did jamie tarses have a stroke did jamie tarses have a stroke

Katie Couric Calls Barbara Walters 'the OG of Female Broadcasters' in Tribute After Her Death, Paying Tribute to the Celebrities Who Have Died in 2023. The article, which pointedly discussed Ms. Tarsess hairstyle and feminine way of sitting, helped color the rest of Ms. Tarsess career. Tarses returns to her seat below the monitor. Watch TV.''. In 1996, about 49 percent of prime-time viewers watched ABC, CBS or NBC, down from roughly 74 percent a decade earlier, according to Nielsen data. She was a mentor and friend, and many of us owe so much to her. ''It used to be, you could have a hit show and that would turn around a network,'' explains Warren Littlefield, president for entertainment at NBC. She makes the promise and then she has Iger make the phone call. Jamie had a remarkable ability to engage writers to understand their twisted, dark, joyful, brilliant complexity and really speak their language and help them achieve their creative goals, said Warren Littlefield, who was NBCs president of entertainment from 1991 to 1998. [7], Tarses left NBC in 1996 amidst a significant amount of press coverage. Such was the show business life of Jamie Tarses, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at 56. Just two weeks before, the rumor was that Stuart Bloomberg was being brought from New York to supervise Tarses. ''Why were you watching CBS?'' But she fizzles in epic fashion, brought down by corporate dysfunction, unvarnished sexism, self-sabotage, weaponized industry gossip and scalding news media scrutiny. This is how an easy day turns into something else. ABC badly needed fresh hit shows and Tarses, who had worked at NBC, had a reputation for serving up a steady supply especially zeitgeist-tapping sitcoms. ABC has continued to slide, and all he wants Tarses to do is fix it. Hunt won out when she "brilliantly" imitated Reiser trying to decide what to . Jamie Tarses '85, a trailblazing TV executive and the first woman to run a network entertainment division, died on Feb. 1 at her home in Los Angeles, Calif. She was 56. Lewis, meanwhile, has just been left by his second wife and is rearing two uncontrollable children. 'In Living Color' Cast: Where Are They Now? Jamie Tarses met her demise at the age of 56. As president for entertainment, Tarses must oversee the development of 40-odd pilots, prime-time shows that she hopes will plug ABC's ratings holes. Letterman soon broke off contact with ABC and Ovitz and eventually fired Morton, telling friends that Morton, who had long wanted to head Letterman's production company, was not supporting Letterman's interests but his own. Within a few hours of meeting her, I felt like Id known her for years, said longtime friend and collaborator Gabrielle Allan-Greenberg, in the family's statement. Tarses walked into a mess at ABC. ''It's a job where you get to say yes or no a lot,'' says Ted Harbert, whom Tarses replaced as president for entertainment at ABC. Jamie Tarses Death. It's just business with them. He has the confidence of a man who is accustomed to good fortune. '', The ABC announcement is held at Radio City Music Hall and begins with several staged tableaux -- two kids watching ''Home Improvement,'' some guys in a bar staring at ''Monday Night Football,'' a young couple enjoying ''The Drew Carey Show'' and an executive in a high-backed leather chair watching ''N.Y.P.D. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, How NBCs Must See TV risk takers of the 90s are still launching groundbreaking TV. ''I was a little sad when Ted left,'' Tarses said in May. As Warren Littlefield, her boss there, put it, ''She completely understood the process.''. A scene is played; Tarses studies one of the monitors and then sends Bukinik with her desired changes to the director. Even so, Ms. Tarses faced extreme challenges. Iger was hearing ever more complaints, and he was growing tired of having to defend her. Eager to talk about Laybourne and Newsweek, Tarses dials Morton's cell-phone number. All network heads make promises they can't keep, but they deal with it. When they have, the cliche holds: they have to be better than their male equivalents to end up equal. For some in the community, Tarses' oversleeping confirmed rumors about her after-hours behavior -- her being out on the town with Morton or friends, staying out until all hours of the night. He has been married to Rachel Newdell since June 9, 1963. She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself, said Karey Burke, a friend and former colleague who now heads 20th Television. Her hair, a mass of curls that falls past her shoulders, is piled up on her head like a corona. Then she failed to show up at a breakfast meeting with him in Beverly