Inside CBS' Popular Women-Led Procedurals

quotThe procedurals have been part of my career at CBS since I startedquot said Reisenbach pictured below who began with the network in 2005 quotAnd honestly even before I got here because I came from Warner Brothers where they were coproducing Without a Trace and Cold Case as well I had worked very closely with the Bruckheimer team and then additionally as I took on more shows as my role grew at CBS I had the opportunity to have worked on almost all of the CSIsquotHaving badass women including Queen Latifah on The Equalizer and Amanda Warren on East New York lead shows is significant Historically these characters both tough and in law enforcement would have been white men While the network has worked diligently to achieve the current lineup the overarching philosophy of what goes on air has remained constantquotThe goals have remained the same they just have gotten strongerquot Reisenbach noted Those aims are quotto create culturally relevant shows tell compelling stories and make sure we have really interesting nuanced characters We want our shows to resonate with viewers And most importantly I think is to make sure that we have diverse and inclusive talent on our shows and behind the scenes as well The foundation for all of that has been in the works for a really long time But we39ve really seen it accelerate the past few years and it39s really paid off both for the audience who I think is really responding to the shows and for us The ratings are really mirroring thatquotCBS is home to seven of the top ten dramas including the top three NCIS FBI Blue Bloods The network also has been doing particularly well with Black audiences 19 of the top 30 series among African Americans are on CBS according to NielsenAmanda Warren believes it is vital to feature her character Regina Haywood as a Deputy Inspector overseeing police officers in a busy Brooklyn precinct in East New York quotI think it39s important to be any person who can compartmentalize different situations having her own responsibilities and then delegating them and the superior rank that she hasquot she said quotI can39t necessarily speak to procedural drama in the sense that our show yes does have a crime or a situation of the week but in a lot of ways it is serialized because of all of the character development that we are working on and trying to strengthen So it39s not necessarily per se a procedural but it is very much a crime drama that39s rooted in character development and layering and all these people who serve the communityquotRather than saying why it39s a good time for Regina Haywood it39s a good time for East New York because we are looking at what39s happened in society in recent yearsquot Warren continued quotHowever we may see it and try to start a conversation with our story in building or bridging rather the gap between policing and community And rather than looking at a particular character we39re looking at the story as a whole That39s why East New York is so relevant and important to today and the characters that are in this story all of themquotThe series also works as Warren referenced because it reveals Haywood39s devotion to serving the community The character is a quottrue public servant not a politician but a public servant which we are lacking very much so everywherequot she added quotSeeing someone do public service who happens to be Black of course is always a beautiful thing I love the AfroAmerican culture and what is given to me as a Black American woman And I think once we39re given the opportunity and the platform to be able to do what other people have been able to do and if history is any guide it39s just a testament to where we can go if we39re allotted the room and given the opportunity to do so I think it39s making real progress and normalizing diversity on screenquotMaking progress and normalizing diversity behind the scenes is what Jan Nash pictured above has been doing for decades One of the three showrunners on NCIS Hawai39i she has an unusual backstory A former investment banker strategic planner and development executive Nash turned to writing before running shows and has worked on Without a Trace Rizzoli ampamp Isles and NCIS New Orleans among othersquotI have been very very lucky in my life and to a certain extent very conscious in the choices that I39ve made about who I39m willing to work withquot Nash said quotI39ve worked with great men too And so I39ve been really lucky to have had an experience where in fact I never perceived that my gender was a factor in how people perceive my work Some of that comes from having had a number of careers before this one I do have a somewhat unique skill set I wouldn39t say I39m a trailblazer by any stretch of the imagination because there were plenty of women before me who ran CSI and various other things and a lot of women who ran comedy shows But I did have a fairly unique background It gave me a skill set that was relevant to the business of television and made me an easy hire in certain circumstancesquotAmong Nash39s skill set is that she reflexively shares credit it39s an inclusive attitude that transfers to the shows and results in what viewers have been turning towardquotWe want our shows to reflect our audience and our audience is incredibly diversequot Reisenbach said quotTherefore we need different points of view behind the camera to make sure that we are attacking each story from as many different angles as we can and for really making sure that our shows are culturally resonating for our audience We can39t do that with only one point of viewquotClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Inside CBS' Popular Women-Led Procedurals

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Jacqueline Cutler

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Inside CBS' Popular Women-Led Procedurals

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