Fox Broadcast Community, WB Architect Was 77

Jamie Kellner, the charismatic and shrewd executive who expanded the printed TV park with the help of the Fox and WB networks in 1987 and 1995, respectively, has died. He was 77 years old.

Kellner died Friday at his Montecito, Calif., home after a battle with cancer. hollywood reporter Have found out.

After leaving the helm of The WB in March 2001, Kellner was given additional responsibilities overseeing TBS, TNT and CNN as president and CEO of Preseason Warner’s sister company Turner Broadcasting Devices. However, he only stayed there for two years before retiring and returning the remains of his vow to Burbank.

Meanwhile, Kellner was president of station ownership team ACME Communications – later named the company in the Warner Bros. Street Runner cartoon – from its founding in 1997 until its demise in 2016. He was the unusual network TV executive who also had a hand in the station industry; The truth is that ACME’s first nine stations were WB affiliates.

The younger Kellner used to be president of the Orion Leisure Team when he was one of the first nations leased through Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller in February 1986 to create a community at Fox to compete with CBS, NBC and ABC. Was one.

As President and COO of Originals for Fox Broadcasting Company, he is focused on building collaborative communities, working with advertisers and producers to promote programming for Originals family members.

“One of the first tests we apply (with a show) is: Will one of the three networks do it? And often, if the answer is yes, we disqualify them,” Kellner advised. ancient york occasion In March 1987. “There’s no reason for us to exist if we’re going to do what they’ve already done.”

Married…with children Fox primetime’s primary professional evening debut on Sunday, April 5, 1987 simpsons, beverly hills, 90210, Melrose Park And residence in color Will start after. He also led the launch of the Fox Kids community.

Kellner resigned in January 1993 – Diller had taken leave 11 months earlier – and was given a position on the board of directors of Fox Inc. However, after starting a fourth broadcast network, he joined Warner Bros. in November 1993 looking to start a fifth.

Kellner acquired an 11 percent stake in The WB, with Warner Bros. holding 64 percent and Tribune Company holding 25 percent (the network was built around six separate stations owned by Tribune, including WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles.)

After defeating Wood in a fierce battle for allies with opponents of fellow community upstart UPN, Kellner celebrated The WB’s kickoff when wayans brothers Aired on January 11, 1995, 5 days before UPN launched.

family friendly drama seventh heaven It was The WB’s first heavy hit, following on from other such wide-ranging productions. vampire slayer, gilmore ladies, Dawson’s Creek, Ultimate happiness And Charmed,

“He sometimes had an aloof Mr. Spock-like quality,” WB executive Suzanne Daniels once wrote of Kellner in her 2007 patronage. season finaleco-authored with selectionCynthia Littleton. “He was not easily excited, yet he showed such obvious passion and dedication that he inspired a team of young executives, none more so than me.”

One of five children, James Kellner was born in Brooklyn in 1948 and raised in Long Island. His father, also James, was a Wall Boulevard commodities dealer; His mother, Jean, was a volunteer with the North Shore Medical Institution Auxiliary for more than three decades. He used to be an avid sailor who participated in boat races in his youth.

Kellner earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising from The CW Post Campus of Long Island College, then joined the CBS government coaching program in 1969 with the support of his father.

Under the guidance of Hank Gillespie, he got a job in the network’s program sales division and moved with that unit when it was founded as Viacom Enterprises, becoming the first vice president of programming, production and sales.

In 1978, Kellner moved to producer-distributor Filmways, where he came up with the idea of ​​boiling down 90 minutes. saturday night stay Episodes in a 30-minute layout ideally suited for syndication. After Orion Pictures acquired Filmways in 1982, he oversaw programming, house video, pay TV and syndication there and presided over its foundation. cagney and lacey and reboot of Hollywood Square,

At Fox, counterprogramming live episodes was his cutting-edge idea residence in color Rewind the halftime performance of the 1992 Tremendous Bowl, broadcast on CBS. Those halftime presentations became boring, although that would change for a short time: Michael Jackson performed in ’93.

