List of presidents of CBS Entertainment
The following is a list of presidents of the entertainment division for the CBS television network. Frank Stanton, who served as the president of CBS between 1946 and 1971 and then as vice chairman until 1973, reorganized CBS into various divisions, including separate divisions for television and radio; the following executives served under him, CBS founder William S. Paley and later chairmen.
Name | Years | Notes |
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Hubbell Robinson | 1947–1959; 1962–1963 | |
Louis G. Cowan | 1958–1959 | Cowan served as President of CBS Entertainment for two years, until he was forced to resign from CBS in 1959 in the wake of the quiz show scandals.[1]
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James T. Aubrey | 1958–1965 | His formula was characterized by a CBS executive as "broads, bosoms, and fun," resulting in such shows as The Beverly Hillbillies and Gilligan's Island, despised by the critics – and CBS chairman William S. Paley – but extremely popular with viewers. While Aubrey had a great feel for what would be successful with viewers, he had nothing but contempt for them. "The American public is something I fly over," he said.[2] |
Michael Dann | 1963–1970 | He took a pragmatic approach to programming, opting not to enforce a personal vision for the network other than to try to get more viewers without regard to tent-pole programming , in which a new or struggling sitcom could be made more successful by putting more successful shows before and after it
|
Fred Silverman | 1970–1975 | To boost viewership in demographics that were believed to be more willing to respond to commercials, Silverman orchestrated the " The Price Is Right, which remains on the air over four decades later. After the success of The Price Is Right, Silverman had established a working relationship with Mark Goodson and Bill Todman in which most of their game shows would appear on CBS, including a revival of Match Game. On Saturday mornings, Silverman commissioned Hanna-Barbera to produce the series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, and the character Fred Jones is named after Silverman. The success of Scooby-Doo led to several other Hanna-Barbera series airing on CBS in the early 1970s.
|
Lee Currlin | 1975–1977 | |
Robert A. Daly | 1977–1980 | In addition to his duties as chief of television operations at CBS, Daly was also responsible for CBS Television Network and vice president of business affairs.
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Bud Grant | 1980–1987 | He was credited with spearheading some of CBS' best known shows of the 1980s, including Newhart and Murder, She Wrote. |
Kim Lemasters | 1987–1989 | |
Jeff Sagansky | 1989–1994 | |
Peter Tortorici | 1994–1995 | |
Leslie Moonves
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1995–1998 | Among the shows that gave CBS a new lease on life were the Cold Case .
|
Nancy Tellem | 1998–2004 | She was responsible for deciding which shows appeared on CBS, supervised the prime-time, Survivor, Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens, and helped create the landmark shows Friends and ER .
|
Nina Tassler | 2004–2015 | Tassler joined CBS in August 1997 as VP Drama, CBS Productions, before moving to the network as SVP Drama Development in 1998, then becoming President of Entertainment in 2004 and chairman in 2014. |
Glenn Geller | 2015–2017 | |
Kelly Kahl | 2017–2022 | Kahl joined CBS in January 1996 as VP Scheduling, CBS Entertainment, then becoming President of Entertainment in 2017. |
Amy Reisenbach | 2023-present |
References
- ^ C. H. Sterling; J. M. Kittross (1990). Stay Tuned: A concise history of American broadcasting (2nd ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth.
- Time Magazine, March 14, 1977. Retrieved on January 24, 2008.