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". She was 56. Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, referred to her as Minnie Mouse in one article and scarily ruthless in another. The work is a blast. Tarses and NBC denied the story, as did Ovitz, but it continued to hound her, making the young Tarses appear as someone who would do anything to get ahead, as Ms Hirschberg wrote. ''. But if we fail, I'm sure Iger will not get the blame.''. [1] She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. People now have some confidence that I can do this job.''. They have three children. Jamie Tarses, the pioneering former ABC Entertainment president, died at 56 after suffering complications from a cardiac event last fall, according to her family. '' Bloomberg was angered by Morton's nerve. You will be charged Watch TV.''. When Eisner would finally agree to put something on the air, he would harangue Harbert about the price for the number of episodes ordered. She was . Be resilient. Such was the show business life of Jamie Tarses, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at 56. There is a vase of beautiful cabbage roses on the desk and a bottle of Crystal Light. Jamie Tarses died on February 1, 2020. 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. It sounds too ethnic, too Jewish. They have three children. This story has been shared 137,985 times. Such was the show business life of Jamie Tarses, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at 56. He was busy defending himself. Tarses and her staff arrive on May 10 for a series of crucial meetings. Tarses was the wunderkind who was behind much of NBC's "Must See TV" success, including "Friends" and "Frasier" and she came from TV royalty, as her father Jay Tarses is a well-known TV. Jamie Tarses, the first female president of a broadcast network, died Monday following complications from a cardiac event last fall, her family confirmed in a statement provided by Sony. But their job descriptions overlapped, and in January of this year Harbert decided to exercise his six-month option. Her age, with her status as the first woman to have that prestigious job, resulted in an unusual amount of scrutiny, often negative. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Blue'' and ''Murder One.'' '', A Day at the Office, Toying With 'Roseanne' and Others. ''It won't take them to the top of the ratings, but they helped themselves with this schedule. [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. And sometimes she hates my advice, but it's her division to run. ''This is the first time since I've taken this job that people, on the whole, were impressed. ABC decided to pass on the new version of ''Roseanne'' (and so, eventually, did every other network), and there are very few anchor shows left for the fall schedule. Michael Ovitz, the polarising former power agent, had become Disneys president. ''Oh, look,'' Tarses exclaims to her assistant, Chris von Goetz. But she fizzles in epic fashion, brought down by corporate dysfunction, unvarnished sexism, self-sabotage, weaponized industry gossip and scalding news media scrutiny. Tarsess departure from NBC was ugly. He has heard the talk -- that Tarses is not up to the challenge. he says later. She was the president of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, the firs. Michael Ovitz, the polarizing former power agent, had become Disneys president. He is a writer and producer, known for The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1987), Teen Wolf (1985) and Open All Night (1981). He has been known to seem completely uninterested in management discussions. It was that accusation again: girl. To some, she was the victim of a misogynistic television industry. The rest of this nonsense I dont need.. She had shepherded the cuddly Mad About You and the neurotic Frasier to NBCs prime-time lineup. ''In one split second everything changed,'' she says. Years ago they competed only with one another. ''It was: 'We're not messing around here. The rumor mill starts very early on. Her death was confirmed by a family spokeswoman, who said the cause was "complications from a cardiac. 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. Jamie Tarses, the first-ever woman to oversee programming at a major broadcast network, died on Monday, the New York Times reports. Her bosses, including Robert A. Iger, then chairman of the ABC Group, had been applying patches to the situation. The family moved to suburban Los Angeles, where her father became a successful sitcom writer (first on The Bob Newhart Show). Jamie Tarses, who became the first woman to head a major network entertainment division during a tumultuous run in the 1990s at ABC, died Monday of complications from a cardiac event last fall, her family confirmed. [2], 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". She was 56. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Even so, Tarses was criticised at times as showing poor judgment. 'Hiller and Diller.' He also fought for ''Twin Peaks'' and ''N.Y.P.D. He had his own problems, receiving sometimes 10, 12 calls a day from Eisner asking about this show or that cost. The article, which pointedly discussed Ms. Tarsess hairstyle and feminine way of sitting, helped color the rest of Ms. Tarsess career. ''We break Roseanne and Dan up, we get them together -- nobody cares.''