- Chairman/CEO, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
- Elected to Writers Guild of America Board of Directors. (2000)
- Came to Los Angeles originally as an on-air correspondent for CNN.
- All produced TV pilots have gone to series.
- In 1991, Zabel was hired to write the pilot script "No Limits" for Michael Filerman Productions and FBC. After "Melrose Place" aired in 1992, producer Filerman filed a claim which was ultimately settled. During and after, Zabel continued to work on other projects for FBC.
- Kicked-off a $600-million fund-raising campaign for his alma mater the University of Oregon when he produced a three-hour music-comedy-variety show on an indoor football field which was converted into a Hollywood awards ceremony.
- Created "Movie Smackdown!" -- an Internet film review concept which compares movies in the theaters against similar films out on DVD and declares a winner -- writing his own reviews and editing those of a dozen other critics.
- Launched hour dramas on ABC, CBS, NBC and FBC.
- Introduced Tom Hanks on the 2002 Emmy Awards, and Walter Cronkite on the 2003 Emmy Awards.
- Father was a World War II veteran and history teacher of "American Problems." The Harvey J. Zabel scholarship was created in his memory and is awarded to this day.
- Worked on multiple projects with Stan Lee after first collaborating on an NBC television pilot, "Missing Link.".
- He and Rod Serling are the only writers ever to be elected to lead the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
- His son, Jonathan, played "Young Jay Leno" on "The Tonight Show" over a period of several years.
- While researching his first TV series about a New York surgeon, scrubbed in and observed a real nine-hour surgery for a gunshot victim at New York's Bellevue Hospital.
- Won multiple awards for Investigative Journalism for his work at the Los Angeles PBS station, KCET, for a report about an eye doctor who performed unnecessary cataract surgeries on the elderly.
- Optioned material which won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism a full nine-months before it won the award. The material became "Fall From Grace," a script for USA Network.
- On "Lois & Clark," wrote the episode where Clark first returned to Smallville and had his first brush with Kryptonite. "The Green, Green Glow of Home" was voted a fan favorite from the first season.
- In Germany, taught a "Writers Room" for MediaXchange at Action Concept in Cologne where aspiring German television writers worked to apply the lessons of United States TV to their own market.
- Introduced Jon Stewart at a special Academy of Television Arts & Sciences event celebrating "The Daily Show" held in New York City.
- Sold classic editions of Marvel Comics, like Spiderman #1 and X-Men #1, to finance a college trip to Europe that he never took.
- Twice invited to the White House to consult on television issues during his tenure as chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
- Producer Aaron Spelling and Universal optioned the first script written by Bryce and Jackie Zabel as a husband/wife writing team, "Labor of Love." The script, about a pregnancy, was written while they were pregnant with their first child.
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