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CNN This Morning has tapped Lauren Mensch and Chris Russell as its new executive producers, an effort to bolster the network’s morning show after its debut in November.

They will succeed Eric Hall, who departed in January to helm the 11 Pm hour of CNN Tonight hosted by Laura Coates.

Mensch will serve as EP and showrunner, overseeing the execution of the 6-9 a.m. Et show and leading its editorial direction. Russell will executive produce during the dayside and evening hours, focused on editorial and infrastructure for the following morning. They will report to Ryan Kadro, senior vice president of content strategy.

Mensch most recently was the EP of CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell, in a tenure that included coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the January 6th insurrection. She also was executive producer on CNN-Sesame Street town halls focused on Covid and race relations,...

Lauren Mensch and Chris Russell will take over the reins of “CNN This Morning” as the flagship program’s new co-executive producers, the network announced Monday.

According to a press release from the network, Mensch will “lead editorial direction and oversee control room execution to bring the show to air every weekday morning from 6-9 a.m. Et.” Meanwhile, Russell joins CNN to executive produce during the dayside and evening hours, “bolstering the show’s 24-hour infrastructure and editorial operations so it’s best positioned for the following morning.”

The pair will report to Ryan Kadro, CNN’s senior vice president of content strategy, and will both be based out of the New York Bureau.

“In just over four months, ‘CNN This Morning’ has become a destination for top newsmakers and is well positioned to grow under the leadership of Lauren and Chris, who bring years of experience producing exciting and relevant morning television,...

Don Lemon is back on CNN, and he’s sorry. Though viewers of CNN This Morning that have avoided social media may not have gotten the full picture.

The CNN This Morning co-anchor returned to the morning show Wednesday for the first time since he landed in hot water over comments he made last week about 2024 presidential hopeful and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. He did not, however, address or apologize for those comments on-air.

But in a tweet Wednesday morning, Lemon wrote, “I appreciate the opportunity to be back on CNN This Morning today. To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience — I’m sorry. I’ve heard you, I’m learning from you, and I’m committed to doing better. See you soon.”

Lemon was off on Friday and also took off Monday. Monday evening CNN CEO Chris Licht told staff that Lemon would undergo “formal...

CNN+ is gone, but some of the big-name anchors who were hired for the service appear to be sticking around for a while.

Chris Licht, the new chairman and CEO at the Warner Bros. Discovery news operation, gave indications at a town hall meeting on Thursday that he intended to find places for some of the popular names that were lured to the company with the promise of new programs for CNN.+ The subscription-based streaming service was scuttled abruptly by the company’s new parent after it completed its acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T. Three people familiar with the conversations at the meeting said Licht indicated he wanted to find places for Chris Wallace, the one-time Fox News anchor, and Audie Cornish, the NPR veteran, appearing in parts of the company’s portfolio. He also said Kasie Hunt, who was hired from NBC News, has been appearing in current CNN programming.

CNN viewers are going to have to get used to waking up with someone new in the morning.

The WarnerMedia cable-news outlet on Monday launches its “New Day” a.m. franchise into a new era, with Brianna Keilar, who has gained notice over the past year with a take-no-prisoners demeanor on CNN’s afternoon schedule, joining the versatile anchor John Berman. A new executive producer will oversee it all: Eric Hall will guide the action from behind the camera.

“We will play to Brianna and Berman’s strengths — being blunt, being candid,” said Hall in an interview. “Calling a spade a spade.”

Since launching in 2013 near the start of the Jeff Zucker era at CNN, “New Day” has played no small role in pushing morning programs toward a tougher, in-your-face stance. The show’s previous anchors, Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo, didn’t shy from interviews with government executives and...

When Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen try to show CNN viewers the sights and sounds of New Year’s Eve in Times Square this year, they will face one of their biggest challenges: There won’t be any.

The throngs of people who come to see the fabled ball drop in what is billed as New York’s “Crossroads of the World” won’t be in attendance, due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. For Cooper and Cohen, however, the show must go on.

People at home will want to watch and ring out a terrible year, says Cooper. “We want it to be a New Year’s Eve without all the mishegoss. You don’t have to have all the sturm and drang. You can just stay home and watch us go through it,” he says, in an interview. Besides, says Cohen, “I certainly pledge to get Anderson as...

Even though the PlayStation 5 is just around the corner, Sony continues to treat gamers to a wealth of impressive sales. And the latest promotion is a real doozie that’ll really delight all you fighting fans out there.

Specifically, the PlayStation 4’s latest Deal Of The Week is offering EA Sports UFC 4 for just $39.99, which is 33% off its original price of $59.99. Granted, the savings may not sound as significant as usual, but EA’s mixed martial arts fighting title is pretty new, and only released a couple of months ago. As always, this offer won’t last forever, so if you’re interested in hopping into the UFC Octagon on the PS4, we’d suggest pulling the trigger sharpish.

Not only is the official UFC video game franchise a really popular series, but the fourth iteration has received a lot of positive praise from critics as well. Indeed, our very...

Brianna Keilar isn’t looking for a fight in the early afternoon on CNN. Sometimes, she gets one anyway.

In recent weeks, Keilar has tilted at Fox News Channel anchor Tucker Carlson in a fact-checking segment about his criticism of U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, and appeared to be on the verge of tangling with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after asking her if she trusted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows when negotiating a coronavirus relief package. “That’s not an appropriate question for you to ask,” Pelosi responded. Keilar used tough words with Tim Murtaugh, the communications director of the Trump 2020 Campaign, who kept asking her to “hold on a second” as she questioned him about the administration’s coronavirus policy.

Keilar’s reply: “I can’t hold on a second when you’re not being honest.”

Anyone who keeps pace with the anchor’s program...

If you’ve been craving a dose of nightmare fuel to help keep you up till the early hours, then we may have the perfect sale for you. Yes, the Humble Store is currently running a promotion that nets PC players up to 85% off a bunch of popular horror titles. Not only will you be getting a significant saving, but the extensive list of games on offer is pretty diverse, too.

Indeed, from triple-a survival horror stalwarts like Resident Evil and The Evil Within to more under-the-radar indie projects like Layers Of Fear, Dead By Daylight and Outlast, if you’re in the market for a horror game, there’s sure to be a terror-inducing flavour on this list to suit your macabre tastes.

Specifically, headlining the sale is 2020’s excellent Resident Evil 3 remake. Our very own Eric Hall reviewed the title at launch and was super impressed with the retooled threequel.

Even though the zombie craze has arguably begun to wane over the the last couple of years, it’s safe to say that gamers still relish the simple pleasures of killing hordes of the ol’ living dead. You just have to look at the scores of zombie-slaughtering games that are currently in development, like OverKill’s The Walking Dead and Saber Interactive’s World War Z, to name but a few.

However, we can now add a new title to the Z-list. Case in point: Capcom are ready to go back to the bloody zombie well with one of their tentpole franchises. Yes, that’s right, the Japanese publisher has recently announced that they’re busy at work developing a brand new installment in their popular Dead Rising franchise.

In a recent blog post, Capcom revealed the closure of one of its mobile games called Puzzle Fighter. To sweeten the bad news,...