. Bader, who is rather earnest, isn't certain if Tarses is fooling around or not and says nothing. 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. Morton has an easy charm and seems to know everyone in the business on both coasts. In the last couple months, it has become clear that while Iger is on her side, he is also in New York and is not particularly interested in her pilot whirl. Tarses says the play is not autobiographical--he has been married for 30 years and has three grown children--but that he had wanted to write for some time about marriage and mortality. Jamie Tarses, the producer and groundbreaking TV executive who as president of ABC Entertainment from 1996-99 became the first woman to serve as head a network entertainment division, died. Ms. Tarsess departure from NBC was ugly. Jamie had a stroke during the fall of 2020 and died in Los Angeles. Just two weeks before, the rumor was that Stuart Bloomberg was being brought from New York to supervise Tarses. Iger was hearing ever more complaints, and he was growing tired of having to defend her. Jay Tarses. She had shepherded the cuddly Mad About You and the neurotic Frasier to NBCs prime-time lineup. Jamie Tarses Death. Ms. Tarses resigned last week as president of ABC Entertainment, ending her, sparking a nasty internal political battle that she lost. ''We should do something to start building up to the last 'Roseanne,' '' Bader says. In a statement, 20th Television president Karey Burke said, Jamie was a trailblazer in the truest sense of the word. But she was under contract at NBC. She will allow herself to smoke only in the shelter of her car. Tarses was known as a talented developer of comedies at NBC, and ABC's comedies were either dead or dying and the network desperately needed fresh blood. Under the terms of her release from NBC, Tarses, who left in the middle of development season, could not begin at ABC for four months. "Women are emotional,. '', At the party after the announcement, in the American Festival Cafe in Rockefeller Center, Tarses is beaming. Nealon is a responsible dad, with a loving blond wife and three precocious children, one, age 10 or so, reminiscent of Jamie (a brainy kid who tells her dad how to structure his jokes). '', Distrust, or What She Learned From Dad And Dean Valentine. 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., Jamie Tarses, Executive in a Hollywood Rise-and-Fall Story, Dies at 56, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/business/media/jamie-tarses-dead.html. Every year, for two weeks in mid-May, the entire Los Angeles television community -- agents, studio heads, producers, network executives, writers, actors, assorted entourages -- fly to New York for the unveiling of the fall schedules. Talking this spring with Iger about Tarses, he seems supportive but vague about her. She makes the promise and then she has Iger make the phone call. "Jamie was a pioneer in every sense, breaking the glass ceiling of the television industry, and embodying the passion and tenacity that made her someone who was always ahead of her time. Gossip swirled in Hollywood that she solved the problem by claiming that she had been sexually harassed by Don Ohlmeyer, a senior NBC executive. As for the cause of her death, Jamie Tarses died of cardiac arrest. She then worked as a casting director for Lorimar Productions, filling roles for mid-run Perfect Strangers. ''I'm cautiously optimistic,'' Iger will say. HBO was moving into original programming with shows such as Sex and the City, further diluting the talent pool. If it doesn't, he'll have his reasons why. Tarses, Morton, her parents -- they ate together in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 22, and they thought the talk about Stuart Bloomberg's being named chairman of ABC was just a recycling of an old rumor. Life is short. [22] In 2010, she produced several television series, including Mr. Sunshine, Happy Endings, and Franklin & Bash. ''It's emasculating,'' she says at one point, choosing a strange word. Tarses' brother, Matt Tarses, reflected on his sister's life in a statement released on Monday to The Wrap. The Prime Video surprise hit was the last show Tarses launched before she had a stroke in the fall of 2020, just a . But she fizzles in epic fashion, brought down by corporate dysfunction, unvarnished sexism, self-sabotage, weaponised industry gossip and scalding news media scrutiny. First the sexual harassment charges; now this. 2 in the entertainment division, she was responsible for urban-hip hits like ''Caroline in the City,'' ''Mad About You'' and most of all ''Friends'' -- are saying she is not up to being a president. (Neither Ohlmeyer nor Tarses will discuss the allegations for the record.) press tour in 1997. They are harder on her than they have ever been on me. 'The Last Don.' Jamie nods, clearly annoyed. That's O.K.''