James A. Bethea Jr. (born January 14, 1965) is an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, producer and occasional performer, primarily in the field of

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. As the former Head of Current Programming for

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

, he is among a handful of African Americans to head a programming department at a

broadcast network A terrestrial network (or broadcast network in the United States) is a group of radio stations, television stations, or other electronic media outlets, that form an agreement to air, or broadcast, content from a centralized source. For example, ...

. Series overseen by him at

include '' Star Trek: Voyager'', ''

Dilbert ''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satire, satirical office humor about a White-collar worker, white-collar, micromanagement, micromanaged offic ...

'', ''

Clueless ''Clueless'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling. It stars Alicia Silverstone, and was produced by Scott Rudin and Robert Lawrence. The film is a loose adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 no ...

'', and ''

Moesha ''Moesha'' (, ) is an American television sitcom that aired on UPN from January 23, 1996, to May 14, 2001. The series stars Contemporary R&B, R&B singer Brandy Norwood, Brandy as Moesha Denise Mitchell, an African-American teenager living with ...

''. As an actor, his work has included 2008's ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' and the 2010 sequel, ''

Iron Man 2 ''Iron Man 2'' is a 2010 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the sequel to ''Iron Man'' (2008) and the third film in the Marvel Cinem ...

''.

Early life and education

Bethea was born in New York City's

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, the son of Constance, a social worker, and James Sr., a hospital laboratory technician. Following the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science is a State school, public Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in the Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science ...

, he attended

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

, majoring in Film and Communications with a minor in Computer Science.

Career

Bethea began his career in 1982 while a

Bronx Science The Bronx High School of Science is a public specialized high school in the Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Specialized High Schools Admissions ...

student, as a cast member of the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

series ''Livewire''. Finding the behind-the-camera aspects of television equally appealing, he obtained work as a production assistant, first at the

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—includin ...

, then back at Nickelodeon as a Segment Producer for the 3-hour weekly variety show '' Total Panic''. With high school classmate Karim Miteff, Bethea co-created and produced ''

Nick Arcade ''Nick Arcade'' (also stylized ''Nickelodeon Arcade'') is an American game show, children's game show created by James Bethea and Karim Miteff and hosted by Phil Moore (actor), Phil Moore, with Andrea Lively announcing, that aired on Nickelodeo ...

'', a groundbreaking

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

game show whose bluescreen process received an Ultimatte Award for Technical Achievement from the

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...

, as well as a Cable Ace nomination. The series format was licensed and produced worldwide, including as Zona de Juego in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

for TVE. Bethea also co-created and produced the original ''

Slime Time Live ''Slime Time Live'' is a television show that aired on Nickelodeon from 2000–2004, lasting 8 seasons. During its run it was hosted by Dave Aizer, Jonah Travick, and Jessica Holmes and produced/directed by Jason Harper. It was located outside ...

''. In 1997, Bethea was hired by

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

as Director of Programming and promoted shortly after to Head of Current Programming. In this capacity, he supervised the production of the network's entire primetime slate, including comedy, drama and alternative series. He also appeared as a ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

' '' DM in high school classmate

Jon Favreau Jonathan Kolia Favreau ( ; born October 19, 1966) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as ''Rudy (film), Rudy'' (1993), ''PCU (film), PCU'' (1994), ''Swingers (1996 film), Swingers'' (1996), ''Very ...

's 1999 pilot ''Smog''. Eventually, Bethea sold the network a pilot script of his own, ''The Gibsons'' and in 2000, returned to freelance producing. The script was not ordered to series. Tapped again by Nickelodeon in 2003, Bethea developed and produced the

TEENick TEENick was an American programming block aimed at adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 that aired on the American children's cable network, Nickelodeon. It launched on March 4, 2001, and initially aired on Sunday nights from 6-9 p.m. ET/PT ...

''Spin The Bottle'' franchise, in addition to composing its theme music. In 2005, Bethea began executive producing live television events. They include E!'s '' Live From the Red Carpet'' franchise and the ''

12th Critics' Choice Awards The 12th Critics' Choice Awards were presented on January 14, 2007, honoring the finest achievements of 2006 filmmaking. The event was held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California and broadcast on E!. Top 10 films (in ...

''. He is also the producer of two plays written by actor

Mike O'Malley Michael Edward O'Malley (born October 31, 1966) is an American actor, writer and television producer. Born in Boston and raised in New Hampshire, O'Malley hosted the early 1990s children's game shows '' Get the Picture'' and '' Nickelodeon Guts ...

: ''Three Years From Thirty'' and ''Searching For Certainty''. Bethea donned a military uniform to portray an analyst for

in his 2008 ''Iron Man'' and its sequel, ''

''; a nod to their days in high school as avid comic book fans.

Filmography

Actor

* ''

'' (2008) - CAOC Analyst #4 * ''

'' (2010) - Security Force #1

Executive producer

* '' Live From the Red Carpet: The 2005 Emmy Awards'' (2005) * '' E!'s Live Countdown to the Golden Globes'' (2006) * '' E!'s Live Countdown to the Academy Awards'' (2006) * '' E!'s Live Countdown to the Golden Globes'' (2007) * '' Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Golden Globe Awards'' (2007) * '' Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Screen Actor's Guild Awards'' (2007) * '' E!'s Live Countdown to the SAG Awards'' (2007) * '' Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Grammy Awards'' (2007) * '' E!'s Live Countdown to the Grammys'' (2007) * '' E!'s Live Countdown to the Academy Awards'' (2007) * '' Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Academy Awards'' (2007) * '' 12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards'' (2007)

Executive in charge

* '' Star Trek: Voyager'' (1995) * '' In The House'' (1995) * ''

Malcolm & Eddie ''Malcolm & Eddie'' is an American television sitcom that premiered August 26, 1996, on UPN, and ran for four seasons, airing its final episode on May 22, 2000. This series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin in the lead roles. The ...

'' (1996) * '' The Sentinel'' (1996) * '' Sparks'' (1996) * ''

'' (1996) * ''

Hitz ''Hitz'' is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from August 26 until November 11, 1997. The series follows two record industry executives (Rick Gomez and Claude Brooks) and their boss (Andrew Dice Clay) at Hitower Records in Los Angeles. Cast ...

'' (1997) * '' The Good News'' (1997) * '' Love Boat: The Next Wave'' (1998) * ''

The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer ''The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer'' ( ) is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from October 5 to October 26, 1998. Before it even debuted, the series set off a storm of controversy because of a perceived light-hearted take on the issue o ...

'' (1998) * ''

Legacy Legacy or Legacies may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * " Batman: Legacy", a 1996 Batman storyline * '' DC Universe: Legacies'', a comic book series from DC Comics * ''Legacy'', a 1999 quarterly series from Antarctic Press * ''Legacy ...

'' (1998) * ''

'' (1999)

Creator (developed)

* '' Slimetime Live'' (1992) * ''

'' (1992) * '' TEENick: Spin the Bottle'' (2003)

References

External links

*
Film critics honour The Departed
at BBC News
Martin Scorsese Scores Upset at Critics' Choice Awards Amid Oscar Fever
12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards at Fox News

12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards at E! {{DEFAULTSORT:Bethea, James A. Jr. 1965 births Hunter College alumni Living people The Bronx High School of Science alumni People from Harlem Writers from Manhattan Television producers from New York City 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century African-American male actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors African-American television producers 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American writers UPN television network executives 20th-century American writers African-American male writers