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GSNN Originals Dancing with the.... Bachelor? |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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Jake Pavelka has made his choice... He's decided to extend his 15 minutes of fame by appearing on "Dancing with the Stars". Jason Block has his view of him and the 10 other "stars" to grace the dance floor this season in the Block Party podcast. Meanwhile, I offer a lesson
in risk management in inSites, Travis Eberle offers a lesson in race
relations on the Buzzer, and the guys get together to redo "Instant
Recall" in WLTI. |
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Mark Burnett Has "Trust" Issues ABC Orders New Series from "Survivor" EP From The Hollywood Reporter |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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Mark Burnett is back in the game
show business. ABC has ordered a pilot from the prolific producer for "Trust Me, I'm a Game Show Host." In a format twist, the show will have two hosts who will match wits about various subjects with contestants culled from a studio audience. One of the hosts will be telling the truth, the other will be deceptive, and contestants will have to figure out which to trust. Casting is under way for the two hosts. The pilot, produced by Mark Burnett Prods. and Monkey Kingdom, comes after Burnett's game show "Our Little Genius" was pulled from Fox's schedule before its debut after Burnett alerted the network that young contestants might have received information about the show's questions in advance. Burnett's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" was a long-running quiz show on Fox. The producer still awaits a verdict from ABC on the fate of his reality series "Shark Tank." The show debuted in the fall but struggled in the ratings in tough time periods.
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"Got Talent" Gets Taping Catch It in LA Tomorrow & Saturday! From the Futon Critic |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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NBC's top-rated summer show
"America's Got Talent," will tape shows in front of a live
audience in cities across the country beginning this Friday,
March 12, and Saturday, March 13, in Los Angeles. After Los
Angeles, the #1 talent competition series will travel to
Portland, Dallas, Orlando, New York and Chicago through March
and April. Host Nick Cannon, returning judges Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan as well as this season's new judge, comedian Howie Mandel, will be at each taping. To attend a taping please apply for tickets at: http://www.ocatv.com/. If viewers would still like to audition for season five, videos can be submitted online only at www.agtauditions.com. |
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Ochocinco of Love Bengal to Hold "Tournament" on VH1 From the Futon Critic |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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Cincinnati Bengals star wide
receiver Chad Ocho Cinco (formerly Chad Johnson) is using his
off-season to pursue happiness off the field in his new VH1
reality show "The Tournament" (working title). The series is a
mix of Ocho Cinco's on-field charisma blended with the drama
of the dating pool played out in a bracket-style dating
tournament. The 10 episode, one-hour series is set to premiere
in July 2010. One of the NFL's brightest stars, 32-year-old Ocho Cinco has been selected to the Pro Bowl six times and named an All-Pro three times. He legally changed his surname from Johnson to Ocho Cinco prior to the 2008 regular season to reflect the number 85 on his Bengals uniform. In the 2009 season, Ocho Cinco caught 72 passes for 1,047 yards and nine touchdowns. An avid user of social networks, Ocho Cinco has close to one million followers on Twitter and hundreds of thousands of fans on Facebook. "The Tournament" will start with Ocho Cinco finding his "first 85" by traveling all over the country meeting women that may be interested in dating him. Then, during the first episode, he will narrow the playing field down to the sweet sixteen - four women from each of the four regions of the country Northern, Western, Southern and Central Divisions. The sixteen chosen women will be invited to join Ocho Cinco for the rest of the tournament-style dating competition. Once the competition begins, Ocho Cinco will follow a tournament bracket where each of the ladies will have an opportunity to spend quality time with him while also facing off against one another in double-dates. The winner of each dating face-off will receive a game ball from Ocho Cinco and move on to the next round of the tournament, while the loser goes home. Ultimately the sweet sixteen will be narrowed down to eight and then the final four. In the end, the championship date between the two remaining women will result in Ocho Cinco awarding his chosen love the coveted Championship Ring. Hopefully, she turns out to be his greatest catch this season! "Chad Ocho Cinco is one of the most electrifying individuals in sports today. His bigger than life personality on and off the field and his notorious skills as a social networker, connecting daily with his fans, makes him a perfect fit for VH1," said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President, Original Programming and Production, VH1. "This show will not only give viewers a look inside his professional life, but also reveal his softer more romantic side when playing a very different kind of game." VH1's "The Tournament" is executive produced by Bob Horowitz and Lewis Fenton (for JUMA Entertainment) and Mark Cronin and Cris Abrego (for 51 Minds Entertainment, LLC. an Endemol Company). Ben Samek and Matt Odgers also executive produce for the series and the company. Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, and Kristen Kelly oversee the series for VH1. |