. ''It's fine to have the desire to be head of a network,'' Harbert says, ''but when it comes to Jamie, it's hard to know exactly what happened. It's just business with them. While still hugely profitable, the big three networks can no longer be complacent and are scrambling for solutions. When she left NBC we knew she would be missed but opportunity knocked at ABC, Littlefield said. ''I know that people are gunning for Jamie. She was a mentor and friend, and many of us owe so much to her. Amanda Peets portrayal of the character of Jordan McDeere, president of the fictional network where the show airs, was shaped by Tarses and her own experiences as a female executive in a male-dominated business. he asks. ''He was fun to play with. There are shows that copy the success of other shows (last year, CBS succeeded with spiritual dramas, so ABC ordered ''Nothing Sacred,'' a pilot about an irreverent priest) and those that are TV versions of feature films -- among ABC's pilots are ''The Player,'' and ''Genie,'' seemingly inspired by the Robin Williams character in ''Aladdin.'' You have to be so clear on what that network sensibility is that if you wake up your most junior employee at 2 A.M. and say, 'What is this network about?' ABC was a snake pit in those days, said Jon Mandel, who ran MediaCom, a television ad-buying agency. CNNs Sandra Gonzalez contributed to this report. Jamie Tarses in 1996. '', At Williams College, Tarses majored in theater and studied play structure. His coverage of the television industry has appeared in TV Guide, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Fortune, the Hollywood Reporter, Inside.com and Adweek. Iger tells Tarses to make a low offer and if Carsey and Werner don't accept it, then pass. This comes after an intensive week of pilot screenings in Los Angeles attended by, among others, Bloomberg, Iger and Eisner. First, there is Steven Bochco, the creator and executive producer of ''N.Y.P.D. She's afraid that if she turns ''Roseanne'' down, Leslie Moonves at CBS will pick up the show. did jamie mcmurray have a stroke. Tarses was involved in various charitable organizations, including Young Storytellers, which reaches out to youths by promoting the power of storytelling. ''Bob'' is Robert A. Iger, the president of ABC Inc. and Tarses' boss, and he has faxed her about a man who swallowed a fish and died -- wouldn't this make a great premise for a mini-series? 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. ''It's good,'' Valentine says, with little conviction. Tarses, embarrassed and angered, did not return Iger's calls for a few days. In the weeks that follow she will decide to stay at her job at least for a while, and ABC will issue statements maintaining that the new, arrangement is going to work just fine. It doesn't matter. Murdoch has survived scandal after scandal. "The allotment was to work on one room," Shamshiri notes. She had smarts, drive, family connections, money, the mentor everyone wished they had, very good looks, absolutely everything going for her, Mr. Mandel said. He began talking to Ms. Tarses about taking over ABC. The rest of this nonsense I dont need.. Tarses is lukewarm about the prospect. Her death was confirmed by a family spokeswoman, who said the cause was complications from a cardiac event. Already a member? ''Sometimes I wish they would just fire me,'' she says later. She was a hands-on, deeply involved producer who just so totally got my voice and my sense of humor, Ms. Thomas said. When Michael Ovitz became president of the Walt Disney Company in August '95, he saw hiring a new programming chief as one of his first tasks. ''Take our picture,'' she shrieks. As an executive and producer, she was a champion for storytellers, having been raised by one of the all-timegreats, Burke said. Her lawyers are talking to ABC's lawyers, and if a deal can be reached she will be gone. ''Jamie did not want to call and tell Kelley the bad news herself,'' says an agent close to the negotiations. Her talent and contribution to our community will be sorely missed.. ''She forgets that I'm her boss.''. She was highly creative herself and, of course, came from a family of writers.. Ms. Tarses in 1997 as president of ABC Entertainment. Customer Service. On the surface, her She was 56. Jamie Tarses Remembered by Industry Leaders as 'Truly Gifted' With Passion for TV. He doesn't like the Hollywood angle (no TV show about TV writers has succeeded since ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' in the 60's), and he finds Richard Lewis's character unlikable. [5], Tarses graduated from Williams College in 1985[6] with a degree in theater. ''I'm just kidding. Her mind worked at an incredible pace and she loved to challenge it. He has the confidence of a man who is accustomed to good fortune. It is not a surprise that the producer has accumulated a net worth of multi-million dollars. The cause of death was heart complications from a. As Warren Littlefield, her boss there, put it, ''She completely understood the process.''