Brad Bessey has been promoted to oversee both Entertainment Tonight and The Insider effective immediately, it was announced today by Hilary Estey McLoughlin, President of Creative Affairs for CBS Television Distribution.
Bessey is currently Executive Producer of THE INSIDER, and he will add Executive Producer duties for the #1 newsmagazine
Entertainment Tonight in his expanded role.
In addition, Monique Chenault joins
The Insider as Co-Executive Producer. Linda Fuller continues with
Entertainment Tonight as an Executive Producer.
"After more than 15 years in the ET-INSIDER family, Brad knows ET inside and out and is the perfect person to continue to grow the brand and keep the show on top," Estey McLoughlin said. "He's got a great vision and the leadership skills to oversee both ET and
The Insider and to maximize the extraordinary talent, staffs and resources of both shows."
"ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT is a brand I love that has innovation and leadership in its DNA. With my return, I am focused on evolving the brand, with a staff I believe, along with the team at THE INSIDER, is the best in the industry," Bessey said.
Bessey, who has been Executive Producer of
The Insider since 2012, has a long history with ET, first working for the show in 1995 as a coordinating producer. He quickly ascended to supervising producer in 2000, to senior producer in 2003, then to Co-Executive Producer in 2005. During Bessey's 15-year tenure with ET, he played a key role in ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT's brand extensions and digital development, spearheading editorial on the creation of ETonline, TheInsider.com and ETonMSN.
In addition, Bessey was part of the launch team for ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT's spinoff sister show, THE INSIDER, and served as Senior Consultant on the show from 2004-2010.
In 2010, Bessey left ET when he was named Executive Producer of "The Talk" on
CBS -- network television's first daytime talk show in over a decade. Under Bessey's leadership, "The Talk" received a 2012 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Talk Show, Entertainment.
DJ Petroro, ET's current Executive Producer, will be leaving the show. "I want to thank DJ for all of his contributions to the enduring success of ET and previously THE INSIDER," Estey McLoughlin added.
Chenault is an experienced producer, showrunner and writer with a background in celebrity news. Chenault joins
The Insider after years as an Executive Producer and showrunner for
BET Networks and Macvision Entertainment.
At BET, she was the Executive Producer of numerous specials, including "BET Remembers Nelson Mandela," "Being Mary Jane: The Intimate Edition," "The Reel Story: 12 Years A Slave" and "BET Takes Hollywood." She also executive produced several series for
TV One through Macvision, including the hour-long interview show "TV One on One With Cathy Hughes" and "Black Men Revealed," a weekly one-hour talk-reality series that focused on relationships, cultural issues and politics from a black male's perspective.
Previously, she spent eight years at
NBC Universal's "Access Hollywood" as a Senior Producer, where she created and launched the spinoff "TV One Access" - a one-hour newsmagazine focusing on urban news and entertainment, pop culture and issues important to people of color - for the
TV One network. She also served as a supervising producer and showrunner for the weekend edition of "Access Hollywood."
Chenault received her bachelor's degree in communications from UCLA and earned a Masters of Arts in broadcast journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Fuller began her ET career in 1989 when she first joined the show as an associate director. She also served as director, then producer of ET's weekend show and senior producer before being named an Executive Producer in November 2013.
Linda Bell
Blue is an Executive Producer on
Entertainment Tonight and
The Insider and will transition to her role as President of ET Studios in June.
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT is produced and distributed by
CBS Television Distribution and is taped in Studio City, Calif. ET is the #1
Syndicated entertainment newsmagazine. Nancy O'Dell and Rob Marciano are the co-anchors. Brooke Anderson and Rocsi Diaz are correspondents. Marciano and Diaz co-anchor the weekend show.
THE INSIDER is produced and distributed by
CBS Television Distribution and is shot in Studio City, Calif. Kevin Frazier and Thea Andrews are co-anchors. Michael Yo, Keltie Knight and Nina Parker are correspondents.
CBS Television Distribution is the preeminent company in television syndication. CTD produces or distributes 11 first-run series and holds the largest distributed television library at 70,000 hours strong. Among CTD's critically-acclaimed programs are the #1
Syndicated series Judge Judy; talk leader Dr. Phil; the #1 and #2 rated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!; the Emmy Award-winning talk shows
Rachael Ray and The Doctors; the #1 and #2 newsmagazines
Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition, along with The Insider; the late-night talk show The Arsenio Hall Show; freshman court show Hot Bench; and popular off-network product, including the CSI and Star Trek franchises, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, NCIS, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife,
Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0,
Hot In Cleveland and Undercover Boss. In addition, CTD handles the domestic television distribution of
CBS News,
CBS Films and Showtime. CTD is a unit of
CBS Corp.
