Though primarily identified with NBC's hip urban comedies, Tarses rejects the implication that she's a one-trick pony. We're always going to try to do shows that skew younger and more urban, because that's the desirable audience. But I think the biggest mistake you can make is to be derivative. At NBC we put the best shows on the schedule. Frasier, the next year Friends.
Shows inform the network identity rather than the identity informing the shows.
Yet she rejects the notion that she's too inexperienced for the job. I was at NBC for eight years. I was exposed to every aspect of what a person in the job that I have now does. There have been many people prior to me in this job at various networks who had far less direct experience in all aspects of programming. Last December, Michael Ovitz, the former superagent who spearheaded the effort to hire Tarses, resigned after a troubled 14-month tenure as Eisner's No. 2 executive.