Japhet Asher
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Simeon Japhet Asher (born 14 January 1961) is an English film and television producer, writer and director who has worked in the United States for most of his career. Having moved back to England, he was the executive producer for interactive at
CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
's programming strand for children, and an executive producer of the live action comedy ''
Big Babies ''Big Babies'' is a 2010 British comedy children's television series. The main characters are two babies (actually babies with adult heads and voices superimposed) named Brooks and Rocco, who are reluctantly dragged away from watching television ...
'' broadcast by that network. Asher is also the creator and author of “The Ghostkeeper's Journal & Field Guide”, the first ever augmented reality powered novel, published in 2018 by Carlton Books. Asher is considered a pioneer in the field of augmented reality storytelling, and has won multiple awards for the books with apps he has developed in this medium. Asher wrote and produced his first television film for the
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
, ''Peace on Borrowed Time'', when he was 21 years old, during 1982; it aired the following year. The 1985
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
documentary '' Soldiers in Hiding'', of which Asher was a producer and writer, was nominated for an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. As a partner in the San Francisco-based studio
(Colossal) Pictures Colossal Pictures (also styled as (Colossal) Pictures or (C)P) was an entertainment company that developed and produced television programming, advertising, network branding, and visual effects. Colossal's work has won every major industry award, ...
during the late 1980s and 1990s he was the creator of the
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
animated showcase ''
Liquid Television ''Liquid Television'' was an animation showcase that appeared on MTV from 1991 to 1995. It has served as the launching point for several high-profile original cartoons, including ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' and ''Æon Flux''. The bulk of ''Liquid T ...
'' and a key figure in its execution, serving as executive producer and creative director. He was also an executive producer and writer for ''
Æon Flux ''Æon Flux'' is an American avant-garde science fiction adventure animated television series that aired on MTV from November 30, 1991, until October 10, 1995, with film, comic book, and video game adaptations following thereafter. It premiered ...
'', a segment of the programme which later became its own show. Between 1995 and 1997, he was the executive vice-president of programming at
Tele-TV Tele-TV (also known as Galaxy-TV and Pacific Bell Digital TV) was a media and technology company formed by Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, and Creative Artists Agency in February 1995. The company, based in Reston, Virginia, USA, set ou ...
, an ultimately abortive joint venture by three American telephone companies to provide
interactive television Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new information ...
,
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
and internet through customers' phone lines.


