In my Feb. 28, 2015 file photo, Jonas Larsen, from left, Kent Alterman, Michele Ganeless and Doug Herzog attend Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars: America Comes Together for Autism Programs" at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Comedy Central's longtime president is leaving as the cable channel faces declining ratings. The channel said Monday, May 9, 2016, that Ganeless will be replaced by Alterman, who as president of original programming guided shows including "Inside Amy Schumer.” (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Comedy Central's longtime president is leaving as the cable channel faces declining ratings.
The channel said Monday that Michele Ganeless will be replaced by Kent Alterman, who as president of original programming guided shows including "Inside Amy Schumer."
Ganeless said in a statement that the decision to leave was hers, adding that she wanted to challenge herself in new ways.
Alterman will assume his new job immediately. Ganeless will remain as an adviser through September to help with the transition, which includes executive David Bernath's promotion to general manager, the channel said.
Ganeless, president of Comedy Central for 12 years, was part of parent company Viacom's team that helped launch the channel in 1991. Most recently, she guided it through the departures of popular hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Ashley Walters, left, and Rosalind Eleazar pose for photographers at a photo call for the television series "Missing You," Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
It's Netflix's resolution every new year to give viewers a headscratcher in January.
Since 2020, the streamer has released a U.K. miniseries based on thriller book by Harlan Coben over the holidays. It seems to have paid off: "Fool Me Once," starring Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar and Joanna Lumley, launched this past January and became what Netflix says was one of their most watched shows of the year, amassing 108 million views.
2025's seasonal suspense series is "Missing You," based on Coben's 2014 New York Times bestseller. It stars Rosalind Eleazar ("Slow Horses") as Detective Inspector Kat Donovan, a police officer who specializes in finding missing people — apart from the fiance that vanished 11 years earlier.
"They know Jan. 1 is the sweet spot for them," says actor Richard Armitage, who has appeared in each winter Coben adaptation, which relocates the stories from the books' America to the north of England. "People have ownership over the show now, so like, 'I want my Harlan Coben show on New Year's Day. Give me my Harlan Coben fix.'"
"It's perfect timing for the release, to be honest," says co-star Ashley Walters. "Most people are going to be hung over or, you know, just not have anything to do with the day."
The show opens with the shock of Donovan's ex-fiance (Walters) popping up on a dating app, over a decade after she came home one day to find him gone.
"I've ghosted people before," laughs Armitage. "Just people you don't want to talk to anymore. Not digitally though."
Another star, Jessica Plummer, isn't a fan of those who disappear without saying goodbye, though.
"I'd just feel too guilty," she admits, calling it "cowardly and lazy — sorry Richard!"