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Review: "Minute" An Awkward Fit Catch It on NBC Sunday From Reuters |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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Without football or Olympics, NBC
has a Sunday slot to be filled. At the same time, it has a
game show, "Minute to Win It," which is capable of filling an
hour. At NBC these days, that qualifies as a programing match
made in heaven. In "Minute," which premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. EST/PST, contestants get 60 seconds to do silly but harmless things including blowing up a balloon and then releasing the air to blow paper cups off a table. Things like using only facial muscles to move a cookie from forehead to mouth. Things like rolling a marble to knock over a pencil standing on end. There is an element of surprise in all of this but mostly it comes from realizing that, yes indeed, there are worse things NBC could do than put Jay Leno in primetime. Just like "The Jay Leno Show," this show is an awkward fit. Whereas "Leno" looked as if it had broken loose from its late-night moorings and drifted into primetime, "Minute" appears to be a refugee from a daytime schedule. There was a faint glimmer of hope for the show in the opening seconds, when the announcer, tongue firmly in cheek, invited viewers to see "the ultimate competition event." A campy approach to games with marbles, paper cups and pingpong balls might have made this show something more than background for checking e-mail. Alas, the show played it straight the rest of the way. Host Guy Fieri, a Food Network star with hair styled by static electricity, provided the night's contestant with bland but sincere encouragement. By the way, that contestant was so perky it was easy to speculate she had ingested more than granola bars in the green room. Fieri frequently reminds viewers that the grand prize is $1 million, but don't expect to see instant millionaires soon. To win that amount, a contestant must successfully complete 10 challenges, each harder than the previous. Winning the first one is worth only $1,000. Completing the second one brings the total to $2,500, and winning the third equates to $5,000. In other words, in theory you could win enough to buy a mansion, but unless you complete most of these challenges, you'd better not contract for more than remodeling the bathroom. |
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Far East Gets Translated Zig Zag to Port Asian Game Shows to West From Broadcast |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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Broadcasters in Japan and South
Korea have commissioned Zig Zag to make English-language
versions of their quirky gameshow formats. The networks have asked the UK indie to make pilots of the shows that can then be sold as formats for the international market. Love Fighter, which airs on South Korean youth broadcaster MNet, invites warring couples to take their dispute into a boxing ring in front of a studio audience. The show features verbal arguments alongside punishments and stunts. Zig Zag is also piloting a version of Move This, It’s Yours after spotting the Nippon TV format at Mip. The gameshow puts consumer durables such as TVs and washing machines up for grabs - but to win them, contestants have to carry them along various obstacle courses. “There’s a growing market for us in Asia,” said Zig Zag managing director Danny Fenton. “You can see from the likes of Hole In The Wall that there’s a lot of interest in wacky formats from that region, and we fought off other companies to get Move It.” |
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Nerds to Try Games New Firm Teams with US Producer From C21Media |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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Two British indie TV producers
formerly of Raw Television and Tiger Aspect have hooked up to
form a new production outfit, which will specialise in
documentary, entertainment and scripted formats. New Entertainment Research & Design (aka Nerd) is the brainchild of former Tiger Aspect executive producer Jago Lee and ex-head of development at Raw John Farrar. The firm is developing its first series, a gameshow set in a purpose-built underground town in the west of England. Talks are underway with an unnamed US investor to move the show's production forward. Nerd added it is working on coproduction partnerships for most of the shows on its debut development slate. Of the start-up, Lee said: "We feel there is a hunger in the industry for a new, more collaborative approach to ideas. Nerd is built on a tailored approach to development and production - we're aiming to achieve a perfect match of idea, talent and funding model, project by project." |
