Mike Benson Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Catherine Tyldesley and Shayne Ward will be returning for two more series of The Good Ship Murder, it has been confirmed. Shayne, 38, and, Catherine 40 previously played star-crossed lovers Aidan Connor and Eva Price on Coronation Street, and fans of the pair will get to see them on screens again as they reprise their roles on The Good Ship Murder, with Catherine playing First Officer Kate Woods, and Shayne portraying former detective Jack Grayling.

CBS is using the Super Bowl on Sunday to promote its entire lineup of returning series which will roll out during the premiere week that will follow the sporting event. Two of them, comedy Ghosts and drama Fire Country, are getting special promos created specifically for the Big Game.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox Entertainment has struck a first-of-its-kind drama development deal with two UK production companies, Walter Iuzzolino‘s Eagle Eye and The Serial Killer’s Wife producer Clapperboard.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As “Survivor” hits its 45th season this fall, CBS is building a new marketing campaign for the show inspired by its signature piece of clothing: The “Buff.” That versatile cloth that “Survivor” contestants have used as tube tops, bandanas and headbands since Season 1, will be seen at landmarks across the country over the next week, leading up to the series premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 27.

Paramount+ is making a UK TV drama about a woman whose butter-wouldn’t-melt husband is arrested for the murder of his former assistant, while the streamer has entered production on French series The Signal.

EXCLUSIVE: AMC Networks’ Acorn TV and Channel 5 are serving up a third season of The Madame Blanc Mysteries.

Perthshire’s Crannog Centre museum has been recognised with another award - this time on the strength of its welcome to visitors.

Justin Hartley is about to get a prime berth on CBS: His new drama Tracker will debut after the network’s telecast of Super Bowl LVIII on February 11.

EXCLUSIVE: Sheridan Smith and Céline Buckens have been cast as sisters in The Castaways, a Paramount+ drama series based on Lucy Clarke’s novel.

EXCLUSIVE: CBS is getting a head start on boosting the profile of its new Justin Hartley drama, now named Tracker.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large CBS is screening the Season 2 premiere of “Ghosts” in theaters across the country — and you’re not invited. Well, unless you’re dead. In a marketing stunt tied to this Thursday’s return of the hit Eye comedy, the season opener of “Ghosts” is being showcased in the middle of the night at venues in Los Angeles, Savannah, Ga., and Portland, Ore., but to empty seats. Instead, CBS is inviting actual ghosts to view the show — mortals be damned. “We are using social media and we’ve got some mediums and some other folks that we’re using to put the word out to people who are not amongst the living, to stop by any of these theaters and attend the screenings,” says CBS chief marketing officer Mike Benson.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The concept of a fall TV season may seem a bit outdated in this streaming age. Yet, broadcasters know that this is their moment in the spotlight. And the marketers at the major networks hope to embrace autumn as one of the best times to break through the noise and introduce their new and returning series. “Some people may feel that fall is irrelevant, that you just launch shows all year round, and we understand that that’s happening, but we have a different approach,” says CBS chief marketing officer Mike Benson. “We actually have made a statement that we love fall. We love not only the change of seasons and warm sweaters and the pumpkin spice lattes, but we love all the new shows coming back.”

Paramount Global’s Channel5 is well known for its love of luxury cruise liners and its next drama series will be set aboard one sailing the Mediterranean Seas.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large“Ghosts” is entering the metaverse. The hit CBS comedy has launched an immersive experience in the Web3 gaming platform Decentraland, allowing fans to experience the show and its haunted mansion in a new, unique way.

CBS is going old school this summer to help promote its most-watched daytime lineup.

K.J. Yossman The adaptation of T.M. Logan’s novel “The Holiday” has an exclusive trailer and a U.S.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount Plus has revealed a further slate of scripted and unscripted U.K. original series ahead of the launch of the streaming service in the U.K. this summer.

NEW YORK -- The game show that made famous the phrase “Come on down!” is coming on down to you.“The Price Is Right” is hitting the road, putting the game show on wheels and making 50 stops on a coast-to-coast tour for anyone who can't make the trip to the Los Angeles studio.“It’s kind of an exciting way for us to take something that’s really an important part of CBS' legacy and do something new and fresh with it,” said Mike Benson, president and chief marketing officer at CBS.The “Come On Down Tour” — separate from the TV show or live stage shows — will kick off Friday at the Santa Monica Pier and will make stops in such cities as Denver, Dallas, New Orleans, Nashville and St. Louis.Fans will be able to win prizes by guessing the correct retail price for various items in such games as Plinko and compete in a Showcase Showdown.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeCBS will utilize this Sunday’s AFC championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals to unveil a new fan-centric marketing campaign tied around the theme “Get Into Something Good.”And here’s the unique angle to the spots that viewers will see on Sunday: They don’t actually include clips from the shows. Instead, they focus on the superfans behind series like “Survivor,” the “FBI” franchise and freshman comedy sensation “Ghosts.”“We’re trying to really break some norms and look at things differently,” said CBS president and chief marketing officer Mike Benson.

Join thousands of others in getting the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox.A new fund has opened to help support the Scottish Crannog Centre following the fire of June 11.Three weeks on from the loghouse burning down tourists are returning to tour the unaffected parts of the Iron Age history centre.Crannog director Mike Benson was delighted over £50,000 has been raised for the Loch Tay museum by Largo Leisure and also close to £15,000 generated through the Crannog’s own

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeCBS is upping its game this Sunday. The Eye network’s coverage of Super Bowl LV comes slightly more than a year after the corporation’s re-merger with Viacom, as well as the arrival of Mike Benson as the network’s new president and chief marketing officer.

Dade Hayes Finance EditorEXCLUSIVE: In a fall TV season turned upside-down by COVID-19, how does the leading broadcast network by total audience get that audience to tune in?That’s been the promotional challenge faced by Mike Benson and his troops at CBS as the network reaches an inflection point in its COVID-19-adjusted season tonight.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterVariety Entertainment Marketing Summit Presented by Deloitte will take place virtually over two days, Aug. 26 & 27.

By Nellie Andreeva