 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Kelly Kahl" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Kelly Kahl | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1966-10-20)October 20, 1966 (age 58) Burlington, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Education | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Known for | President of CBS Entertainment (2017–2022) |
Kelly Kahl (born October 20, 1966) is anAmerican television executive and film producer. From 2017 to 2022, he served as thePresident of Entertainment atCBS.[1]
Kelly Kahl was born inBurlington, Wisconsin to Ronald and Barbara Ann Kahl. He discovered his interest in television while watchingSaturday-morning cartoons and noticed programs would change time slots from year to year.[2] He attendedBurlington High School, graduating in 1985.[3] He earned a degree incommunications from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison. He then went on to receive hisMaster of Arts degree fromUSC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.[2]
Kahl began his career in 1990 atLorimar Television as a research intern. He then worked atWarner Bros. Television as Director, Network Research before joiningCBS as Vice President, Scheduling.[4] While serving in this role he was part of scheduling many successfulCBS shows such asBull,Blue Bloods,The Big Bang Theory,Young Sheldon,CSI, andNCIS.[4] He was instrumental in the green-lighting of the television seriesSurvivor.[5] According toSurvivor's hostJeff Probst, Kahl had taken a risk by schedulingSurvivor's second seasonSurvivor: The Australian Outback against NBC'sFriends.Survivor routinely won viewership againstFriends during that season, and as a result, Kahl gained significant influence at CBS that has been used to supportSurvivor through its 40th season.[6]
He served asexecutive producer on the filmsReturn to Zero,Sister Cities, andSaint Judy. His current favorite CBS shows includeSEAL Team,Love Island andTough as Nails.
On November 16, 2022, CBS announced that Kahl would step down as head of CBS Entertainment at the end of 2022, ending a 26-year career at the network, who announced that Amy Reisenbach would move up from her role as head of current programming to replace him.[7][8]
In 2025, Kahl served as an executive producer forJust a Bit Outside, a documentary about theMilwaukee Brewers’1982 season. Directed and produced bySean Hanish, the film examines the connection between Milwaukee and its baseball team, which won its only pennant that year before losing to theSt. Louis Cardinals in theWorld Series. The documentary won Best Sports Film at the Louisville International Film Festival and was acquired byRoku, where is set to stream exclusively from April 11 to June 30, 2025.[9]
Kahl lives inHermosa Beach, CA with his wife, Kim and their two dogs, Bunny and Gracie.[3][10] He is a partner at Underground Pub and Grill.[2]
{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)