A
CEO is the chief executive officer of a corporation, the top manager
responsible for the direction and administration of the organization.
Since
the 1980, CEOs have played an important role in cult-TV programming, usually as
villains, or at least morally-suspect individuals.
Back
in 1985, Nathan Bates (Lane Smith), the CEO of Science Frontiers, negotiated an
“Open City” policy in Los Angeles for Visitor and humans, in V:
The Series (1985).
His plan was to exploit Visitor technology, but also to control inter-species violence in the city. A
side-effect was that he was the most powerful man in the city of Angels. Bates
was killed off half-way through the series run, alas, and the Open City fell.
In
1990, Alexander Alucard (Geordi Johnon) was a tycoon and CEO of his own company
in the syndicated series, Dracula: The Series.
Like Bates
before him, Alucard -- A Gordon Gekko-type character – seemed fascinated with the
development and acquisition of technology (including supernatural technology)
that could help him maintain his power.
In
the various incarnations of the Superman legend -- Lois and Clark: The New Adventures
of Superman (1993 – 1997) and Smallville (2001 – 2011) -- audiences have
met CEOs from the Luthor Family. In the
former series it is Lex (John Shea) himself. In the former, we meet LuthorCorp
CEO Lionel Luthor (John Glover), and his replacement, Lex (Michael Rosenbaum).
In
Veronica
Mars (2004 – 2006), Jake Kane (Kyle Secor) is the CEO of Kane Software,
in Neptune, CA. His daughter Lily is murdered, and throughout the first season
the tycoon is a central suspect in the crime.
In
Fringe
(2008 – 2013), William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) is the legendary CEO of Massive
Dynamic, and described as one of the nation’s most “inspiring” corporate
leaders.
There
are precious few CEOs in the Star Trek franchise, because capitalism
is a thing of the past, mostly by the 24th century.
Still, Star Trek: Voyager’s (1995 – 2001) third
season two-parter, “Future’s End” featured a 20th century CEO, Henry
Starling (Ed Begley Jr.). The character
had stolen a 29th century time ship, and was planning to illicitly
gain access to more future-tech.
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