Because disagree. 2 executive at Fox Broadcasting behind Diller, he was given a PC stake within the community. When he left after seven years, he received a payout of $10 million to $15 million, which was “a small fraction of what he expected to make from his involvement with The WB”. season finale,

After his ban, Kellner reunited with Garth Ancier – he had hired him as entertainment president at Fox – and they created an evening program of “urban” sitcoms, which included Vance Brothers, steve harvey display And jamie fox display, Untapped Community would target a more youthful target audience, one that was undesirable for mature Fox.

“Jamie Kellner was the perfect model of a CEO. Always smart, sometimes irritable, always thinking and often smiling, Jamie made the authorities so lucky that they did a lot of work for him. He would end the conversation with, ‘Do we know what we’re doing?’ There was no anger when things didn’t work out as planned (and sometimes they did), just ‘Next time we’ll do it differently,'” John D. Matta, former EVP and head of The WB TV community. The COO, wrote in an observation. “The environment that Jamie Kellner and Garth Ancier created at WB was a once-in-a-career moment that I will always be grateful for.”

Amidst congestion and chronic bidding battles, Kellner gives nod to Twentieth Century Fox TV supernatural drama vampire slayerCreated by Josh Whedon and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, UPN’s run ended in May 2001 after its 5th season (and its WB pledge).

The WB was paying $1 million per episode in licensing fees. UPN paid more than $2.3 million per episode for 44 episodes in the show’s final two seasons.

Kellner owned a 5.3 percent stake in ACME when he founded it with former Fox Broadcasting CFO Tom Allen and station executive Doug Gailey. The company found stations performing poorly in markets such as St. Louis; Salt Puddle Town; Albuquerque; Portland, Oregon; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Dayton, Ohio; and Knoxville, Tennessee. One document characterized the relationship between ACME and WB as “vaguely incestuous.”

ACME had 9 stations when it raised approximately $105 million with an IPO in September 1999. This grew to twelve stations before beginning the process of exiting the business in 2003.

When Kellner canceled Global Championship Wrestling presentations on TBS and TNT, one of his first programming choices at Turner, he found himself unpopular among professional wrestling fans. He also attempted and failed to approach CNN in its battle with the leading Fox Information Channel and push Community to merge with ABC Information.

After being replaced by Phil Kent, Kellner remained with The WB through the end of his tenure in June 2004, when Ancier – who had left The WB for the lead position at NBC before returning – joined Jordan Levin and Z. Patrick took over. This may be a very cumbersome process.

“It seems like just yesterday that the partnership between Warner Bros. and Jamie began, as he and Bruce (Rosenblum) worked with all sizes of aircraft and in all types of weather,” said Barry, Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Leisure. “Toured the country signing affiliates.” The mayor later mentioned. “Jamie and his team have executed that vision beyond the expectations of all the naysayers who loudly declared that there was no room for more than four broadcast networks. Boy, were they wrong.”

Kellner saw The WB disappear in September 2006 when Warner Bros. and CBS Corp. replaced it and UPN with a community, The CW.

Survivors include his second wife, former leisure banker Julie Smith; his daughter, Melissa Kellner Berman, who worked as a production executive with TV producer Greg Berlanti; son Christopher; and siblings Thomas, Ronald and Nancy. His sister Karen died in 2005 at the age of 44.

Berlanti wrote in tribute, “I don’t think there is any other person in the history of TV who can say that he helped start two new major broadcast networks (Fox and The WB).” “Jamie Kellner was a titan and a visionary in our industry and yet those lucky enough to have him working as an executive or a showrunner were a warm, funny, charismatic, creative and compassionate mentor, friend, husband. Will be remembered by the people. Father.”

“He dedicated his life in TV to fostering and nurturing generations of talent both in front of and behind the camera. I know I speak for many others when I say that my life was changed by the Camelot-esque home he built for all of us who worked at The WB. He will be greatly missed.”