Hills -- an 8 A.M. breakfast, which was already late for Iger, who is such an early riser that back in New York he is at the Reebok Sports Club when it opens at 5 A.M. Tarses, it turns out, had overslept. That automatically created jealousy and resentment., Yes, she made mistakes. One of Tarses' first executive decisions at ABC was to push for Morton to have a production deal at the network. Laybourne's seeming unwillingness to publicly deny her interest in Tarses' job is suspicious, and Eisner, despite all the turmoil at the network, has never issued a statement of support for Tarses. Upstart broadcast competitors the scrappy Fox, UPN, the WB were siphoning young adult viewers away from the Big Three networks. '', At the party after the announcement, in the American Festival Cafe in Rockefeller Center, Tarses is beaming. David Lynch teases 'announcement' but not about 'Twin Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, Buster Murdaugh got 'very drunk' with dad 2 months after mom, brother murdered: source, I'm a professional cleaner ditch these 4 household products immediately, Shoeless Ariana Madix awkwardly tries to avoid cheating Tom Sandoval, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Prince Harry says psychedelics are fundamental part of his life, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss planned to tell Ariana Madix about affair. ''This means that everything is in flux much sooner than it has to be. Let's try and embrace as many families viewing as we can, but let's embrace quality.'' She was highly creative herself and, of course, came from a family of writers. (Her father, Jay Tarses, wrote for The Carol Burnett Show and created The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, an acclaimed comedic drama, from 1987 to 91. Credit:Getty. Tarses and her team huddle in a corner, underneath two large TV monitors. The industry. To ABC, Tarses represented youth and, more important, a key to the secrets of NBC, the No. What she didn't realize was how much she needed him. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. She had the ability to make writers feel safe and to get the most out of them. ''Maybe at some point that part's going to start. Her most recent credits include "The Wilds" (2020) onAmazon and "The Mysterious Benedict Society" (2021) onDisney+. Ms. Tarses had a stroke last fall and had been in a coma for an extended period, according to the New York Times. Bader looks surprised. [15], 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".[13][16][17]. Morton has an easy charm and seems to know everyone in the business on both coasts. That was when, through her boyfriend, Morton, she began talking to Ovitz. ''It's up against the birth of the baby on 'Mad About You' '' -- the NBC hit that helped push ''Roseanne'' off its Tuesday-night perch. I just dont want to play any more, she told The Los Angeles Times when she left ABC. Once someone is typecast in Hollywood, even as an executive, getting people to see that person in a different light can be a never-ending battle. Despite her age and reputation, Tarses did not develop any particularly daring pilots: there were no potentially groundbreaking shows like ''Seinfeld'' or ''The X-Files.'' After quitting ABC in 1999, Ms. Tarses avoided the spotlight and remade herself as a producer. A veteran television executive, Stuart Bloomberg, was installed above Ms. Tarses. But with the network's fortunes in precipitous decline, executives soon found themselves grabbing for what was working elsewhere. ''I'm cautiously optimistic,'' Iger will say. Tarses came from a show-business family. And under whose direction? Michael Ovitz, the polarizing former power agent, had become Disneys president. Weeks later, when the network announces that a 47-year-old ABC executive named Stuart Bloomberg will become chairman of ABC Entertainment -- will be put in charge of Tarses and loom as an invitation for her to leave -- she will seem almost relieved. [25][29], "At Lunch With: Jamie Tarses A Soap Opera Ends: Let the Comedies Begin", "Jamie Tarses, Pioneering Television Executive, Dies at 56", "Faculty and Staff Upper School English", "Tabloids' Obsession With the ABC Exec Rewrites the Script: Tarses Saga Redefines Frenzy", "Strange reign of Jamie Tarses at ABC comes to a sudden end", "The Media Business; Amid Changes, ABC's Top Programmer Quits", "TV Executive: Young, Female and Unemployed (Published 1999)", "Network Drama at ABC: Jamie Tarses' Fall, as Scheduled", "More than meets the eye in Tarses-bashing", "NBC's 'Saturday Night' Fever: How Many Series About a Sketch Show Can It Run? Jay Tarses. (Sweeps are the thrice-yearly, monthlong periods that establish advertising rates for the local stations.) Tarses was the daughter of