Garth Ancier
About
Biography
Filmography
Biography
This former programming wunderkind took some licks as the Fox network's first programming head, then bounced back as executive producer of "Ricki Lake", the syndicated talk show that was second to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in the daytime derby for three years. Garth Ancier has seemed singularly focused and devoted to television, while earning the potential epitaph: "He built networks."
Raised in Princeton, NJ (where he also attended college), Ancier was a teenager when he began working as a radio reporter for WBUD-AM and WBJH-FM in nearby Trenton, NJ. Both were NBC affiliates and the teen-oriented actuality show Ancier created, "American Focus", eventually ran on NBC Radio for 17 years. After college, Ancier joined NBC in New York in 1979 as manager of east coast development and assistant to Brandon Tartikoff, then the number two programmer at the network. When Tartikoff was named president, NBC Entertainment, Ancier moved to the Burbank offices and fulfilled several jobs in current programming before being named vice president of current comedy in 1983. He went on to supervise such hits as "The Cosby Show" and "The Golden Girls". In 1986, Ancier was lured to Fox to become senior vice president of the network Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller were launching, quickly moving up to ladder to president of the network the following year and president of Fox Entertainment in 1988. But, like Tartikoff at NBC, Ancier seemed to want a national prominence, to be a household word. This backfired when Fox had growing pains in its early days, offering more flops than hits. Numerous magazine articles derided Ancier, including one which claimed he barricaded himself in the men's room at a restaurant after a heated exchange with Barry Diller.
Eschewing the limelight, Ancier left Fox in 1989 and became head of Disney's TV network programming division. His tenure there was less than stellar, although the future hit "Home Improvement" was developed under his eye. Licking his wounds, Ancier then left Disney and formed a business arrangement with Fox, going into independent production. The first two efforts from Ancier, "Sunday Best" (1991), and "Jane" (1992), both talk shows, did not succeed, but the third, a talk show hosted by Ricki Lake, the big screen star of "Hairspray", was a smash. Launched in 1993, it caught the hearts of a more younger demographic than many other shows in the crowded afternoon talk show market and often had titillating subject matter such as "My friends don't know I'm a man." "Ricki Lake" never reached the ratings success of "The Oprah Winfrey Show", but for three years it was the second-highest talk show in syndication. Ancier owned 25 percent of the show and served as executive producer.
Beginning in 1994, he was lured back to the executive game by his former Fox boss Jamie Kellner to be head of programming for the start-up network, The WB. Ancier did double duty with his "Ricki Lake" production, and helped develop The WB into a viable contender. Ancier also served as consultant to the Democratic National Committee from 1991 to 1992 and is credited with creating the 56-screen "videowall" which stood behind the podium at the party's 1992 national convention.
Life Events
