James A. Bethea Jr. (born January 14, 1965) is an American writer,
producer and occasional performer, primarily in the field of
television. As the former Head of Current Programming for UPN, he is
among a handful of African Americans to head a programming department
at a broadcast network. Series overseen by him at UPN include Star
Trek Voyager, Dilbert, Clueless, and Moesha. As an actor, his work has
included 2008's Iron Man and the 2010 sequel, Iron Man 2.Bethea was
born in New York City's Harlem, the son of Constance, a social worker,
and James Sr., a hospital laboratory technician. Following the Bronx
High School of Science, he attended Hunter College, majoring in Film
and Communications with a minor in Computer Science.Bethea began his
career in 1982 while a Bronx Science student, as a cast member of the
Nickelodeon 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, then back at
Nickelodeon as a Segment Producer for the 3-hour weekly variety show
Nickelodeon's Total Panic. With high school classmate Karim Miteff,
Bethea co-created and produced Nick Arcade, a groundbreaking virtual
reality series whose bluescreen process received an Ultimatte Award
for Technical Achievement from the National Association of
Broadcasters, as well as a Cable Ace nomination. The series format was
licensed and produced worldwide, including as Zona De Juego in Spain
for TVE. Bethea also co-created and produced the original Slime Time
Live, a long-running Nickelodeon daytime franchise that was the
forerunner of sister network MTV's TRL.In 1997, Bethea was hired by
Viacom's UPN 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 D&D Dungeon Master
in high school classmate Jon Favreau'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.
producer and occasional performer, primarily in the field of
television. As the former Head of Current Programming for UPN, he is
among a handful of African Americans to head a programming department
at a broadcast network. Series overseen by him at UPN include Star
Trek Voyager, Dilbert, Clueless, and Moesha. As an actor, his work has
included 2008's Iron Man and the 2010 sequel, Iron Man 2.Bethea was
born in New York City's Harlem, the son of Constance, a social worker,
and James Sr., a hospital laboratory technician. Following the Bronx
High School of Science, he attended Hunter College, majoring in Film
and Communications with a minor in Computer Science.Bethea began his
career in 1982 while a Bronx Science student, as a cast member of the
Nickelodeon 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, then back at
Nickelodeon as a Segment Producer for the 3-hour weekly variety show
Nickelodeon's Total Panic. With high school classmate Karim Miteff,
Bethea co-created and produced Nick Arcade, a groundbreaking virtual
reality series whose bluescreen process received an Ultimatte Award
for Technical Achievement from the National Association of
Broadcasters, as well as a Cable Ace nomination. The series format was
licensed and produced worldwide, including as Zona De Juego in Spain
for TVE. Bethea also co-created and produced the original Slime Time
Live, a long-running Nickelodeon daytime franchise that was the
forerunner of sister network MTV's TRL.In 1997, Bethea was hired by
Viacom's UPN 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 D&D Dungeon Master
in high school classmate Jon Favreau'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.
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