Jay Tarses, a successful writer and producer known for the innovative 1980s TV series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and Buffalo Bill. A 1997 New York Times profile indicated she likely inherited her independent streak from her father. As Jeff Bader wanders into her office for the scheduling meeting, Tarses looks blank. The feeling at ABC was that their president for entertainment, Ted Harbert, was impressive at the corporate aspects of the job but not as skilled at developing shows, and the ratings were essentially saying the same thing. Ms. Tarses and NBC denied the story, as did Mr. Ovitz, but it continued to hound her, making the young Ms. Tarses appear as someone who would do anything to get ahead, as Ms. Hirschberg wrote. But the same could be said about any guy in Hollywood especially then and none of them had the added pressure of breaking a glass ceiling.. He is on crutches and has a bandaged foot, having slipped on the sidewalk outside Spago last night. A key part of his job would be to guide Tarses. '', But move on to where? Writer: The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. ), After graduating from Williams College, she started her career in 1985 as an assistant at "Saturday Night Live" andmoved to NBC Entertainment two years later, where she helped developiconic TV shows including "Friends" and "Mad About You. He was 57 years. ''Maybe we should get a song,'' she says flirtatiously. '' she couldn't do the suit part of the job. He also fought for ''Twin Peaks'' and ''N.Y.P.D. She seems to trust no one and is tense nearly all the time. 'Grace Under Fire' isn't performing, and to go naked into both Tuesday and Wednesday night next season really scares me,'' Tarses says. People said she was simply setting up her boyfriend, that she wanted him around for reassurance. It is also true that women -- some women -- have succeeded in Hollywood. The Walt Disney Company had purchased ABC shortly before Ms. Tarses arrived, heightening Wall Street scrutiny and intensifying corporate politics. You may change your billing preferences at any time in the Customer Center or call ''I know that people are gunning for Jamie. We will miss her greatly.. ''She did great,'' Iger says, sounding relieved. Brandon Tartikoff, NBCs much-admired entertainment chief, became her mentor. She worries about who's saying what. But they were not pleased. Jamie Tarses attends the Women In Film 2018 Crystal + Lucy Award at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.Credit:Getty, Karey Burke, who ran ABC from 2018 to 2020 and is now president of 20th Television, a leading TV studio, said of Tarses in a statement: She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself.. He was pursuing this plan with Robert Morton, the longtime executive producer of Letterman's show. The constant hum of criticism has clearly got to Tarses. She asked why, and Iger told her, simply, that she needed the help. ''This is a great day,'' she says. The legendary NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff hired her in 1987, and she worked her way up through various creative positions to oversee comedy development. ''And that's her problem. Tarses asks. She thought little of that talk. People now have some confidence that I can do this job.''. Murdoch has survived scandal after scandal. Jamie Tarses' end, many in the business believe, was written in the beginning -- in how she got her job at ABC. They have three children. ''Hiller and Diller'' stars Kevin Nealon (of ''Saturday Night Live'') and Richard Lewis (of baggy black, tennis shoes and stand-up) as a comedy-writing team. We've received your submission. ABC's plan was that Harbert would be placed in a newly created position, chairman of entertainment, and Tarses would report to him. Jamie Tarses, the first-ever woman to oversee programming at a major broadcast network, died on Monday, the New York Times reports. When she can't reach him she stares into the middle distance, looking worried. She does not want to talk about the problems with Iger, or the problems Iger believes she was having inside the office and out. She spots Dean Valentine, the president of Walt Disney Television and Disney Television Animation. . LOS ANGELES A young, female executive arrives in the mens locker room that was broadcast television in the 1990s and snaps a few towels of her own, working with writers to shape juggernaut comedies like Mad About You and Friends. She is so good at spotting hits that she becomes, at 32, the president of entertainment at ABC, the first woman ever to serve as a networks top programmer. The work is a blast. Iger, she believes, is her protector, and she knows (or thinks she does) how to keep up the flirt. Jamie Tarses died in Los Angeles on February 1, 2021, at age 56, according to Tarses' family. They have to deal with the affiliates, which own and run local stations. But if we fail, I'm sure Iger will not get the blame.''