CBS shake-up: Network has a new boss as cuts loom

Kelly Kahl, president of CBS Entertainment, speaks at the CBS Entertainment executive panel at the TCA Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles in 2018. CBS President George Cheeks announced the moves Wednesday, noting Kahl’s departure was “part of a restructuring and streamlining of leadership at CBS Entertainment.” Reisenbach now will oversee the network’s prime-time, daytime and late-night creative departments, the company announced. Kahl, in an email to the CBS staff, said that working at CBS for the past 26 years “was an absolute honor and privilege.” “I started here as a scheduler when we were in 3rd place and loved battling into 1st, but I’m especially proud of our accomplishments during my run as entertainment president over the past five years,” Kahl wrote. As entertainment president, Kahl shepherded such hits as “The Neighborhood,” “Ghosts,” “The Equalizer,” “NCIS: Hawai’i,” “Fire Country,” and three installments of “FBI.” He also advocated for CBS’ hit reality franchises. He has been humble, gracious and generous with his peers every step of the way.” A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Kahl got his break in television as an intern at Lorimar, the production company best known for the hit series “Dallas” and “Knots Landing.” Lorimar became part of Warner Bros. Television, where under then-chief Moonves, the studio produced two of network TV’s biggest hits, “Friends” and “ER.” Kahl worked in the research department at Warner Bros. and then followed Moonves to CBS when he became entertainment president in 1995.