABC single-camera sitcom "Mr. Sunshine. " For insurance, he has brought along producer Jamie Tarses, who helped develop "Friends," on which Perry starred for a generation, and Thomas Schlamme, who directed and produced Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," Perry's last-known television address. Not surprisingly, what they arrived at combines the extreme characters of a traditional wacky workplace comedy with the big-canvas naturalism of the Sorkin shows.

NBC said Thursday that it was hanging up a new shingle on its Burbank lot for two veteran network executives with signature style: Jamie Tarses and Karey Burke. The production deal allows Tarses -- who made headlines during a rocky tenure as ABC's entertainment chief from 1996 to 1999 -- to go into business with her longtime friend. It also provides a segue for Burke, who is stepping down next month in the wake of a management shake-up at NBC.

Television is obsessed with age. Commercials trumpet how to look and feel younger, networks court specific demographics and programs live or die depending on how well they attract them. KTLA anchor Marta Waller, then 44, alleged in a lawsuit two years ago that her not-so-advanced age led to her demotion. Shows like "Matlock" and "Murder, She Wrote" have faded away, the shelf space they occupied filled by "Friends" and "Dawson's Creek" clones. The issue extends to the film industry as well.

Jamie Tarses' three-year run as president of ABC Entertainment--which began tumultuously and seemed to seldom stray from that course--has come to an equally messy conclusion, with the 35-year-old executive resigning Thursday, just days after the network denied the latest report she would be forced out. As the first woman to head a network entertainment division, and one of the youngest executives to do so when chosen at age 32, Tarses has been closely scrutinized during her tenure.

Jamie Tarses' topsy-turvy three-year run as president of ABC Entertainment took another bizarre twist on Monday when the company was sent into turmoil by what it characterized as an erroneous report indicating that the 35-year-old executive would be asked to resign. The report, posted on Newsweek's Web site, said it was "likely" that Tarses would be let go this week.

Like sands in the hourglass, so go the heads of our TV networks--an ongoing soap opera that causes its own inevitable drain on the product turned out. This comes to mind as television critics begin assembling in Pasadena to interview network executives and stars. At this twice-annual event, executives trot out their new series, concoct alibis for what leaked into the mineral water to ruin the last batch and go to great lengths explaining why the future should be brighter.

It's Jamie mania! Ever since becoming president of ABC Entertainment a year ago, Jamie Tarses has gripped the media and Hollywood--underscoring the celebrity status of top entertainment executives and business leaders. These days, even the New York tabloids would just as soon run dishy items about "Jamie"--as she has been referred to by one publication--as they would about the steamy love lives of Brad Pitt or Madonna.

Jamie Tarses' three-year run as president of ABC Entertainment--which began tumultuously and seemed to seldom stray from that course--has come to an equally messy conclusion, with the 35-year-old executive resigning Thursday, just days after the network denied the latest report she would be forced out. As the first woman to head a network entertainment division, and one of the youngest executives to do so when chosen at age 32, Tarses has been closely scrutinized during her tenure.

ABC Entertainment Chairman Ted Harbert resigned Tuesday, ending 20 years at the network where he had spent his entire career. The resignation is the most significant executive shift at the network since it was acquired by Walt Disney Co. in February. It leaves in charge a relatively inexperienced network head, Jamie Tarses, 32, who became president of ABC Entertainment last summer amid a slide in prime-time ratings.

ABC sought to shift the focus from ongoing management turmoil at the network to the challenge of rebuilding its weakened prime-time lineup, during a session between senior management and television critics in Pasadena Wednesday.

Jamie Tarses, the embattled president of ABC Entertainment, would like to be paid off after being demoted last month as the network's highest-ranking programming executive. The network would rather she quit. But in the opportunistic community that is Hollywood, it appears that Tarses will be staying put--at least in the short run--because the two sides can't agree on a settlement and because, in a strange way, they both need each other.