Garry Hart is an American television executive, who worked at different levels of Paramount Television.
Appointed in 1993, Hart became president of Paramount Network Television, succeeding John S. Pike in that position. During his tenure, he oversaw the production of the seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, six seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the entirety of Star Trek: Voyager and the first three seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise, as well as other seasons in successful series like Frasier, NCIS, JAG, and Numbers, and 71 television movies.
Before the launch of Enterprise, Scott Bakula waited until after he, Kerry McCluggage, and Hart had read the script for "Broken Bow" before accepting the role of Jonathan Archer. Bakula later recalled, "Garry Hart told me when he read the script he immediately thought of me." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 9, p. 12)
Hart had been a strong supporter of Star Trek in general and of Enterprise in particular, reiterating before his departure he hoped for and expected several more seasons. [1]
Scott Bakula has unequivocally cited Garry Hart as the driving force behind the series' final renewal, even though he had already been assigned to another position within the conglomerate and thereby thwarting the cancellation intents of his successors at UPN, conceivably an instance of "studio politics". (Before Her Time: Decommissioning Enterprise)
Career[]
Born in New York City, Hart obtained a BA in communication studies at Queens College, City University of New York and later an MA and a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. [2](X)
In 2002, following the departure of Paramount Television Group chairman Kerry McCluggage, the studio was reorganized and Hart became president of television productions. In September 2004, Hart left Paramount to move into independent producing, faced with the impending split of Paramount and CBS Broadcasting spearheaded by Viacom's co-president Leslie Moonves and his boss Sumner Redstone, which was actually effected in January 2006. [3] Moonves – not known for his affinity with science fiction in general and Star Trek in particular [4] – was the executive who ultimately thwarted Hart's efforts to save Enterprise, as it was he who cancelled the show in February 2005 definitively, thus ending Star Trek prime for the time being. (In Conversation: Writing Star Trek: Enterprise, [5])
In 2014, Hart became professor of radio-TV-film and chair of that department at California State University, Fullerton. [6](X)