Jamie Tarses, the first woman to run a network entertainment division, died Monday morning from complications from a cardiac event she suffered last fall. She was 56 years old.
The family of the industry pioneer confirmed his death, Deadline reported.
Before going through the glass ceilings for executive women in the TV industry, Tarses played an important role in the development of modern TV classics, including two supporting entries on NBC’s iconic “Mandatory TV” programming on Thursday nights: ” Friends “and” Frasier. ”
Despite being a great power player, Tarses once said humbly: “[I’m] a real fan of the medium. I love television, I really do. “
His rise to that power was extraordinarily rapid. She graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1985 with a degree in theater and quickly landed a low profile job as an assistant on “Saturday Night Live”, followed by a stint as casting director for Lorimar Productions.
After successfully overseeing the production of NBC’s hits “Cheers” and “A Different World”, she developed a series of beloved hits for the network, such as “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, “Wings”, “NewsRadio” , “Crazy about you” and “Blossom”.
Tarses was promoted in 1994 to senior vice president of prime time series – becoming second-in-command to then-NBC entertainment president Warren Littlefield, who said his “development skills were extraordinary”.
In a statement to Deadline, Littlefield said: “In her days at NBC, surrounded by superstar executives, she stood out. She had the ability to make writers feel safe and get the most out of them. She fought for them. Understanding the writers’ wants and needs probably started by growing up in a home with his father, who wrote and produced comedies. She perfected this understanding by becoming a development executive. “
Unfortunately, his reign on NBC would only last 11 months. “When she left NBC, we knew she would be lost, but the opportunity hit ABC,” said Littlefield.
Tarses was only 32 when she was named president of ABC Entertainment in June 1996.
“At a time when all the major networks were losing young viewers, Ms. Tarses seemed to speak the language of that coveted audience,” wrote the Wall Street Journal at the time. “She had what is known in TV programming jargon as ‘taste’, or the ability to recognize ideas, writers and hot stars.”
After helping to launch hits like “Dharma & Greg”, “Spin City”, “Sports Night” and “The Practice”, Tarses resigned in 1999 amid a corporate restructuring by ABC’s parent company, Disney.
“Jamie was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word,” Karey Burke, current president of Disney’s 20th Television and former president of ABC Entertainment, told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “She broke stereotypes and ideas about what an 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 her a lot.
“As an executive and producer, she was a champion of storytellers, having been created by one of the greatest names of all time,” said Burke. “Your talent and contribution to our community will be missed.”
Tarses held several executive producer positions throughout the 2000s. His latest project, “The Mysterious Benedict Society”, is currently listed as in post-production for the Disney + streaming service.
She leaves her partner Paddy Aubrey; their children, Wyatt and Sloane; his parents, Jay and Rachel Tarses; his brothers, Matt and Mallory Tarses; his sister-in-law, Katie Tarses; three nieces; and a nephew. The Tarses family said donations can be made in honor of the Young Storytellers project.