. The piece portrayed Tarses as a nervous girl who swung erratically between arrogance and insecurity. ''That would make me like everyone else.''). Jamie Tarses, who broke the glass ceiling for female TV executives as the first woman to run a network entertainment division, passed away this morning from complications stemming from a cardiac event she suffered in early fall.She was 56. Tarses died of complications from a previous cardiac event on Monday, according to numerous outlets, who cited a statement from her family. 3. It should be an easy day, a typical pilot-season day like the ones she had, and was fond of, at NBC. Jamie Tarses, one of the most dynamic television executives of her era who helped build NBC's Must-See TV lineup and went on to become the first woman to lead a Big Three network programming division, died Monday following complications from a cardiac event last fall, according to Tarses' family.She was 56. You have the sense that, in the end, Iger usually wins. This isn't what someone with a production deal gets to do; this is what her boyfriend gets to do. ''People thought: Hasn't this girl been through enough? In 1996, about 49 per cent of prime-time viewers watched ABC, CBS or NBC, down from roughly 74 percent a decade earlier, according to Nielsen data. ''Someone said this job was supposed to be fun,'' she adds, smiling grimly. '', It was when Iger ran the entertainment division that ABC was No. ''And how you say it and when you say it determines how successful you'll be at the job. Tarses was a television executive who developed and worked on some of the most significant broadcast programs in the '90s, including Friends, Frasier, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Sports Night. ''Bloomberg was being told by the boyfriend how to do his job.''. She smiles, stands up and makes her way down some rather steep stairs to a podium on the right of the stage. Tarses was a television executive who developed and worked. Her age, with her status as the first woman to have that prestigious job, resulted in an unusual amount of scrutiny, often negative. When she arrived at ABC in the spring of 1996, Ms. Tarses was the second-youngest person ever to be the lead programmer of a network. The work is a blast, she told the Los Angeles Times after her departure from ABC in 1999. Tarses . [21], 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. We will miss her greatly.. '', Tarses tries Morton's number again. She might try magazines. Jamie Tarses, the first woman to head a network entertainment division, has died. From Chris Rock to the SAG Awards. Not long before Harbert left, Ovitz was fired from Disney after only 14 months. ''It was better than we thought it would be,'' says Betsy Frank, an advertising executive and close observer of the television business. ''Oh, look,'' Tarses exclaims to her assistant, Chris von Goetz. I have a job to do, and if I do it well everything should be O.K.'' Jamie Tarses attends the Women In Film 2018 Crystal + Lucy Award at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. "For all her talent and success in entertainment, the thing Jamie was proudest of and most consumed by were her two kids," he said. In the last five years the business has become increasingly competitive, demanding instant results. Her voice trails off. Talking this spring with Iger about Tarses, he seems supportive but vague about her. He has become increasingly preoccupied with the complaints about Tarses. Still, Jamie Tarses is not just any woman, and the criticisms of her are personal and specific: it is this 33-year-old, this woman, with her mix of insecurity and ambition, confidence and self-destructiveness, brilliance and lack of executive skills, who has them wondering. ''How's 'Style and Substance'?'' Iger, who was in Los Angeles for a Disney board meeting, told her himself, in her office. To some, she was the victim of a misogynistic television industry. And he had, in Tarses' case, an explosive means of setting her free: sexual harassment. Disney's original thought had been to give the network a more conspicuously family-oriented identity. 