Marcy Carsey

The female half of the TV wonder-sitcom-producing company, Carsey-Werner, Marcy Carsey began in story editing and eventually made it to the senior executive level at ABC before teaming up with Tom Werner in the early 1980s. Although most of the duo's series have relied on solid, established comedy talents including Bill Cosby, Madeline Kahn, Jonathan Winters, Michael McKean, Jackie Mason and Roseanne, Carsey and Werner have shown a flair for sympathetic, creative showcasing and workable formats featuring enjoyable variations on genre conventions. Although Roseanne had a healthy following and a set comic persona before the advent of her ABC sitcom "Roseanne," the series might not have succeeded as well as it did without the support system built around the show's star; to a lesser degree the same might have applied to the African-American revamp of "Father Knows Best" for the 80s, "The Cosby Show" (NBC). "A Different World" (NBC), meanwhile, enjoyed considerable popularity and a lengthy run by virtue of the largely untested talent which gave it energy. Even Carsey-Werner's less successful shows ("Oh Madeline," "Davis Rules"), outright misfires ("Chicken Soup"), and occasionally bland derivatives ("You Bet Your Life") had qualities to recommend them, with the result that the Carsey-Werner company has achieved considerable pull and a lively production slate filling obligations for all three major networks.