CBS 'Early Show' Names New Executive Producer

Felix Gillette — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:34:09 -0400

Roughly three months after the tumultuous exit of Shelley Ross, The Early Show on CBS has named Zev Shalev as the show's new executive producer. Rick Kaplan of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric had been filling in on an interim basis.

From the press release:

Shalev has been senior broadcast producer of the program since March.

"Zev has done a terrific job during the transition," said Sean McManus, President CBS News and Sports. "He has met and exceeded our expectations, and he's in a great position to continue the creative and ratings momentum that the broadcast has demonstrated."

During his career, Shalev has covered a wide range of news events, including the tsunami in Indonesia, the death of Princess Diana and South Africa's transition to democracy. He has also been responsible for interviews with newsmakers such as Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela, Louis Farrakhan, Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Shalev was vice president for strategic programming, as well as senior executive producer of information and entertainment programming for CanWest Global (2007-08). In that role, he was responsible for program strategy and scheduling for E!, Canada's newest national network. Shalev has also been senior executive producer of "Entertainment Tonight Canada," the nation's number one entertainment magazine (2005-07).

Observer » CBS 'Early Show' Names New Executive Producer

CBS 'Early Show' Names New Executive Producer