James A. Bethea Jr. (born January 14, 1965) is an American writer, producer and occasional performer, primarily in the field of television. As the former Head of Current Programming for UPN, he is among a handful of African Americans to head a programming department at a broadcast network.  Series overseen by him at UPN include Star Trek: Voyager, Dilbert, Clueless, and Moesha. As an actor, his work has included 2008's Iron Man and the 2010 sequel, Iron Man 2.

Early life and education
Bethea was born in New York City's Harlem, the son of Constance, a social worker, and James Sr., a hospital laboratory technician. Following the Bronx High School of Science, he attended Hunter College, majoring in Film and Communications with a minor in Computer Science.

Career
Bethea began his career in 1982 while a Bronx Science student, as a cast member of the Nickelodeon series Livewire. Finding the behind-the-camera aspects of television equally appealing, he obtained work as a production assistant, first at the Children's Television Workshop, then back at Nickelodeon as a Segment Producer for the 3-hour weekly variety show Total Panic. With high school classmate Karim Miteff, Bethea co-created and produced Nick Arcade, a groundbreaking virtual reality game show whose bluescreen process received an Ultimatte Award for Technical Achievement from the National Association of Broadcasters, as well as a Cable Ace nomination. The series format was licensed and produced worldwide, including as Zona de Juego in Spain for TVE.  Bethea also co-created and produced the original Slime Time Live.

In 1997, Bethea was hired by Viacom's UPN as Director of Programming and promoted shortly after to Head of Current Programming. In this capacity, he supervised the production of the network's entire primetime slate, including comedy, drama and alternative series. He also appeared as a Dungeons & Dragons' DM in high school classmate Jon Favreau's 1999 pilot Smog. Eventually, Bethea sold the network a pilot script of his own, The Gibsons and in 2000, returned to freelance producing. The script was not ordered to series.

Tapped again by Nickeodeon in 2003, Bethea developed and produced the TEENick Spin The Bottle franchise, in addition to composing its theme music. In 2005, Bethea began executive producing live television events. They include E!'s Live From the Red Carpet franchise and the 12th Critics' Choice Awards.

He is also the producer of two plays written by actor Mike O'Malley: Three Years From Thirty and Searching For Certainty.

Bethea donned a military uniform to portray an analyst for Jon Favreau in his 2008 Iron Man and its sequel, Iron Man 2; a nod to their days in high school as avid comic book fans.

Filmography

Actor
 Iron Man (2008) - CAOC Analyst #4
 Iron Man 2 (2010) - Security Force #1

Executive producer
 Live From the Red Carpet: The 2005 Emmy Awards (2005)
 E!'s Live Countdown to the Golden Globes (2006)
 E!'s Live Countdown to the Academy Awards (2006)
 E!'s Live Countdown to the Golden Globes (2007)
 Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Golden Globe Awards (2007)
 Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Screen Actor's Guild Awards (2007)
 E!'s Live Countdown to the SAG Awards (2007)
 Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Grammy Awards (2007)
 E!'s Live Countdown to the Grammys (2007)
 E!'s Live Countdown to the Academy Awards (2007)
 Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Academy Awards (2007)
 12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards (2007)

Executive in charge
 Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
 In The House (1995)
 Malcolm & Eddie (1996)
 The Sentinel (1996)
 Sparks (1996)
 Moesha (1996)
 Clueless (1996)
 Hitz (1997)
 The Good News (1997)
 Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998)
 The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer (1998)
 Legacy (1998)
 Dilbert (1999)

Creator (developed)
 Slimetime Live (1992)
 Nick Arcade (1992)
 TEENick: Spin the Bottle (2003)

References

External links

Film critics honour The Departed at BBC News
Martin Scorsese Scores Upset at Critics' Choice Awards Amid Oscar Fever 12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards at Fox News
 12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards at E!

1965 births
American television producers
Hunter College alumni
Living people
The Bronx High School of Science alumni
People from Harlem
Writers from Manhattan
Television producers from New York City
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
African-American television producers
21st-century African-American writers
20th-century African-American writers
African-American actors
UPN television network executives
20th-century American writers
African-American male writers