Brad Kern is an American television producer and writer. He was the executive producer/showrunner of CBS TV procedural ' since midway through season two until the end of season four. Previously, he served as executive producer/showrunner on CW's supernaturalBeauty & the Beast for three seasons; and, prior to that, executive producer of the FOXaction adventure, Human Target. He was also executive producer/showrunner on the hit supernatural drama Charmed for all eight seasons. Before that, he was executive Producer/showrunner of the award-winning Fox series New York Undercover. Other previous credits include co-executive producer on ', supervising producer on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., and executive story editor on Hill Street Blues. Kern began in television as a staff writer on Remington Steele where he worked his way up to supervising producer. In December 2017, Variety reported that he'd been investigated twice for HR violations by CBS as showrunner of . In May 2018, Kern departed as NCIS: New Orleans showrunner, though he would remain a consulting producer on the series. Following a third HR investigation, Kern was fired from the series in October 2018 and his overall deal with CBS Television Studios was terminated.
Kern was hired as the showrunner when the presentation pilot became a series, and shared the job of executive producer of Charmed with the show's creator Constance M. Burge for the first two seasons, when Burge departed due to disagreements.
''Book of Shadows''
At the end of the series, Kern and Holly Marie Combs, who played Piper Halliwell throughout the series, took duo-ownership of the "Hero" version of the Book of Shadows; the prop versions were sold at auctions. The "Hero" version is the main, most complete Book of Shadows, and was pivotal to shooting the series. It was usually kept under lock and key. Kern and Combs were supposed to share custody of the book, agreeing to alternate possession with each getting the book for a year. However, it has been revealed that Kern never honored this agreement, having never transferred possession to Combs.
