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Amy Reisenbach has been named president of CBS Entertainment in an executive shake-up that sees CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl and CBS Senior Executive Vice President Thom Sherman both departing.
On Wednesday, layoffs were also announced amongst the ad-sales team at Paramount Global.
In her new role, Reisenbach will oversee primetime, daytime and late-night at the CBS Television Network, including comedy and drama development, alternative, specials, current programming, scheduling and casting, said CBS President and CEO George Cheeks, to whom Reisenbach will report.
Reisenbach has been with CBS since 2005, starting as manager of current programs for CBS Studios and rising through the ranks in various network and studio programming roles over the past 17 years.
“Amy is a brilliant, creative executive and an incredible, highly collaborative leader who has worked closely with all parts of the Network and our Studios partners for many years,” said Cheeks in a statement. “She is a passionate advocate for writers, producers and the creative process, with proven programming instincts for what it takes to make and sustain highly successful television series. She also continues to be a strong proponent for diversity and inclusion and a key figure in the advancements CBS has made in front of and behind the camera in this area.”
Reisenbach was named executive vice president of current programs at CBS in June 2017. In that role, she has overseen creative affairs for all scripted series broadcast on CBS, CBS Studios’ shows produced for other broadcast networks, CBS Daytime’s talk shows, game shows and dramas, and its Saturday morning lineup.
Reisenbach was senior vice president of current programs from September 2015 through June 2017, supervising all series produced by CBS Studios for The CW, while continuing to work on several shows broadcast on CBS. After joining CBS Studios in 2005 as manager of current programs, she was promoted to director a year later, and named vice president in 2011.
“I want to thank George, Kelly Kahl, David Stapf and Thom Sherman for being amazing bosses and colleagues, and supporting my growth path to this moment,” said Reisenbach, also in a statement. “This Network means so much to the people who work here, the writers and producers who call it home, and the viewers who fall in love with our series. I’m excited and proud to continue our tradition of excellence that everyone at this Network strives to exceed every day.”
Kahl was named president of CBS Entertainment in May 2017, replacing Glenn Geller. Prior to that, he was senior executive vice president of CBS primetime, overseeing scheduling. Kahl is considered largely responsible for creating the Thursday night programming block that eventually tumbled NBC’s powerful Must-See TV lineup. He also designed the Wednesday night unscripted schedule that is largely still in place today.
Kahl first joined CBS in 1996 as vice president of scheduling, moving over from Warner Bros. TV with Leslie Moonves.
Sherman, who is exiting with a production deal at CBS Studios, came to CBS from The CW in 2017 as senior executive vice president. Prior to that, he had been executive vice president at The CW since 2006, He served as president of J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions from 2004 to 2006 and worked in drama development at ABC from 1996 to 2004.
READ MORE: Variety
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