Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S. Networks Group  will be reorganized under Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer, with long-time Discovery executive Nancy Daniels adding responsibility for TBS, TNT and truTV.

Those former Turner networks had been overseen by Brett Weitz, who is leaving WBD, the company confirmed.

Also leaving is Tom Ascheim, who oversaw WarnerMedia's Kids and Young Adults business. 

That business is being split into three sections, with Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen adding Cartoon Network and Boomerang to his portfolio. Pola Changnon, who is general manager of Turner Classic Movies and had been reporting to Ascheim, now reports to Finch. The Warner Bros. Animation/CN Studios Group, which also reported to Ascheim, will be headed by Sam Register and become part of the Warner Bros. TV Studios group under Channing Dungey.

Finch is also centralizing the group’s marketing, communications/public relations and content strategy/scheduling operations. Previously individual network groups had their own operations handling those functions.

Finch told staffers in a memo that in addition to creating a less layered organization, WBD’s networks will benefit from a more collaborative and strategic approach to how it schedules and markets its content.

“With so many top networks in our portfolio, we have the ability to synchronize programming schedules across multiple brands and then market those networks in an advantageous way, strategically moving audiences from one tentpole to another — and from one network to another — in a seamless, coordinated fashion,” Finch said.

The centralized units will be headed by Audrey Adlam, group senior VP, communications & public relations, U.S. Networks; Karen Bronzom, chief marketing officer, U.S. Networks; and Julie Taylor, chief of content strategy & insights, U.S. Networks.

All three report to Finch.

Johanna Fuentes, who was head of global communications for WarnerMedia’s studio and networks, also left the company.

Under the new content lineup, all of the brand leaders also will report directly to Finch.

The new brand leader lineup includes:

• Daniels, who now oversees Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Science, TBS, TNT & truTV; 
• Jane Latman, in charge of HGTV, Food Network & Cooking Channel; 
• Howard Lee at TLC & Travel Channel; 
• Ouweleen, running Adult Swim, Cartoon Network & Boomerang; 
• Tina Perry, head of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network; and
• Jason Sarlanis, heading ID & Investigative Content.

The flattened organization will also include reductions in head counts. Warner Bros. Discovery has promised Wall Street $3 billion in cost savings. ■

AT&T’s Warner Bros. unit said it hired The Walt Disney Co. executive Tom Ascheim as president of global kids, young adults and classics at Warner Bros.

Ascheim, who had headed Freeform at The Walt Disney Co., will be responsible for global strategy for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang, managing the Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. animation studios and overseeing Turner Classic Movies.

He will be assuming responsibilities formerly handled by Christina Miller, one of many former Turner executives who left after AT&T took over Time Warner last year.

Last week, AT&T's WarnerMedia unit named a new CEO, former Hulu founding CEO Jason Kilar. Warner Bros. is part of WarnerMedia.

RELATED: WarnerMedia Names Kilar CEO

“I am excited that Tom will be joining Warner Bros. He is an excellent executive and collaborative leader with an impressive track record and deep experience in the kids and young adult worlds. I had the benefit of seeing Tom’s skills firsthand when we were at Nickelodeon and really look forward to working with him again,” said Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff, to whom Ascheim will report.

Ascheim will join Warner Bros. this summer.

Ascheim was named president of Freeform in 2013, when it was still ABC Family. Before that he was chief strategy officer of Sesame Workshop. Earlier he was with Newsweek and Nickelodeon television.

"I am thrilled to be joining Warner Bros. and especially excited to be working with the deeply talented folks at Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, TCM and Warner Bros. Animation,” said Ascheim. “I've been watching their work since I was a child and it's thrilling to be part of such a storied group. I'm equally excited to be working again with Ann Sarnoff who remains one of the best people I've ever had the privilege to work with."

In New York’s Times Square last month, WE tv drummed up support for the March 2 launch of a series by opening a pop-up “Museum of Natural Hysteria,” replete with a scream booth, a Rage-O-Meter Punching Bag, cranial massage chairs and a rogues’ photo gallery of viral brides to be, including an infamous one in 2012 who was left at the altar. (Google it.)

Few shows might be deemed worthy of such an oversized promotional presentation, but the cable network deemed the return of its series Bridezillasafter a five-year hiatus to be one of them. The AMC Networks outlet is resurrecting the reality show for fans who want to watch, again, as women lose their grip prior to their nuptials, as well as a new generation that wants to know what the fuss was about.

WE tv is one of several cable channels resurrecting TV franchises previously thought buried in the graveyard of cancelled shows. While the broadcast networks are generating headlines with reboots of such classic shows as Roseanne, Murphy Brown and Get Christie Love!, cable networks are also looking to mine ratings gold by resurrecting nostalgic programming.

