Mark Pedowitz: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: As the dust has settled on the wave of layoffs that hit the CW yesterday, we are hearing more names of senior executives in multiple areas who were impacted.

Jared Padalecki is sharing his “brutally honest” opinion on the cancelation of his most recent CW series Walker.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter More layoffs are underway at The CW, Variety has confirmed. Sources say that over a dozen people have been let go from the network, mostly in the marketing and finance divisions. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, those released this time were supposed to be part of an initial round of cuts that took place late last year, but ongoing projects or remaining time on their contracts meant they were not let go until today. This marks the latest layoffs at the broadcast network since Nexstar acquired a majority stake in it in October 2022. As Variety exclusively reported in November, between 30-40 staffers were laid off shortly after the deal closed, including longtime network communications head Paul Hewitt. Those came after network head Mark Pedowitz stepped down along with several other senior executives.

EXCLUSIVE: The CW is undergoing another round of staff cuts, sources tell Deadline. We hear more than 15 people were affected, with the marketing/promotional team impacted, along with finance.

Mark Pedowitz, former Chairman and CEO of the CW, and his production company Pine Street Entertainment have signed with CAA for representation. The move comes as Pedowitz contemplates his future as a producer after exiting the CW in October, following Nexstar’s acquisition of the broadcast network.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As former The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz gets back into the production business, he has sign on with CAA for representation, the tenpercentary announced on Thursday. Pedowitz has revived his shingle, Pine Street Entertainment, which is represented by CAA as part of the arrangement. Pedowitz announced his departure from The CW in October, following Nexstar Media Group’s acquisition of the network from its previous joint operators CBS and Warner Bros. (Those two entities maintain minority stakes in The CW, but Nexstar is now the majority owner and operator.) In reviving Pine Street Entertainment, Pedowitz is bringing back his independent production company that produced CBS’ “The Crazy Ones” (starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams), as well as a number of development projects.

In what appears to be a new wave of layoffs, several senior scripted executives have left the broadcast network, including Gaye Hirsch, EVP, Development, who is departing after more than 15 years, and fellow CW veteran and head of department, Michael Roberts, who had been at the network (and its predecessor the WB) for 21 years, sources tell deadline.

Nexstar Media Group has appointed former Turner ad sales exec Michael Strober to the newly created position of EVP and Chief Revenue Officer.

Brad Schwartz has been officially named as President, CW Entertainment.

EXCLUSIVE: The new iteration of The CW is starting to take shape.

Paul Hewitt is the latest long-term exec leaving The CW.

The end is in sight for the CW’s Nancy Drew. The network confirmed Wednesday that the fourth season, which is currently in production, will be the last for the series. Season 4 is slated to premiere midseason. A premiere date and time will be announced later.

BreAnna Bell Production is moving forward for Jensen and Danneel Ackles. With their latest endeavor, “The Winchesters” slated to premiere on The CW on Oct. 11, the couple recently renewed their first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television for two more years and teases there’s a few more stories they’re looking to share in the future through their production company, Chaos Machine. “We are excited to continue our relationship with Warner Bros. as it’s been our home for a long time. It feels only natural that The Winchesters would stay within the Warner Bros. family and continue on the Supernatural legacy,” said the couple in a joint statement.

At the CW’s May upfront presentation, then-Chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz announced that a new initiative with United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy would launch in the 2022-23 season to tackle “the number one issue facing America’s youth: mental health” by developing storylines across the network’s programming as well as working with advertisers and affiliates and across social media.

In a fickle TV business where the top network posts rank at the bottom for job security, we lost two of the longest-tenured executives in just a couple of days, the CW Chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz, who stepped down Monday, and David Nevins, Chairman and CEO, Paramount Premium Group and Chief Creative Officer, Paramount+ Scripted Series, whose exit was announced today. Both were around the 12-year mark in their jobs.

LaToya Ferguson In January 2021, the Jared Padalecki-starring and executive-produced “Walker, Texas Ranger” reboot (simply titled “Walker”) premiered as a new hit for The CW. Perhaps not quite infiltrating pop culture the same way as “Riverdale” had, still, it found success as a family and crime drama. The show was soon renewed for a second season, and is about to start its third. In the process of that success, naturally, the series was able to go the spinoff route — making this CW fall season two-for-two for spinoffs on Padalecki-associated vehicles, as the “Supernatural” prequel “The Winchesters” is also premiering soon, and he’s an executive producer on “Walker: Independence.” But the most interesting aspect of both of these spinoffs is that they specifically see value not in telling concurrent or future stories of the characters, but instead going back to the past, in prequel form.

Less than a day after the announcement that Mark Pedowitz would leave the CW, the cast and creator of The Winchesters took time to honor the chairman and CEO who championed their Supernatural spinoff.

Two senior executives at the CW — Rick Haskins, president of streaming and chief branding officer, and finance chief Mitch Nedick — are departing the network as Nexstar assumes control.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large [Above: The CW CEO Mark Pedowitz, with his network’s stars, at the 2015 upfronts.] When Mark Pedowitz first joined The CW as head of the network in 2011, he told “Supernatural” star Jared Padalecki that he was a fan of the series (which was then in its sixth season) and had seen every episode. At first, Padalecki assumed that Pedowitz’s comments were the kind of niceties that an incoming network president is supposed to say to their series stars. “I didn’t think he was lying,” Padalecki said. “But I thought he was at least being kind. Maybe he hadn’t caught up yet or had seen two episodes. He was certainly supportive and friendly. But I came to find out, as the months and years progressed, that he actually was a big fan of Supernatural and had seen every single episode… When we talked this weekend, he said that he has seen every single episode of every show that he was president of, and will continue to watch every episode of every show.  And I believe him. He hasn’t lied to me ever.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor After spending several years setting the pace of “The Flash” and other hard-racing TV superheroes on the CW network, Mark Pedowitz has reached the end of his current adventure. The longtime TV executive, who has run the one-time joint venture between CBS and Time Warner since 2011, is leaving the network as Nexstar Media Group prepares to acquire the outlet, which has its roots in two antecedent networks, UPN and The WB, that both catered to younger viewers. Nexstar is expected to close the deal at some point in the third quarter of 2022, but has already begun to run the network’s operations. Dennis Miller, a longtime TV executive who eventually moved into the world of venture capital, will take the reins as president of CW. Miller has served on Nexstar’s board of directors for the past few years.

Shortly after news broke that Mark Pedowitz is stepping down as Chairman and CEO of the CW, effective immediately, the veteran TV executives sent a memo to his staff about his departure.