. Tarses asks. The constant hum of criticism has clearly got to Tarses. Brandon Tartikoff, NBCs much-admired entertainment chief, became her mentor. '', 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. '', ''Oh, good,'' Tarses says. ''And I counseled Jamie, never be arrogant. . It is an afternoon in early may, near the end of pilot season, the frantic time when TV executives decide on their schedules of shows for the fall, and Jamie Tarses, the 33-year-old president of ABC Entertainment, is driving her Range Rover from her office in Century City to a meeting across town. 1, where it had been only four years before. [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]. "For all her talent and success in entertainment, the thing Jamie was proudest of and most consumed by were her two kids," he said. ''What do you think, Dean?'' Iger now had to convince her to accept essentially the same job she had had at NBC -- No. Jamie Tarses, the first female president of a broadcast network, died Monday following complications from a cardiac event last fall, her family confirmed in a statement provided by Sony. (Ohlmeyer blamed Ovitz for the rumour and publicly called him the Antichrist, leading to a media frenzy.) ''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. 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. This isn't what someone with a production deal gets to do; this is what her boyfriend gets to do. 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. ''Roseanne is the lowest-rated show of the time period with blacks. With Harbert gone, Tarses was now clearly in charge of the entertainment division -- but she was also, for the first time, without protection nearby. 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. But she was under contract at NBC. Tarses came from a show-business family. She seems surprisingly calm discussing this a few days later over dinner at Gabriel's, not far from ABC's offices in New York. Upstart broadcast competitors the scrappy Fox, UPN, the WB were siphoning young adult viewers away from the US Big Three networks. [7], After graduating from college, Tarses became an assistant to the talent executive on the 19851986 season of Saturday Night Live. He was co-creator and co-writer (with . More from Variety. During her time with ABC, Tarses saw success with projects including Dharma & Greg, Sports Night and The Practice. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? She perfected that understanding as she became a development exec.. Unlike Harbert, Tarses lacked management skills. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. relationships? ", Betsy Thomas, a friend and collaborator, also shared a statement, noting, "Jamie had such a true love for movies, television, theater, books and ideas that both transcended her work and absolutely inspired it. The rest of this nonsense I dont need., Since then, Tarses had been active as a producer, serving as an executive producer on the series Primeval, My Boys and Happy Endings.. Blue.'' 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. ''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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, How NBCs Must See TV risk takers of the 90s are still launching groundbreaking TV. He talks, but she doesn't seem to hear. I've got a billion brain cells. We will miss her greatly.. [10][11] From 1996 to 1999, she was president of ABC Entertainment. 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. (Photo by Greg Doherty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images). 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. Her hair, a mass of curls that falls past her shoulders, is piled up on her head like a corona. Tarses stares off for a moment, lightly drumming the side of her chair. And I don't know if I'll get the credit if we succeed. Jamie Tarses Dies at 56: Cause of Death. The family moved to suburban Los Angeles, where her father became a successful sitcom writer (first on The Bob Newhart Show). Iger knows that turning ABC around will be difficult. Not long before Harbert left, Ovitz was fired from Disney after only 14 months. ''Maybe at some point that part's going to start. ''I would have understood it if they did this in October, if my schedule failed, but. '', The Men in Tarses' Life: Ovitz, Morton and Harbert. Tarses became president of ABC Entertainment in 1996, following a successful run as a comedy development executive at NBC, where she participated in the launch of Friends, Frasier and other popular sitcoms during the networks Must-See TV heyday. 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. Gossip swirled in Hollywood that she solved the problem by claiming that she had been sexually harassed by Don Ohlmeyer, a senior NBC executive. Such was the show business life of Jamie Tarses, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at 56. Harbert was kept in the dark. She is particularly keen on developing some good comedies -- a hit like ''Seinfeld'' might help revitalize an entire schedule. Then Tarses adds, backtracking a little, ''We are trying to move into the future, and this is not indicative of the future.''. He doesn't look left or right and he rarely gestures. '', See the article in its original context from. 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. He had been influential in getting her the job, and now he was gone. Vicious infighting ensued, what The Wall Street Journal later deemed a case study in dysfunctional corporate relationships.. ''Simply Mahvelous?'' She was the ultimate fan. It's no wonder I feel a little paranoid and beat up.''