David Janollari In Negotiations For MTV Job

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve just learned that TV producer David Janollari is negotiating with MTV to become the head of West Coast development. The deal is far from done, and it’s described to me as not the same job held by Brian Graden, who was the overpaid president of entertainment of MTV Networks’ Music and Logo group until last June. But MTV clearly now is looking for an experienced exec — i.e. a grown-up — to straighten out its ratings-challenged entertainment mess. Janollari is a management vet who was The WB’s President of Entertainment and before that head of comedy development under then Warner Bros Television President Les Moonves. And before that, Janollari was the director of comedy development at the Fox Broadcasting Company. He also had great success with the indepependent TV production shingle The Greenblatt Janollari Studio which he co-founded with then producing partner Bob Greenblatt (now President of Entertainment of Showtime Networks). At one point the diversity-specialty duo had 4 primetime series on the air including HBO’s Six Feet Under, Eve and One On One for UPN, and the Latino drama American Family for PBS. Janollari also is credited with having been instrumental in bringing Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane to WBTV as well as helping oversee The Drew Carey Show, Living Single, Suddenly Susan, and The Jamie Foxx Show. All I know is that given the current crap on MTV, Jannollari certainly couldn’t program worse.

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