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First for the Top 12... Rolling Stones Top 12 Revealed Tonight From Entertainment Weekly |
Posted 3/11/10 |
| EW has learned that American Idol’s Top 12 contestants will perform the music of the Rolling Stones next week. During an ad break at the top 8 guys performance show, Ryan Seacrest taped a radio promotion in which he mentioned that the first week for the 12 Idol finalists will feature songs by the iconic British rock group. | |
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Live from New York, It's Betty White! First Lady of Game Shows Hosting May 8 From USA Today |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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Facebook has gotten Betty White
the gig she never asked for: host of Saturday Night Live. The 88-year-old actress, beloved by generations of TV fans, will host NBC's late-night veteran May 8. The Mother's Day episode also will feature a reunion of six former female cast members, most of them moms: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch. SNLexecutive producer Lorne Michaels says he has "always wanted" White to host. "Years ago, I turned it down three times," White says. "It's so New York, and I'm not New York at all. "But my agent said he'd divorce me if I didn't do it, and I love my agent." (That agent, Jeff Witjas, says he was only joking, but "it's perfect timing for her career right now. I said, 'Do it now, or when you're 95.' ") But it wasn't the legacy of White's Emmy-winning roles as the cutting happy homemaker Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show or naive Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls or being Mrs. Allen Ludden that nabbed her the gig. Nor was it the lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild in January, or last year's role as Ryan Reynolds' crazy grandma in The Proposal. It was her appearance in a Super Bowl candy commercial in which she's tackled in the mud by a football player. The spot lit a fuse on a Facebook campaign, where a "Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!" group — started in late December — has attracted nearly half a million members. |
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No, It Wasn't Her... Porn Peddler: Rozlyn Doesn't Have Tape From E! Online |
Posted 3/11/10 |
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From the With Friends Like This
Department... The latest person to come to Rozlyn Papa's defense in her sex-tape saga is none other than Mr. Lexington Steele. The porn purveyor brags to tells E! News that he is the man in the video that has been making the Internet rounds, and he can say without hesitation that Papa is not his costar. "I feel for Rozlyn, because that is not her," says Steele. "The girl in the video is from the Czech Republic, all of the girls in this release were shot on location in Prague. That girl has never traveled to the United States of America." Steele identifies the woman as one Lucy B. He adds that his cinematic tour de force, titled Pole Position Lex POV #1, was shot on June 6, 2004, and released by his company, Mercenary Pictures. |
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Monty Hall to Return to LMAD Will Play One Game with Wayne Week of March 22 From RBR.com |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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CBS announced that television icon
Monty Hall will make TV history with a sixth decade of
appearances on “Let’s Make A Deal.” Hall will appear on the
show each day of the week of March 22-26 with host Wayne Brady
and play one game on his own with an audience member or
members of his choosing. Hall originally teamed with writer-producer Stefan Hatos in 1963 to create Let’s Make A Deal, which ran until August 1986. In 1990, Hall returned to do Let’s Make A Deal for another cycle. Another adaptation of the show ran briefly in 2003, featuring a guest appearance by Hall, who now serves as a creative consultant on the latest version of the show, which began airing on CBS daytime in October 2009 Let’s Make A Deal is hosted by Wayne Brady. Mike Richards is the executive producer. Produced by FremantleMedia North America, the one-hour show is broadcast weekdays on the CBS Television Network. |
  Monty Hall will guest host the show he made famous on the week of March 22 (photo courtesy Fox) |
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Bravo Adds 5th Night of TV "Fashion Show" Renewed From TV Week |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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One of NBC Universal's cable
networks is gaining a fifth night of original programming,
ramping up its hours of original offerings by 20%, B&C
reports. The network in questions, Bravo, didn't say which night would receive the additional programming. Original programming currently airs Monday through Thursday on Bravo. Our guess is that it's Sunday. The network did announce four series pickups including "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." Other pickups include "Miami Social Club," following Miami's elite; "Million Dollar Decorators," which deals with high-end Los Angeles decorators, and "Pregnant in Heels," revolving around Rosie Pope, maternity clothes designer. Bravo laid out renewals for four other shows: "The Fashion Show," "Million Dollar Listing," "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" and "Tabatha's Salon Makeover." Bravo also has seven developmental projects in the pipeline, five unscripted and two scripted series. |