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". During the 1996-97 season only 49 percent of prime-time viewers watched the big three, down from 73.5 percent in 1986. Jamie Tarses threw in the towel at Disney-owned ABC last week, resigning her post as president of ABC Entertainment after some three years on the job. ''I'm just kidding. She accepted, but some of the fizz had gone out of it all. Her brother, the comedy writer Matt Tarses, has credits like Scrubs and The Goldbergs.). In addition to her brother, Matt, Ms. Tarses is survived by her partner, Paddy Aubrey, a chef and restaurateur; their two children, Wyatt and Sloane; her parents; and a sister, Mallory Tarses, a teacher and fiction writer. The rest of the room is spare -- the chairs and tables are light-pine country-cozy, there are two overstuffed couches covered in pink chintz and there's a very big TV. It wasn't a dictatorship. Why Netflix is dabbling in livestreaming, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, Winter storms ease drought conditions in California, report shows, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, How strong is Dominions defamation case against Fox News? The scene is then played again, only slower or faster or with a line punched up or a reading a shade warmer. Iger, the head of ABC, had his doubts, too, but he believed it was too late to turn back and had faith in Tarses' development skills. And, finally, ''Hobbies, schmobbies. Still, he says that he plans to stand by her. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Tom Sizemore puts on brave face in his final red carpet appearance, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dead at 61 after brain aneurysm, Coley Laffoon honors late ex-wife Anne Heche in birthday post to son, Forensic expert doubts homicide claims from Aaron Carters mother. Anyone can read what you share. You think of her as a girl, and it changes how you do business with her. But their job descriptions overlapped, and in January of this year Harbert decided to exercise his six-month option. There is something distinctly feline about her. Her age, along with her status as the first woman to have that prestigious job, resulted in an unusual amount of scrutiny, often negative. But the main action is in establishing a strong network identity that entices these viewers to make a habit of tuning in. Tarses, embarrassed and angered, did not return Iger's calls for a few days. '', ''Oh, good,'' Tarses says. Or silently suffering through another attack. She will be remembered as a mentor and role model for many, including myself, and an inspiration to the entire creative community for generations to come. [2][3] Her younger sister, Mallory Tarses, is a fiction writer and high school English teacher,[4] and a younger brother, Matt Tarses, is a producer and screenwriter (The Goldbergs, Scrubs, Sports Night). '', This was to be the last season of Roseanne's show, but her producers, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, have contacted Tarses about a new version for fall. She unabashedly loved television and was an executive who made writers feel safe and heard. In 1987, she jumped to NBC, where she prospered. 2023 Cable News Network. I want to stand for quality across the board. Sign up to Stock Advisor for $79 for 1 year, Save 15% on orders of $100+ with Kohl's coupon, How Chilis Is Prepping for Tough Times, Starting With the Fries, Electric Vehicles Are Shattering the Barrier to Adoption that Could Matter Most, The Surprising Ways Walking Delivers a High-Intensity Workout, U.S. Her mind worked at an incredible pace and she loved to challenge it. We will miss her greatly. ''Style and Substance,'' shooting at a sound stage across the lot, is a highly regarded Disney pilot for CBS with a lead character roughly based on Martha Stewart. He was busy defending himself. [8], In September 1987, Tarses was hired by NBC Productions' Brandon Tartikoff as the manager of creative affairs. Harbert was kept in the dark. Last year, Eisner, who is very hard to please, beat Harbert up about his chosen shows. She knew how to pull the best out of you without trying to change your writing or make it into something different.. You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Ms. Tarses in 2018. [2], 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. Vicious infighting ensued in what The Wall Street Journal later deemed a case study in dysfunctional corporate relationships.. Bader tries to convince Tarses that they can promote this last ''Roseanne'' episode, turn it into an event, but Tarses is not buying his pitch. But I put her in that job because I believe she has taste that's consistent with what this company would expect and stand for. First the sexual harassment charges; now this. ''Jamie thinks I'm her boyfriend,'' Iger later told a friend. Tarses' day began with a pile of scripts, breakfast at 8 with an agent at the Peninsula Hotel (''He was 15 minutes late,'' she keeps mentioning) and some talk concerning casting for a pilot about a genie. ''That means there will be a portion of the audience who doesn't hate her yet.''