. Iger simply didn't have the time to coddle or protect Tarses. Bader asks. Jamie was 56 years old at the time of her death. The ads seem to discourage viewing; they seem to emphasize why TV is, in fact, bad, and they don't successfully replace ABC's old-fashioned image with anything concrete. ''Wednesday night at 10 is key,'' Harbert explains. ABC stars were also invited, including a young Ryan Reynolds, then appearing on a sitcom called Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. Discovery Company. Michael Eisner, the head of Disney, needed to be reassured in the wake of the sexual-harassment leak, and is said to have never been fully convinced that Tarses belonged at ABC. Her ascension to said power was uncommonly fast. 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. they can tell you in their sleep.''. ''How are you? That doesn't happen with Les Moonves at CBS'' -- that network's entertainment chief -- ''or Warren Littlefield at NBC. Before she blasted through glass ceilings for female executives in the TV industry, Tarses played a major role in the development of modern TV classics, including two tentpole entries in NBCs iconic Thursday night must-see TV lineup: Friends and Frasier., Despite being a mega power player, Tarses once humbly said, [Im] a genuine fan of the medium. Women are emotional, and Jamie is particularly emotional, one male agent, speaking anonymously, was quoted as saying. She needs a protector, and without Harbert or Ovitz, she was left with Iger, who was 3,000 miles away in New York and not interested in watching out for her on a daily basis. Tarseswho spent nearly a decade as an executive at NBC and has produced such series as Happy Endings, Franklin & Bash, and the upcoming TBS comedy Your Family or Mine was the lucky bidder. Refresh for updates Pioneering TV executive Jamie Tarses is being remembered in Hollywood today as a "fun, funny, brutally honest" and a "driving force" in some of the most beloved television series of a generation. It is also true that women -- some women -- have succeeded in Hollywood. 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 . Tarses was a consultant on another Sorkin show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a 2006 NBC drama set inside a Saturday Night Live-type sketch comedy show. All network heads make promises they can't keep, but they deal with it. And, finally, ''Hobbies, schmobbies. She had two children, Wyatt and Sloane, with her partner Paddy Aubrey, an executive chef and restaurant owner. (''What am I going to do, lie?'' She seems to trust no one and is tense nearly all the time. ''It was better than we thought it would be,'' says Betsy Frank, an advertising executive and close observer of the television business. When they have, the cliche holds: they have to be better than their male equivalents to end up equal. TERI HATCHER WAS ALMOST JAMIE. William Morris Endeavor, the agency that represented Tarses, paid tribute toher in a statement to USA TODAY. She runs paranoid scenarios through her mind, over and over. I think. He has left her on her own, which is what he did with Harbert. ''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. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. William Morris Endeavor, which represented Tarses, called her a pioneer in every sense who always fought for strong creative work. During the 1996-97 season only 49 percent of prime-time viewers watched the big three, down from 73.5 percent in 1986. In 1987, she jumped to NBC, where she prospered. ''This means that everything is in flux much sooner than it has to be. My father hated executives, Tarses said. Jamie Tarses, Executive in a Hollywood Rise-and-Fall Story, Dies at 56She broke barriers as a woman in the TV industry and turned out hit after hit, only to . What's wrong? Writer: The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Tarses was the President of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999. ''I'm kidding, Jeff,'' Tarses says. Jamie Tarses, a veteran of NBC's Must See TV era who went on to lead ABC Entertainment, died Monday following complications from a cardiac event last fall, according to Tarses' family. Blue''). Understanding writers wants and needs probably began by growing up in a household with her dad who wrote and produced comedies. At NBC, Tarses had forged close relationships with writers and producers and was thought to be brilliant at fixing and polishing a script. Network entertainment presidents are in charge of promos, which advertise the network and its shows. After helping launch hits such as Dharma & Greg, Spin City, Sports Night and The Practice, Tarses resigned in 1999 amid high-profile power struggles and corporate restructuring by ABCs parent company, Disney. Networks, especially third-place networks, are impatient. Tarses was restless, anxious to do the job she had been promised, but she genuinely liked Harbert. 'My Way.' It is true that Hollywood can be sexist, and it is difficult to be the first woman anything, and turning around ABC would be a tough job for anybody.