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Syndies: Olympics Freeze, Oscar Thaw Results for Week Ending February 28 From B&C |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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Syndicated ratings were narrowly
mixed in the week ending Feb. 28 as widespread preemptions and
competition with week two of the Winter Olympics kept a lid on
Nielsen scores. Twentieth's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader was unchanged at 1.5. Among the rest of the game shows, CTD's Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy each logged 3% upticks to 7.4 and 6.4 respectively. Disney/ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was marked down 4% to 2.6. Debmar-Mercury's Family Feud was flat at 1.3. NBCU's soon-to-conclude Deal Or No Deal had no rating; it was broken out all week. |
 "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" scores out of the gate in its syndicated debut (photo courtesy 20th TV) |
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New "Feud" Cash Game Catch It on WorldWinner From Marketwire |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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On your mark, get set, "Feud"! Today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, WorldWinner (www.worldwinner.com), a subsidiary of GSN and provider of online game competitions, and brand licensors FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), have unveiled the latest version of their online "Family Feud" cash game, it was announced today by Peter Blacklow, president of WorldWinner and executive vice president of GSN Digital. Based on the long-running, Emmy Award-winning TV game show produced by FremantleMedia North America, the updated "Family Feud" cash game includes several new features that align the game even more closely to its television counterpart with new characters and graphical content, additional questions that extend game play, and mouse-driven interfacing. Players can now rack up high scores like never before and compete for a piece of the action with more than $250,000 awarded daily on WorldWinner.com. "This redesign of the 'Family Feud' game is even more like the on-air game show," said Blacklow in making the announcement. "We've updated the game to reflect the personalities and preferences of our players; and we've added some fun twists, including the ability to play for cash and prizes in-character as a family of robots or monster creatures." "WorldWinner has always been a great partner," added Olivier Delfosse, director of Interactive for FME. "With all its new and improved features, we expect the 'Family Feud' experience will provide more deep and meaningful interaction with one of our most beloved and evergreen game show brands." Further to the features mentioned above, the new "Family Feud" game at WorldWinner.com now offers players the opportunity to select unique new avatars to represent their family before answering a set of five survey questions, testing their ability to deduce the nation's most common responses. Pending their answers, the opportunity for cash and prizes again adds to the excitement for the players. |
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"Face the Ace" Lawsuit Dropped Defendant to File Appeal, Case Going to FBI From Bluff Europe |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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The Federal Bureau of
Investigation is taking an interest in the ongoing copyright
dispute over TV poker gameshow, Face the Ace. Brandon McSmith
claims that Poker PROductions stole the show format from him.
In the show, contestants challenge
pros to heads-up poker matches, picking their opponents at
random from behind closed doors. |
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Next Stop: Portugal Talpa Media Deals with Production Company From C21Media |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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First it was the US, France and
Spain; now John de Mol's Talpa Media has inked a 50/50
joint-venture production deal in Portugal, holding all the
company's format rights in that market and Portuguese-speaking
Angola. The new company will be jointly owned by Talpa and Portuguese TV production house CBV, and run by the latter's CEO Piet-Hein Bakker. The new joint venture has the exclusive right to sell, adapt and produce all Talpa reality, gameshow and scripted formats in the two markets. "This is a great step ahead for me and my CBV founding partners Pedro Curto and Vasco Vilarinho," said Bakker. "CBV has the domestic production capacity and in-house creativity, Talpa is developing a great catalogue of up-to-date formats in many different genres. Together we expect to grow to a strong and successful position in the dynamic Portuguese market and the growing market of Angola.” CBV was set up in 2007 by former Endemol Portugal execs Bakker, Curto and Vilarinho, and financed by Dutch media entrepreneurs Joop van den Ende and Hubert Deitmers. It produces reality and entertainment programmes for all terrestrial broadcasters in Portugal, such as Vip Manicure (SIC), A Procura de Sally (RTP) and Apanha-me Se Puderes (TVI). De Mol said: “Talpa is fast-moving when it comes to establishing partnerships in important TV markets. Recently we concluded deals in the US, France and Spain. Portugal is not the biggest market in the world, but it is open and competitive." Formats covered by the Talpa deal include The Golden Cage, Dating in the Dark, Viper’s Nest, Pretty Smart, Guesstimation, I Love My Country, Divided and Know Your Nation. |
