Broadcast television would undoubtedly look different if it weren’t for Jamie Kellner, a TV executive who died on Friday, June 21, at age 77 at home in Montecito, California.
Kellner launched both Fox and The WB, becoming the first and only exec to create two broadcast networks, as Variety reports in its obituary. Elsewhere on his résumé, Kellner founded the Acme Communications stations group and succeeded Ted Turner as head of Turner Broadcasting.
An alum of the syndication TV business, Kellner got the call from Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller in 1986 to help launch Fox, and he served as Fox’s first president and CEO, pitching the idea of a fourth broadcast network to independent TV stations around the United States.
After leaving Fox in 1993, Kellner turned his attention to another upstart broadcast TV network, The WB, which launched in 1995 as a joint venture between him, Warner Bros., and Tribune Broadcasting.
Thought his career, Kellner was instrumental in the development of TV shows like The Simpsons, Married… With Children, In Living Color, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, and Felicity, and he supported the careers of TV creators like Greg Berlanti, J.J. Abrams, and Kevin Williamson, plus comedians like Jamie Foxx, Steve Harvey, and the Wayans brothers,Variety reports.
“Jamie Kellner was a titan and a visionary in our industry and yet he will be remembered by anyone lucky enough to work for him as an executive or as a showrunner as a warm, funny, charismatic, creative, and kind mentor, friend, husband, and dad,” Berlanti told Variety. “He dedicated his life in TV to fostering and betting on generations of talent both in front of and behind the camera. I know I speak for so many others when I say my life was changed by the Camelot-esque home he created for all of us who worked at The WB. He will be greatly missed.”
Kellner is survived by Julie, his wife of 38 years, daughter Melissa, son Christopher, and three grandchildren.