(5 of 5)
Tarses scoffs at the rumors that Geraldine Laybourne, the former head of Nickelodeon who runs Disney's cable networks, might take over her job. "Gerry and I spoke on the phone and both commented on the ludicrousness of it," says Tarses. "She has a job that she loves very much and works very hard at. She has no interest in coming over here. No one approached her, and she never approached anyone." Iger also flatly denies that any overtures were made to Laybourne. A more likely scenario, say close ABC watchers, would be for Eisner to persuade Marcy Carsey, the co-founder of Carsey-Werner Productions (Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun), to join the network in a position over Tarses. Eisner, who once worked with Carsey at ABC, had talks with her a year ago, but they have apparently not been renewed.
Meanwhile, Tarses, who divides her time between a house in Pacific Palisades and Morton's rented place in Malibu, was preparing for a weekend off in the Hamptons, before heading back to Los Angeles to set about proving that she's the right person for the toughest programming job in TV. "It's about the shows," she says. "All this other stuff just gets in the way." The question is whether the shows will do their job before all the other stuff will do her in.
--With reporting by Kim Masters/Los Angeles