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France Honors Takeshi Kitano He of the Eponymous "Castle" Made Commander of Arts From AFP |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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France awarded one of its highest
artistic honors on Tuesday to the Japanese screen star and
film maker Takeshi Kitano, director of bizarre and violent
cult movies such as "Battle Royale". Takeshi was made a Commander of Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand at the Cartier Foundation, a top Paris contemporary art venue where paintings by Takeshi are on show until June. "You are not a man of one single film nor one single style, much less one single face," Mitterrand told Takeshi, presenting the medal to the star. Takeshi is a huge television personality in Japan and renowned worldwide for his films and cult gameshow "Takeshi's Castle", in which members of the public perform humiliating and spectacular stunts. "This exhibition shows that more than ever that you are not a man of one single art form," Mitterrand added. |
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Brucie Wants to Be a Knight "Hot Streak" Host: Light Entertainers Overlooked From STV |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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Bruce Forsyth is disappointed he
has never received a knighthood. The 82-year-old light entertainment legend - who was made a Commander of the British Empire, or CBE in 2006, a lower award in the British honors system - said a "knighthood would be nice for my family". An internet petition was sent to Downing Street in 2006 calling for the 'Strictly Come Dancing' host to receive the honor from the Queen - which would make him Sir Bruce Forsythe. Bruce added in an interview with TV personality Piers Morgan: "The public campaign to get me knighted was flattering and I am happy with my CBE. "The greats of British light entertainment, like the Eric Morecambes and the Tommy Coopers are rarely recognized and that's a shame." A source at broadcaster ITV clarified Bruce's position, telling the Daily Mirror newspaper: "What Bruce was saying was that it would be brilliant if comedians were recognized with knighthoods." |
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Bob Barker Donates $2.5 Million to PETA Money Earmarked for New LA Offices From AP |
Posted 3/10/10 |
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Bob Barker has donated $2.5
million to help the People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals open a new location in Los Angeles. The retired game show host and spay and neuter champion will cut the ribbon Wednesday at the Bob Barker Building on Sunset Boulevard and Alvarado Street. PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk says Barker could have just given the group a refrigerator but instead he paid for an entire building to be renovated. The building will be home to the group's media, marketing, youth outreach and campaign departments. The 86-year-old Barker delivered his spay and neuter message on "The Price Is Right" for a quarter century. Since he retired in June of 2008, he has taken his activism on the road, promoting freedom for whales, an end to the fur trade and other causes. |
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Fox Sets Summer Schedule "Hell's Kitchen", "SYTYCD" to Return From The Wrap |
Posted 3/9/10 |
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Fox is shifting "Lie to Me" to
summer, pairing it with new drama "The Good Guys" in an
attempt to establish a scripted beachhead on Mondays during
the off-season. The network will announce a summer schedule Tuesday that boasts first-run fare Monday through Thursday for most of the off-season. "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Hell's Kitchen," as previously announced, will again be Fox's unscripted summer anchors. But the interesting part of the Fox plan is on Mondays, where the network is setting the ground for a template which would keep it in originals virtually year-round -- and possibly establish a new June-December air pattern for scripted series. Having originally hinted at a late spring return for "Lie to Me," Fox will now return the Shawn Ryan-run drama Mondays, June 7. It will occupy the 8 p.m. timeslot now home to "House." "Lie" will be used to help launch the lower-cost (but not low expectation) action comedy "The Good Guys," the Matt Nix-created hour which stars Brad Whitford and Colin Hanks as mismatched detectives. "Guys" (formerly "Code 58") will air Mondays at 9 p.m., following a special in-season preview Wednesday, May 19 at 8 p.m. (right before "American Idol"). Right now, Fox has 12 original episodes of "Lie" to air during the summer. It hasn't yet decided whether to make more. Instead, it will see how the show performs on Mondays this summer. If it does well, Fox could order more episodes and keep the show on the air and in originals from June through December. This would be a major step toward Fox (and other networks') stated goal of figuring out a way to extend the traditional September-May season for scripted originals through the summer. The other broadcast networks are all expected to try originals again this summer, though Fox's decision to put a high-profile, regular budget drama in the off-season could be a bit of a game-changer if it works. Other Fox summer highlights: --"Dance," as announced, bows Thursday, May 27. It will air Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until June 10. That's when "Hell's Kitchen" returns on Thursdays. --"Hell's" will air two-hour episodes all summer long. |
