Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Jim McKairnes, producer, is a 23-year veteran of the television industry, 15 at CBS. He is a producer and television consultant, an adjunct college-instructor/guest-lecturer and author. His work as an entertainment-magazine editor and freelance writer out of college took him to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue a dream of working in the TV-executive ranks as a network programmer. He met producer Norman Lear soon after his arrival which led to McKairnes being hired at CBS Studio by then-CBS-President Jeff Sagansky. At CBS, McKairnes divided his responsibilities between the Current Programming and Scheduling departments. He became fulltime in Scheduling and was part of the team that took the network from worst in the 1990s to first in the 2000s under the leadership of CBS President Leslie Moonves. He contributed to and involved himself in all areas of CBS: He created and produced the on-air prime-time series called “CBS Moments,” he was instrumental in the development of several made-for-TV movies and network speci