Tarses

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In a town that salivates over bad news, embattled ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses became the highest-profile member of the walking dead club this summer.

In June, ABC executives in New York replaced the 33-year-old Tarses as the company’s top executive in California installing Stuart Bloomberg over her as chairman.

A month later, she was characterized as childish, petulant and flirtatious in a New York Times Magazine profile which disclosed, among other things, that she did not always return calls to her boss Bob Iger in New York.

Most of Hollywood was waiting all summer for the other shoe to drop with an announcement of Tarses’ resignation. But her network obituary notice may have been premature.

With several new critically acclaimed comedies in the fall lineup, ABC is considered to have a better-than-even chance of scoring a hit. And Tarses, as the woman most responsible for the new comedies, may be sticking around ABC a lot longer than anyone expected.

“Her development was very good,” said Paul Schulman, president of Paul Schulman Co., a New York-based media buying agency. “Everybody spent an awful lot of time saying they were going to buy her out of her contract. What you have to do is look at what is on the screen and we were impressed with ‘Dharma & Greg,’ ‘Hiller and Diller’ and ‘Nothing Sacred.’ She could stop the bleeding at ABC.”

Said one former network chief: “I think she could wind up being a heroine.”

Tarses and ABC officials declined comment. However, Michael Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, told PBS talk show host Charlie Rose on Sept. 24 that hiring Tarses was not a mistake.

“Jamie Tarses was and is a very bright executive trained at NBC,” he said. “She knows what she is doing.”

But at the same time, Eisner gave her less than a ringing endorsement.

“So if she needs a vote of confidence,” Rose asked him, “Michael Eisner is here to say, ‘You got it?’ ”

“Well,” Eisner replied, “I’m here to say, ‘You asked me if she is a problem. She is not a problem.’

“We thought she wasn’t quite as experienced to be the head person in California and we brought in somebody whom she knew very well,” Eisner said. “And we think the team of Jamie Tarses and Stu Bloomberg will be very strong.”

Indeed, ABC’s fall lineup looks to be a solid improvement over last year, when the network was mired in third place.

Tuesday, which is already strong thanks to “Home Improvement” and “NYPD Blue,” could brighten with “Hiller & Diller,” starring Richard Lewis and Kevin Nealon, which finished second last week in its 9:30 p.m. time slot behind NBC’s “Just Shoot Me.”

Another critically acclaimed ABC show, “Dharma & Greg,” finished second last Wednesday with an 11.5 rating (meaning 11.5 percent of TV households watched the show). But it was up against a special the two-hour Country Music Awards on CBS. Moreover, it killed the NBC competition for its half-hour time slot, “Built to Last,” which drew just a 5.6 rating.

Tarses was hired specifically to develop new hit shows. At NBC, which she left in February 1996, Tarses was credited with developing such mega-hits as “Caroline in the City,” “Mad About You” and “Friends.”

But her skills in developing programming were apparently not matched by her management abilities. She was roundly criticized for giving a production deal to a boyfriend, keeping late hours and even failing to show up for a breakfast meeting with Iger, president of ABC Inc.

In the Times Magazine profile, Tarses was described as having a “mix of insecurity and ambition, confidence and self destructiveness, brilliance and lack of executive skills.”

The profile prompted New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd mockingly to pronounce that Tarses “was in over her hair.”

Apparently, her bosses at Disney agreed. But bringing in Bloomberg may end up being the best possible turn of events for Tarses.

Now she no longer has to deal with advertising, affiliate relations or on-air promos. Tarses, the master developer, will do what she does best developing new programs.

“If she stops the downward trend at ABC,” said Schulman, “she is succeeding. If the numbers stay the same as last year’s this year and remember the network share of the audience has been dropping she will be looked upon as a hero.”

Steve Grubbs, executive vice president of BBD & O; Worldwide, another New York-based media buyer, agreed. “The first step is to stabilize,” he said. “If they stabilize, it is a success.”

But he was quick to add that no one should expect any miracles at ABC. “It will not turn around in one year, unless she is unexpectedly lucky,” he said.

If ABC does improve, he said, it will come at the expense of NBC. “That’s where their potential and competion is NBC,” Grubbs said.

Many in Hollywood say it is unlikely that Tarses will be pushed out the door now that ABC appears on the verge of success.

“As far as I am concerned,” said Ted Harbert, whom Tarses replaced as entertainment president and who is now an independent producer, “she is there and she is doing the job.”

And she should be allowed to do the job, others insisted. “She had a very strong track record before she came to ABC,” said Steve Cesinger, managing director of Los Angeles-based Grief and Co., who specializes in media and entertainment stocks. “They need to give her latitude. She was brought into a declining network. They have bolstered the management group around her so she can demonstrate her creative skills.

“I think she was pilloried and it was grossly unfair,” he added. “This is her first real season and now she is fair game.”

Even if ABC’s new shows turn out to be duds, Tarses may still stick around, analysts say.

For one thing, Disney may be unwilling to pay big bucks for her resignation, given the drubbing the company took for the $90 million it paid to former President Michael Ovitz.

Plus, Tarses’ firing, in the male-dominated world of Hollywood, could make her a cause cel & #269;bre. “Disney has always been concerned about public relations,” Cesinger said.

In any case, it will take several more weeks before any pattern can be discerned in the fall ratings.

“If the schedule works and ABC doesn’t slip further, nobody will worry,” said Arthur Rockwell, a media analyst for Los Angeles-based Yaeger Capital Management. “If there is no success, then there will be problems with her future and there will be a further shakeup in management. It’s too early to tell.”

“It’s wait-and-see,” agreed Steve Sternberg, senior partner at New York-based BJK & E; Media, another major buyer of commericial time. “It’s very easy to beome a hero or a goat in this business, overnight.”

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