 Fox is almost ready to set its summer slate (photo courtesy Fox) |
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NBC Sets Summer Schedule "Talent", "Comic" to Return; "Celebrity", "Road Trip" to Die From The Wrap |
Posted 3/9/10 |
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NBC summer tentpoles "America's
Got Talent" and "Last Comic Standing" will return in early
June, part of the network's extensive summer schedule. "AGT" gets a two-hour bow on Tuesday, June from 8-10 p.m. It will also air Wednesdays from 8-10 p.m. The Tuesday edition of "AGT" will face ABC's "Wipeout" starting June 22. "Last Comic," meanwhile, will anchor Mondays. After a two-hour premiere from 8-10 on June 7, it will air Mondays at 9 p.m. That's the night new lower-cost drama "Persons Unknown" makes it debut, airing Mondays at 10 p.m. The Peacock also has the new competition series "United Plates of America," which is still casting, as well as the de facto backdoor pilot "Day One." None of last summer's incoming class - "The Listener," "The Philanthropist," "The Great American Road Trip," "The Wanted" and "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" - are returning, per a report from The Futon Critic. |
 NBC is almost ready to set its summer slate (photo courtesy NBC) |
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Pros vs. Joes to Reunite TO, McNabb Catch New Season on Spike July From The Futon Critic |
Posted 3/9/10 |
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Donovan McNabb will throw passes
to Terrell Owens again - only this time on a basketball court
in the new season of Spike TV's "Pros vs. Joes." The special
episode features current NFL stars who played college
basketball, Owens (Tennessee-Chattanooga), McNabb (Syracuse),
and Antonio Gates (Kent St.) against former NBA greats Hakeem
Olajuwon, Kenny Smith and Rick Fox. Spike TV's "Pros vs. Joes" goes into production beginning March 9 in Los Angeles and premieres Wednesday, July 14 at 10:00 PM ET/PT. The new season, hosted by Michael Strahan and Jay Glazer, will consist of eight one-hour episodes. (The episode with McNabb and Owens tapes Friday, March 12). The football stars showcased in the hit Spike TV original series include Warrick Dunn, Isaac Bruce, Derrick Brooks and Jeff Garcia. The basketball legends are Hakeem Olajuwon, Chris Mullin, Kenny Smith, Brent Barry, Isaiah Rider and Rick Fox. "Pros vs. Joes" features regular guys competing against an array of popular sports legends from the last two decades. Similar to last season, there will be only one sport played in each episode featuring three skill competitions and a three-on-three game pitting the Pros against the Joes. The sports this season will be football (4 episodes) and basketball (4 episodes). Utilizing their solid sports background and sterling track record of delivering high quality unscripted hits, A. Smith & Co. Productions' Arthur Smith, Kent Weed and Frank Sinton serve as executive producers of the new season of "Pros vs. Joes" along with Michael Yudin, president of MY Entertainment and Joe Townley, COO of MY Entertainment. The same team executive produced "Pros vs. Joes 4: All Stars." Smith is CEO of A. Smith & Co. and helped launch the successful Fox Sports Net in the late 1990s as its head of programming and production. Townley is a veteran of sports television production and previously served as executive producer at MSG Network. Sharon Levy, Tim Duffy and Joe Weinstock are executives in charge of production for Spike TV. |
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And the New "Dancing" Co-Host is... The Season 7 Champion! From WABC |
Posted 3/9/10 |
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Former "Dancing With the Stars"
winner Brooke Burke will be Tom Bergeron's new partner when
the series starts again later month. She'll replace Samantha Harris as co-host. Bergeron made the announcement Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." As a contestant, Burke won during the season that ended in November 2008. She has hosted TV shows including CBS' "Rock Star" and E!'s "Wild On." The mother of four children has also built her own business on parenting issues, with an online baby products store and job as the "mommy correspondent" on the syndicated show "The Doctors." She has more than 1.7 million followers on Twitter. Contestants this season include former "Baywatch" babe Pamela Anderson, reality star Kate Gosselin, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Olympics figure skating gold medalist Evan Lysacek. Also competing for the mirrorball trophy will be reality TV personality Jake Pavelka, sportscaster Erin Andrews, singer Nicole Scherzinger, football star Chad Ochocinco and actors Shannen Doherty, Aiden Turner and Niecy Nash. The new season begins March 22 on ABC.