Career in film and television

Born in London, England, Asher attended
Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...
for five terms, before moving to San Francisco, California with his family. He graduated from New York's
Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
and worked extensively alongside director Malcolm Clarke during the 1980s. In 1982, when Asher was 21, the duo collaborated on a television film for the
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
, ''Peace on Borrowed Time'', which aired the following year with Asher credited as writer and producer. Asher held both of these roles on two more documentaries directed by Clarke for
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
; the second of these, 1985's '' Soldiers in Hiding'', about
Vietnam veteran A Vietnam veteran is a person who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and oth ...
s, was
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for an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Documentary Feature, but lost out to '' Broken Rainbow'', a documentary about the relocation of
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
Native Americans. Asher's sole release as a director, the television documentary ''Trouble on Big Mountain'', also focussed on the Navajo and was released by San Francisco's KQED network in 1986. During the late 1980s and 1990s Asher became involved in animation as a partner in the San Francisco-based production house
(Colossal) Pictures Colossal Pictures (also styled as (Colossal) Pictures or (C)P) was an entertainment company that developed and produced television programming, advertising, network branding, and visual effects. Colossal's work has won every major industry award, ...
, most notably as creator, executive producer and creative director of the animation showcase ''
Liquid Television ''Liquid Television'' was an animation showcase that appeared on MTV from 1991 to 1995. It has served as the launching point for several high-profile original cartoons, including ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' and ''Æon Flux''. The bulk of ''Liquid T ...
'', which was first broadcast in 1991 on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
. "We're not interested in boring TV," Asher told the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' soon after its première on 2 June that year; "it's zap-free TV. If you're not liking something you're watching, wait two minutes and you'll see something else ... Wait till you see
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
doing '' Express Yourself''." He elaborated on this in an interview with ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'': "It's part fun house, part laboratory experiment. It's a mix of dozens of different animation styles. There's never been a TV show quite like it before." ''Liquid Television'' was described by ''Los Angeles Times'' reporter Lauren Litpon as "state-of-the-art animation ... unlike anything else television has to offer". It crammed about 15 unrelated, mostly animated segments into each half-hour slot at a vastly accelerated pace, linking them together with yet more animation. Violently and deliberately different from the rest of the TV schedule, it was nominated for two
Primetime Emmy Awards The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
during its four-year run, winning one, and included as one of its cartoons ''
Æon Flux ''Æon Flux'' is an American avant-garde science fiction adventure animated television series that aired on MTV from November 30, 1991, until October 10, 1995, with film, comic book, and video game adaptations following thereafter. It premiered ...
'', directed by
Peter Chung Peter Chung (born April 19, 1961) is a Korean American animator. He is best known for his unique style of animation, as the creator and director of ''Æon Flux'' and '' Reign: The Conqueror (Alexander Senki)''. Early life and career Peter Chung ...
with Asher as an executive producer and writer. ''Æon Flux'' became a standalone series in 1992 and ran until 1995. Asher appeared as a voice actor on each of these shows, writing and performing the recurring "Psychogram" skit on ''Liquid Television'' and voicing the character "Clavius" in an episode of ''Æon Flux''. Despite the success of both ''Liquid Television'' and ''Æon Flux'', Asher later came in for criticism from
Mike Judge Michael Craig Judge (born October 17, 1962) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director and musician. He is the creator of the animated television series ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' (1993–1997, 2011, 2022–present), and the co-cre ...
, the creator of ''
Beavis and Butt-head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...
'', a successful animated programme initially featured on ''Liquid Television''. Judge was being interviewed by the British magazine '' loaded'' in 1997 when the subject turned to the dislike of anything British by the title characters of ''Beavis and Butt-head''. "You know," Judge said, "This just now occurred to me. There was this guy called Japhet Asher who was sort of in charge of ''Liquid Television''. ... He struck me as one of these British people who come over here
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and people think they're smart just because they have a British accent. ... He would say things like, 'A bit of criticism, if I may, Mike.' I wonder if a lot of that is just down to him." Asher left (Colossal) in November 1995 when he was appointed executive vice-president of programming at the newly set-up
Tele-TV Tele-TV (also known as Galaxy-TV and Pacific Bell Digital TV) was a media and technology company formed by Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, and Creative Artists Agency in February 1995. The company, based in Reston, Virginia, USA, set ou ...
network, a joint venture by the
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,
NYNEX NYNEX Corporation was an American telephone company that served five states of New England (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) as well as most of the state of New York from January 1, 1984 to August 14, 1997. History ...
and
Pacific Telesis Pacific Telesis Group was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies, sometimes also referred to as "RBOCs" or "Baby Bells", created in 1983 in preparation of the breakup of AT&T as a holding company for Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, Pacif ...
telephone companies to provide
interactive television Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new information ...
,
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
and internet to customers through their copper phone wires, aiming ultimately to compete with
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and
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providers. Asher was placed in charge of producing original programming for the service, an "unenviable task", said Tele-TV chairman-CEO
Howard Stringer Sir Howard Stringer (born 19 February 1942) is a Welsh-American businessman. He had a 30-year career at CBS, culminating in him serving as the president of CBS News from 1986 to 1988, then president of CBS from 1988 to 1995. He served as chairma ...
. However, Tele-TV failed in 1997 because of conflicts between the partner phone companies and technical difficulties regarding national co-ordination and distribution. Following this, Asher wrote for the MTV animated series ''
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'' in 1999 and edited stories for '' Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles'' during the same year. He wrote for the computer-animated series ''
Pet Alien ''Pet Alien'' is a French-American computer-animated series produced by Mike Young Productions, Taffy Entertainment, Antefilms Productions, and John Doze Studios in 2005. It was created by Pajanimals creator Jeff Muncy and the episodes are ma ...
'' in 2005 and for the documentary film ''Koryo Saram – the Unreliable People'' two years later. Having relocated back to England, he joined the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
in the late 2000s as the executive producer for interactive at
CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
, the organisation's children's strand. With Asher working as one of its executive producers, the CBBC show ''
Big Babies ''Big Babies'' is a 2010 British comedy children's television series. The main characters are two babies (actually babies with adult heads and voices superimposed) named Brooks and Rocco, who are reluctantly dragged away from watching television ...
'' was nominated for a
British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
(BAFTA) Children's Award in 2010 as one of the best comedies.


Filmography


Footnotes


References

;Source notes ;Bibliography * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Asher, Japhet British animated film directors British animated film producers 1961 births English animators English cartoonists English film directors English television producers English male voice actors English emigrants to the United States Living people People educated at Winchester College People from Kensington Tisch School of the Arts alumni