Jamie Tarses
Sara James Tarses (March 16, 1964 – February 1, 2021) was an American television producer and television studio executive. She was the president of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, the first woman and one of the youngest people to hold such a post in an American broadcast network. Early life. Tarses was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of television writer Jay Tarses and Rachel Tarses (née Newdell), on March 19, 1964. Her younger sister, Mallory Tarses, is a fiction writer and high school English teacher, and a younger brother, Matt Tarses, is a producer and screenwriter ("The  Goldbergs," "Scrubs," "Sports Night". Tarses graduated from Williams College in 1985 with a degree in theater. Career. Casting director. After graduating from college, Tarses became an assistant to the talent executive on the 1985–1986 season of "Saturday Night Live." She then worked as a casting director for Lorimar Productions, filling roles for mid-run "Perfect Strangers". Network executive. In September 1987, Tarses was hired by NBC Productions' Brandon Tartikoff as the manager of creative affairs. She climbed the corporate ladder at NBC until 1996. Here, she helped develop "Friends", "Mad About You", "Frasier", "NewsRadio", and "Caroline in the City". In  1991, she passed on her father's pilot about jazz musicians, called "Baltimore". Tarses left NBC in 1996 amidst a significant amount of press coverage. From 1996 to 1999, she was president of ABC Entertainment. She resigned in August 1999 with two years remaining on her contract. At the time of her departure she had one sitcom, one comedy, and one legal drama on ABC's schedule. Tarses was the subject of what Bill Carter of "The New York Times" called an "unflattering profile" written by Lynn Hirschberg in "The New York Times Magazine" in July 1997, in which she  was portrayed as an embattled executive whose competence and professionalism was being questioned in Hollywood show business circles. Amanda Peet, who played Jordan McDeere, the head of fictional network NBS on the NBC show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", said her character "is loosely based" on Tarses. Tarses was a consultant for "Studio 60". When she was senior vice president of primetime series for NBC, she had a major role in developing "Friends". While at ABC, she helped develop and greenlight "Dharma & Greg". Producer. In 2005, Tarses partnered on a production company called Pariah Productions with producer Gavin Polone . Later, she had a company called FanFare Productions at Sony Pictures Television. Tarses was co-producer of "My Boys", a comedy about a female sports reporter starring Jordana Spiro, on TBS cable television network from November 28, 2006, until September 14, 2010. In 2010, she produced several television series, including "Mr. Sunshine", "Happy Endings", and "Franklin & Bash." Personal life. Tarses married DreamWorks SKG television executive Dan McDermott in 1993. They divorced in 1996. Tarses also dated Robert Morton, executive producer of "Late Show with David Letterman". She had two children, Wyatt and Sloane, with her partner Paddy Aubrey, an executive  chef and restaurant owner. She served on the board of directors and the advisory board of directors for Young Storytellers, an arts education nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles. She was a volunteer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Death. Tarses had a stroke in the fall of 2020, spent time in a coma, and then died in Los Angeles on February 1, 2021, at age 56 from what a family spokesperson called "complications of a cardiac event". References. Specific Bibliography