After 25 years, Jack Sussman is leaving the executive of specialty, music, live events and alternative programming for CBS Entertainment. Sussman, who will leave after the Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, will return to producing, including executive producing two CBS specials, the Tony Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors.
Mackenzie Mitchell has been promoted to vp of specialists, while Mitch Graham will continue to run unscripted as executive vice president of the alternative, which he has overseen since 2020. Graham will report to Amy Reisenbachpresident of CBS Entertainment, while Mitchell will report to Reisenbach and Bruce Gilmerpresident of music, music talent, programming and events for CBS parent Paramount and head of music content for Paramount +.
“This is a historic department and I know both Mackenzie and Mitch will lead the team with distinction, openness and positivity,” Reisenbach said in a staff memo received Advertising sign. “Both launched their careers and rose through the ranks at CBS while establishing deep roots in the television community with boundless passion and creativity for creating quality popular television.”
Sussman joined CBS in 1998 after roles at MTV, VH1, CNN and NBC and oversaw a wide variety of specials and annual awards shows at the network. “I love live TV,” he said Advertising sign in a 2017 profile. “You have a shot at it, and everyone has to go in the same direction because you're walking a tightrope.”
In an internal email, Sussman wrote to colleagues: “I'm going back to my roots. I'm ending my career the way I started in this business — production. Working with talented artists and other creative producers has always been the best part of the job, and now I will be doing it full time.” In addition to working on the Tonys and Kennedy Center Honors, Sussman says he will “develop and produce outside passion projects for various platforms and live events alongside the social and philanthropic organizations I have been associated with throughout my career. A perfect next chapter as I try to slow down a bit.”
Sussman has worked on more than 100 CBS specials and with artists such as Garth Brooks, Bruno Mars, Celine Dion, Adele and Michael Jackson. “I am so grateful to all the artists, managers, producers, labels and production teams I have worked with along the way,” he wrote. “I had the good fortune early in my journey at CBS to be mentored (and shouted at at times) by the giants who started the live television event business. I learned so much from them and I only hope I was able to pass on some of that historical wisdom to this next generation.”
Both Graham and Mitchell have long tenures at CBS. Mitchell started at CBS in 2014 as a temporary assistant and had risen to the helm while working on annual shows such as the Grammy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors and the Tony Awards, as well as special events such as Garth & Trisha Live! and Adele: One Night Only. Graham started in the publicity department in 1999 and moved to the alternative department in 2013. He has worked on shows such as Amazing match and Survivor. He has been overseeing the non-scripted department since 2020.
“So proud to have watched these individuals and the collective team grow,” Sussman wrote in his memo to CBS staff. “Mitch Graham is the best Alternative executive in town and Mackenzie Mitchell has grown into a great executive overseeing our music and specials. You won't find two better people. The team is in great hands and moving forward. They are simply the best and a big reason this decision is easier and harder.”
Sussman most recently oversaw CBS New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash. The Dec. 31 broadcast averaged 8.31 million viewers, more than doubling its primetime audience in 2022. That made it CBS' most-watched original entertainment show since the Grammy Awards in February 2023. CBS also won a ratings win with the Jan. 7 Golden Globes. which averaged 9.47 million viewers in its first year on the network, according to Nielsen.
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