In television production, a new role seems to have been recently created, or at least brought to light, which is that of “show runner”. It seems like a kind of supervisory position somewhere between director and producer, or something. But the specifics are unclear to me. Anybody have any insight?
My company does a television show once a year. Our “Show Runners” literally run errands. Now the errands can be as important as picking up a celebrity but, they’re still just “delivery” personnel. 
It’s more complicated than that on a prime-time series, zahara2. I’ve got several DVD collections of TV series, and in the audio commentaries the “show runner” they occasionally mention is always one of the writers, usually at a senior level.
I think a show runner is responsible for making sure each episode fits within the continuity of a show’s season arc, or theme, or something like that. But I’m not sure, and I hope someone who knows better comes to this thread soon.
From The Showrunners, a not very good book by David Wild:
What SmackFu said.
A showrunner is almost always the head writer, with the title executive producer. Most TV shows have several people with the title executive producer, so the term showrunner distinguishes who is really the boss. The star actor has the ultimate power on a show, of course, so in a dispute between the showrunner and the star, the showrunner always loses.
Unlike feature films, where the director is the master of his domain (but the star actor still has ultimate power), the head writer as showrunner is the queen of all she surveys. Directors in TV are well paid hired hands whose job is to realize the vision of the showrunner, just as writers in feature films are usually hired hands who must realize the vision of the director, starts and producers.
What SmackFu said.
A showrunner is almost always the head writer, with the title executive producer. Most TV shows have several people with the title executive producer, so the term showrunner distinguishes who is really the boss. The star actor has the ultimate power on a show, of course, so in a dispute between the showrunner and the star, the showrunner always loses.
Unlike feature films, where the director is the master of his domain (but the star actor still has ultimate power), the head writer as showrunner is the queen of all she surveys. Directors in TV are well paid hired hands whose job is to realize the vision of the showrunner, just as writers in feature films are usually hired hands who must realize the vision of the director, stars and producers.
Aha. Well, I was in the ballpark, then. I wonder if this is a relatively new term, or is it just that I’ve been hearing it more merely by coincidence.
But the showrunner is not the person who created the show in the first place. That person supercedes all others, including the lead actor, right?
For example, Joss Whedon would be the exec of all exec producers in the Buffy universe, while Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt will be the showrunners, right?
The creator of the show is not necessarily the capo di capo. Often they depart after their work is done and go on to other shows.