Related: Broadcast ’Boots Bring Back Buzz

Heading Back to the Beach
Networks say bringing back popular series, from TLC’s Trading Spaces to MTV’s Jersey Shore, which comes back in April with the original cast, including JWOWW, Snooki and The Situation, in Jersey Shore Family Vacation — already green-lit by MTV for a second season — generates instant viewer recognition in a crowded and noisy environment.

“There’s so much television these days, and so much entertainment for people — you have to find a way to hook them quickly — and I think there’s a built-in interest and excitement around a [rebooted] series that provides a different way to tap that existing passion,” said Tom Ascheim, president of Freeform, which will reboot the 1990s Fox series Party of Five. “We definitely hope it makes it easier to promote and taps into an existing fan base, as well as attract people who haven’t spent so much time with the show or vaguely heard of it and want to see the new one.”

While TV programmers have long sought to relive the glory of classic shows through remakes and movie takeoffs, the trend has exploded over the past year as networks look to offer content with built-in audiences to counteract a Peak TV dynamic that featured more than 450 scripted television shows in 2017 and is expected to grow this year.

More than a dozen shows from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are scheduled to return to the air in 2018. Some will be completely new versions of the original, others will feature the shows’ original casts. They come in a variety of genres, including comedy (CBS’s Murphy Brown), drama (CBS’s Magnum P.I.), and unscripted fare (History’s In Search of …).

Even streaming services that haven’t been around very long are tapping into the past with reboots of classic shows like The Twilight Zone (CBS All Access), Lost in Spaceand Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Netflix).

WE tv executive vice president of development and original programming Lauren Gellert said social media has changed the dynamics of preparing for a wedding day, which has allowed the network to bring back popular series Bridezillas.

After a 10-season run, the series was benched, replaced in the lineup by Marriage Boot Camp.

With social sites such as Pinterest and Facebook becoming major platforms for brides to shop and showcase themselves, Gellert said the network saw an opportunity to reboot the franchise for a new generation.

“Bridezillas was obviously a fan favorite when we rested the show, but it certainly didn’t leave the zeitgeist and pop-culture lexicon of words often used in the press and by celebrities,” she said. “We thought it was a good time for a little nostalgia and to tap into some of our roots.”

Gellert said the show will draw former Bridezillas fans as well as social media-savvy millennials looking to connect with the franchise.

“There’s a new ‘better find me my selfie stick’ kind of bridezilla out there that thinks everything should just be fine if she orders flowers she saw on Pinterest,” Gellert said.

TLC will also look to shake the dust off of one of its most popular series, Trading Spaces, which returns with new episodes on April 7 after being off the air for a decade. The series, arguably the granddaddy of the home-renovation genre, premiered in 2000, but new episodes for the show have not aired since 2008.

TLC president Nancy Daniels, upped last week to chief brand officer, Discovery & Factual, at Discovery Communications, told TV critics in January that the series, which will bring back many of the show’s stars (including host Paige Davis) was a cornerstone show for TLC that fans had for years inquired about returning.

“From the moment we announced it, we knew it was the right time,” Daniels said during the Television Critics Association tour. “Just the interest, the excitement and the people coming out of the woodwork to tell you their favorite episodes and favorite stories … I’m thrilled and excited, and I just feel like it is the right time.”

Davis said the Trading Spaces brand remains popular with viewers despite the proliferation of home improvement shows that have aired since the series left the air. She added that the return of the show’s original crew as well as the addition of several new professionals will help the show’s appeal beyond its fan base.

“Trading Spaces will offer viewers the same thing it offered when it first came into the landscape — creativity, resourcefulness and approachability — and we created a catalyst for a new genre of television,” she said. “I’m not concerned that Trading Spaces will not break through the clutter; one of the benefits of all of that stuff being out there is that our viewing audience is much more educated, and they’ll appreciate what we have always offered.”

Reviving a popular show with its original cast isn’t a guarantee of ratings success. For reboots to work, the show has to remind people of the past but reflect today’s society and culture, Freeform’s Ascheim said. The Walt Disney Co.-owned network’s reboot of Party of Five, in which five brothers and sisters are forced to raise themselves after their parents die, changes the dynamics of the original by following the lives of five siblings after their parents are deported.

“The basic construct is the same, but this time updated to reflect the culture in which we live now,” Ascheim said. “It feels like it’s up to this moment in our world when it launches.”

