Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Jim McKairnes is 23-year veteran of the TV industry, 15 at CBS is currently, a producer and television consultant, and an adjunct college-instructor/guest-lecturer and author. He moved to  L.A. in 1989 to work in the TV-business as a programmer. There, Norman Lear led Jim to CBS President Jeff Sagansky who hired for the Scheduling department. McKairnes was part of the team that took the network from worst in the 90s to first in the 2000s under CBS President Leslie Moonves. He created and produced the prime-time series “CBS Moments,” he was instrumental in the development of several made-for-TV movies and network specials; and contributed to various promotional campaigns each season of his tenure. After 13 years as a Sr Vice-President at CBS, he was recruited by Discovery Communications in 2006 to head up that Maryland-based company’s 11 networks as its Executive VP of Scheduling. Later, he returned in L.A. to return to CBS, to serve as Senior VP in charge of developing new comedies for its cable division from