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 Brooke Burke has been tapped as Tom Bergeron's partner on "Dancing with the Stars" (photo courtesy iParenting) |
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Seacrest Stalker Pleads No Contest Will Undergo Psych From E! Online |
Posted 3/9/10 |
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Seacrest charges out? For the most
part. Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr. pleaded no contest today to a felony stalking count stemming from his security guard-be-damned desire for proximity to our own Ryan Seacrest last year. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Fisher ordered the 25-year-old former Army reservist to undergo a 90-day psychiatric evaluation in prison. After completing the assessment, Uzomah is due back in court for formal sentencing June 14. As it is, the no contest plea spares Uzomah the two misdemeanor counts of attempted disobeying a court order he faced as a result of his obsessive, restraining order-ignoring behavior last fall—the additional charges will be formally dismissed at his sentencing. He now faces a maximum of two years in state prison. |
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Louie Stravato Pulled Off Beat Report: "Race" Cop Linked to Drug Ring From Examiner |
Posted 3/9/10 |
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Rhode Island undercover cops Louis
Stravato and Michael Naylor are competing to win The Amazing
Race, Season 16's grand prize of $1 Million dollars. Now
Stravato has something on his mind more than winning the
Amazing Race. Stravato has been taken off the streets and assigned to desk duty due to an internal investigation into a major police-operated cocaine ring. Rhode Island State Police arrested three Providence police officers on drug-related charges on March 4 in what is now known as "Operation Deception." Although just three officers were arrested in the drug sting so far, four additional officers were put on desk duty as of Friday pending further investigation. One of the officers put on administrative duty was Amazing Race contestant, Louis Stravato. The arrested officers are narcotics Detective Joseph Colanduono, Patrolman Robert Hamlin (who is a school resource officer) and Sgt. Stephen Gonsalves, Mayor Cicilline's former driver and husband to the Mayor's executive assistant. |
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Kids Week Returns to Jeopardy! Catch It July From Kentucky.com |
Posted 3/8/10 |
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Fifteen kids across the country
have been chosen to compete on Kids Week on the game show
Jeopardy!
The chosen few will be in Los Angeles this week to tape the show. The Kids Week shows are scheduled to air July 5 to 9. The winner of each show will receive a minimum guarantee of $15,000. The winners and their families will also receive a trip to one of five exotic places, courtesy of National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. Among the possible prize destinations are the Arctic region of Norway to search for polar bears; the rainforests of Costa Rica and the Panama Canal; Baja, Mexico, to see whales and dolphins; the wilderness of Alaska; or the Galapagos Islands. |
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"Let's Dance" vs. "Button"... Ant & Dec's New Show Drops Viewers From Broadcast |
Posted 3/8/10 |
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BBC1’s Let’s Dance for Sports
Relief pushed all the right buttons for viewers on Saturday
night, leaving Ant and Dec’s new ITV1 gameshow in its wake. According to overnight figures from Attentional, between 7.15pm and 8.30pm, Let’s Dance for Sports Relief averaged 7m (30.3%) – up 500,000 on the previous week and the largest audience of the series to date. Viewers peaked at 7.55pm with a huge 7.7m (33.5%) – the biggest audience of the night on any channel. That meant a tough start for Ant and Dec’s Push the Button on ITV1, which aired from 8pm to 9pm and averaged 5.8m (24.4%). It was down from last week’s debut of 6.6m (26.7%) and was watched by 5.4m during its first half hour, while Let’s Dance was on. But it picked up during the second half of its slot, with its audience growing to 6.1m (25.6%) to win the slot. On BBC1, the new series of The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins, averaged 5.9m (24.9%) between 8.30pm and 9.20pm Push the Button gave a good lead in to Piers Morgan’s Life Stories at 9pm, which featured an interview with X Factor mogul Simon Cowell. The episode had a solid audience of 5.6m (23.6%) between 9pm and 10.15pm – 1.7m more viewers than the Prime Minister Gordon Brown had on Sunday 14 February and 1m more than any other episode of Morgan’s interview show to date.
