Regency TV closes shop (Jezebel James-related)
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Regency TV closing after ten years
Shingle had hits with 'Malcolm', 'Bernie Mac'
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
Regency TV is closing up shop after a 10-year run.
Decision to shutter the shingle comes a month after Regency TV topper
Robin Schwartz ankled to become president of Oprah Winfrey's new OWN
cabler. Rumblings over the fate of the mini studio -- including talk
over whether it would even continue to exist at all -- had already
started at that point (Daily Variety, June 19).
Staffers, including senior VP Stephanie Levine and VP Andrea Shay,
were informed of the decision on Thursday evening. Regency consisted
of just five employees at this point; details of their departure are
still being worked out.
Regency TV had been jointly operated by Arnon Milchan's Regency
Enterprises and Fox Television Studios, both of which held a 50% stake
in the company. But both partners had reason to move on.
Fox TV Studios continues to develop much original fare under
programming exec David Madden, while FTVS topper Emiliano Calemzuk has
moved its focus more toward the international arena.
Over at Regency, the decision to reassess the company's involvement in
the TV biz comes following changes at the top of New Regency. In May
Hutch Parker joined New Regency as chairman alongside Bob Harper, who
joined the company last year; insiders said the execs closely examined
the business model and decided it no longer made sense to be in the TV
world.
Regency TV launched in 1998 under prexy Gail Berman and quickly hit
the bigtime with hits such as "Malcolm in the Middle."
Peter Aronson took over as prexy in 2000 after Berman left to run Fox
Entertainment, while Schwartz filled Aronson's chair when he departed
to exec produce "The Bernie Mac Show" in 2004.
"Bernie Mac" was another of Regency's hits. But the studio has had a
tougher go of things lately, with its two new series last year, "New
Amsterdam" and "The Return of Jezebel James," failing to catch on with
viewers. ("New Amsterdam" did manage to score an Emmy nomination
Thursday for main title design.)
Regency TV still had a handful of projects in development; the fate of
those projects is still being evaluated.
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