. Before she blasted through glass ceilings for female executives in the TV industry, Tarses played a major role in the development of modern TV. Years ago they competed only with one another. The industry trailblazers family confirmed her passing, Deadline reported. It was the professional thing to do. Sitting at the dinner table in Woodland Hills, a San Fernando Valley suburb of Los Angeles, Jamie would dissect her father's scripts and critique his jokes. Bader, who is rather earnest, isn't certain if Tarses is fooling around or not and says nothing. Hollywood executive was brought down by unvarnished sexism. She is annoyed about something that happened at ABC this morning -- a small dust-up among her executives -- and she is late for a taping, and she hates to be late. Please try again later. She suffered a stroke late last year and had spent a long period in a coma. Jamie Tarses, who helped bring Friends to NBC and broke the glass ceiling in network TV when she became the top entertainment executive at ABC, died Monday after suffering complications from a cardiac event last fall. She was among the young program development executives at NBC who helped create signature comedies such as Friends and Frasier that appealed to young, urban upscale viewers, which led the network to ratings dominance in the 1990s. After graduating from Williams College, she became an assistant casting executive on Saturday Night Live before joining Lorimar Television. The Walt Disney Company had purchased ABC, unfettered access for an 8,000-word cover story. 2. Jamie Tarses Dies: Trailblazing TV Executive & Producer Was 56 https://t.co . Bader asks. ''Do you want me to use euphemisms?'' Tarses was involved in various charitable organizations, including Young Storytellers, which reaches out to youths by promoting the power of storytelling. She can't reach him and checks the time. ''This is the first time since I've taken this job that people, on the whole, were impressed. She ultimately resigned in 1999. [12][13][14] She resigned in August 1999 with two years remaining on her contract. Such was the show business life of Jamie Tarses, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at 56. A Disney+ series, The Mysterious Benedict Society, which Tarses worked on as an executive producer is expected to premiere later this year. Customer Service. '', A Day at the Office, Toying With 'Roseanne' and Others. She was . It's another afternoon in May, and Tarses is trying to deal with the usual array of job-threatening problems. '', This is in March. You think of her as a girl, and it changes how you do business with her.. [22] In 2010, she produced several television series, including Mr. Sunshine, Happy Endings, and Franklin & Bash. This comes after an intensive week of pilot screenings in Los Angeles attended by, among others, Bloomberg, Iger and Eisner. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. That automatically created jealousy and resentment., He continued: Yes, she made mistakes. ''It's emasculating,'' she says at one point, choosing a strange word. They are harder on her than they have ever been on me. Jamie Tarses, who in 1996 became the first woman to serve as entertainment president of a broadcast network, died on Monday. I had anticipated that he was going to come in and wipe the board off and say goodbye. He is a writer and producer, known for The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1987), Teen Wolf (1985) and Open All Night (1981). she asks, regaining her equilibrium. She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself. He was co-creator and co-writer (with . In later roles, she helped grow hit NBC comedies like Friends and Frasier. Harbert could leave after six months if he so desired. Tarses looks relieved, and she and Bader begin discussing the May sweeps. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/13/magazine/jamie-tarses-fall-as-scheduled.html. She broke barriers as a woman in the TV industry and turned out hit after hit, only to see it all fizzle under a very public spotlight. A kind of last straw may have come when Tarses gave the go-ahead to a fall pilot -- which Eisner and Iger had turned down for the schedule -- as a midseason replacement show; furious, Iger ordered her to cancel the show. Tarses looks up from the paper and tugs at her hair. Once someone is typecast in Hollywood, even as an executive, getting people to see that person in a different light can be a never-ending battle. She might move to London. Michael Ovitz, the polarising former power agent, had become Disneys president. When Tarses took the ABC job, she hated the network's old branding approach and solicited bids from new agencies, eventually choosing TBWA Chiat/Day. He has been married to Rachel Newdell since 9 June 1963. ''Sometimes I wish they would just fire me,'' she says later.