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Big Ratings, Bad Reviews for "Marriage Ref" Catch Premiere on NBC Thursday From New York Times |
Posted 3/8/10 |
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Comedian Jerry Seinfeld's
much-anticipated return to U.S. television drew bumper
audiences but some scathing reviews on Monday for his new
comedy game show, "The Marriage Ref." Some 14.5 million Americans watched the debut of show on NBC on Sunday as the network ended its coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, which drew more than 185 million viewers over the past 17 days. Seinfeld, 55, who has done little TV since his beloved sitcom "Seinfeld" ended in 1998, is executive producer and occasional panelist on "The Marriage Ref," which has stars weigh-in on the light-hearted arguments of American couples. The show is intended as one of the highlights of NBC's hastily revamped 10 p.m. schedule after it axed "The Jay Leno Show" in February in an embarrassing retreat from cheap-to-produce talk show fare in the prime-time hour traditionally seen as the home of expensive scripted drama. Sunday's 30-minute "sneak preview" of "The Marriage Ref" featured one couple arguing about stuffing their dead dog and another about whether to put a stripper pole in their bedroom. Alan Sepinwall of The Star Ledger called it an "ugly, unfunny, patronizing mess," while National Public Radio's Linda Holmes called it "painfully bad." Time magazine's James Poniewozik said it was "the most God-awful mishmash of a comedy-variety show" and said it had a "corny, low-rent feel." Other reviewers were kinder and intrigued about seeing pop star Madonna, actress Tina Fey and "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria-Parker in upcoming episodes. "Perhaps foremost, 'The Marriage Ref' provides light entertainment at a time when silliness represents a balm to grim tidings elsewhere," said Daily Variety. Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker was also prepared to give it a second chance, saying "Taken on its own terms, as non-scripted entertainment, 'Ref' is at the very least more fun than 'American Idol' is these days." "The Marriage Ref" begins its regular 10 p.m. on March 4.
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Alton Brown to Speak at UGA Commencement "Iron Chef" Host an Alumnus From 1340 WGAU |
Posted 3/8/10 |
| The University of Georgia lines up a commencement speaker: UGa Alum and Food Network television host Alton Brown will speak to the graduates in commencement exercises set for May 8 at Sanford Stadium. Brown attended UGa in the 1980s, eventually earning his degree in 2004. He's a Peabody award winner and currently hosts "Iron Chef America" alongside "Chairman" Mark Dacascos. | |
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Matt Lucas Quits "Shooting Stars" "Little Britain" Star Pressed for Time From Comedy Central |
Posted 3/8/10 |
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No longer will we hear “What are
the scores George Dawes?” because Matt Lucas has decided to
quit Shooting Stars. Hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer the new series of the utterly random quiz show apparently clashes with a show Lucas is working on with Little Britain partner David Walliams The Sun writes. “It’s the first time in six series that I can’t be in it and I’m obviously sad. I hope we can do something together again soon” he said. Lucas has kept the scores on the show since its inception in 1993, sat behind a drum kit dressed as a baby in a full baby-grow. Shooting Stars returned last year after the last full series ended in 2002. A new series will be back later this year with Jack Dee remaining a team captain as will Shooting Stars veteran Ulrika Jonsson. |
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Norman Gentle... The Show? "Idol" Castoff Records, Plans From USA Today |
Posted 3/8/10 |
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Nick "Norman Gentle" Mitchell
tells the Danbury News-Times that he has recorded a song
called Brit Slap that will come out April 6. "We're shooting
the video for it in Times Square at Madame Tussaud's Wax
Museum so I can sing it to all the Idol judges," Nick tells
reporter Erik Ofgang. Perhaps more interesting, though, is that Nick says he's been approached about doing a four-month run in Vegas with other people from Idol: "I'm not allowed to say the casino yet, but it's going to be with two Idol winners and a couple of finalists, and I'm just going to be hosting it." |
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ABC, Cablevision Make Amends Deadline Was March 6 From New York Daily News |
Posted 3/7/10 |
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Cablevision customers got their
Oscar fix Sunday night as the cable giant agreed to broadcast
ABC minutes before the first Academy Award was presented. Just 13 minutes after the ceremony began in Hollywood, ABC scrolled a breaking news message: "ABC7 and Cablevision have made significant progress in negotiations and are pleased to announce that ABC7's signal has returned to Cablevision customers as they try to finalize a deal." A Cablevision spokesman called it a deal "that is fair to our customers." There was no immediate word on the terms of the deal. Customers were threatening to ditch Cablevision and boycott ABC if the dispute over millions of dollars in fees wasn't resolved quickly. "If no one watches ABC, there goes their ad revenue," said Mary DeMercurio, 64, of Bogota, N.J., a movie buff who hadn't missed the awards in more than 50 years. Experts agreed that missing out on one of TV's most highly rated shows would be bad for business. "Both parties lose from this," TV historian Tim Brooks said. The blackout affected 3.1 million customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. |
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Reuters