Familiarity Breeds Success
The show’s familiarity, coupled with its ability to address some of today’s societal issues, could be a recipe for attracting young viewers who may or may not have streamed episodes from the original series on Hulu.

“Just in the same way that we often base a television series on a movie, book or some other pre-existing or intellectual property that people already have a relationship with, taking a familiar series makes viewers more likely to pay attention on the way toward making the show,” Ascheim said. “And then once it’s made they create a disposition and affection for it.”

WE tv’s Gellert said reboots appeal to viewers exhausted by the constant drumbeat of controversy and drama in the current breaking-news cycle and want comfort television, something safe and familiar. “I think there’s some innate goodness in Bridezillas, because there’s a lot of humor and it really is an over-the-top reaction to what is the biggest day of many of these women’s lives,” she said. “We see a wedding at the end and we feel good about that. We laughed with her — we thought she was insane — and yet we see that he is really marrying her, and how happy this crazy bride is. There’s humor, a lot of lightness and a celebratory moment, and I do think we need that in today’s fast-paced media environment.”

Ascheim doesn’t believe the reboot phenomena is in danger of running out of steam in the near future, adding that these reimagined shows can thrive side by side with the plethora of new, original scripted and reality shows.

“I don’t think we’re in danger of going overboard yet,” he said.

Freeform has given a second season to drama Beyond, as Tom Ascheim, network president, surprised the cast and executive producers with the announcement during their TCA Winter Press Tour panel in Pasadena, Calif.

Get complete coverage of the 2017 TCA Winter Press Tour.

Adam Nussdorf and Tim Kring are among the exec producers on the rookie drama, which launched Jan. 2. In a break from its norm, Freeform made the entire season available for binge watching.

Watch the Beyond season 1 trailer.

”Our goal for launching Beyond was to give the audience outstanding content in the way they want to watch it,” Ascheim said. “The response has far exceeded our greatest expectations, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and we can’t wait to bring more Beyond to its growing fan base.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Get more news from #TCA16 here.

Pasadena, Calif. -- ABC Family’s name conversion to Freeform won’t hurt the network by losing its name identification with parent Disney/ABC, according to Tom Ascheim, president of the network.

Ascheim, speaking at the network’s Television Critics Association tour press conference, said the Freeform name was chosen after extensive research with its core “becomers” audience which ranges from high school age to late 20’s.

While ABC/Disney name offers distinct brand identity, Ascheim said it was more important to provide a name that its audience can better identify with.

“We believe that we will still enjoy all the great benefits that comes from being with the Disney/ABC company … we will enjoy the great neighborhood that we live in,” he said. “But for our young audience it's important for them to feel like they discovered something on their own. Detatching ourselves from hallowed brands felt like a way to make sure newness and freshness were part of the qualities that make Freeform special.”

Ascheim added that while change it never easy, the network’s appeal to its viewers though original series such as Pretty Little Liars and new shows such as dramas Recovery Road and Shadowhunters will help make the name transition easier.

 “We asked questions about what names feel good – Freeform best responded against all of them,” Ascheim said. “People don’t like change – the question is is it a name you love by itself. We will use the power of what is consistent with ABC Family to make sure that all the love that they have for ABC Family transfers over to Freeform.”

The network Tuesday will celebrate the debut of the Freeform name with a day long virtial social media event that will include a Social DNA Project with Twitter; a live stream of events via Periscope; a Vine booth; a BuzzFeed Facebook Live chat and a custom Pretty Little Liars Facebook icon; Instagram content and talent takeovers; and a Pretty Little Liars Snapchat filter, said network executives.

ABC Family will delve into the procedural drama arena with its new drama Stitchers, the network announced Monday.

Stitchers, written by Jeffrey A. Schechter (Overruled!),  follows a young woman recruited into a covert government agency to be ‘stitched’ into the minds of the recently deceased and using their memories to investigate murders. The pilot was written by Schechter, who will executive produce alongside Jonathan Baruch and Rob Wolken.

“Stitchers is new ground for us and I’m excited to bring procedurals to the network,” said Tom Ascheim, President, ABC Family in a statement. “We think our fans will love the intricate mysteries that Stitchers will solve week to week as much as they love our relationship-driven dramas.”

The network also greenlit a second season of its comedy Young & Hungry (pictured), which stars Emily Osmet. Young & Hungry ranks as basic cable’s #1 telecast in its time period in Adults 18-34, and Women 18-34, as well as other key demos.

In other network news, ABC Family has cancelled its freshman comedy series Mystery Girls, starring Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth. The network also said it would not pick up its tennis-themed pilot  Unstrung, but has not made a decision on pilot Recovery Road.