'Dr. Oz' Takes Steps on Road to '09
New Harpo/Sony talker cleared in 80% of country, taps veteran Mindy Moore Borman as executive producer.
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/30/2008 7:00:00 PM
Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television have finalized several details of the fall 2009 syndicated show featuring Dr. Mehmet Oz, including the selection of Mindy Moore Borman as executive producer.
The show has now been cleared in more than 80% of the country, including 23 of the top 25 markets and with station groups including Fox, Gannett, Post-Newsweek, Belo, Scripps, McGraw-Hill, Hearst-Argyle and Fisher. SPT will also distribute the show. It will originate from New York and be shot in high-definition from its first episode.
“We're thrilled with how the marketplace has received Dr. Oz,” said John Weiser, SPT president of distribution. “He has an established brand and a connection with viewers and advertisers…everything stations are looking for.”
Like Rachael Ray and Dr. Phil McGraw, who both got a boost by being regular guests on Winfrey's program, Oz is a frequent guest on her top-rated talk show, which means he'll come to daytime television as a familiar face. Harpo, in conjunction with Scripps Networks, launched Rachael Ray in 2006.
Moore Borman is a veteran producer in both daytime and primetime with a résumé that includes The View, Good Morning America and Big Brother. She won an Emmy as a producer on The View and has also been nominated for her work on Good Morning America and Later With Bob Costas.
She has developed and launched a wide variety of shows for network, cable and syndicated television, including reality shows The Family and The Great Domestic Showdown, syndicated talker Iyanla and a Regis Philbin-hosted remake of This Is Your Life for ABC that didn't make air. Moore Borman has also served as VP of alternative development for Fox Television Studios, where she helped launch series including R U the Girl and Surgery Saved My Life.
“Mindy has terrific ideas, boundless creativity and a true passion for health and wellness,” said Tim Bennett, president of Harpo Productions. “She has an innate sense of how to help make Dr. Oz a magnetic daily show that will entertain people and enhance their lives.”
While the format is not finalized, the hour-long show will focus on multiple topics in the health and wellness genre, such as weight loss and nutrition, fitness, parenting, intimacy and stress.
A regular on Discovery's cable networks and a best-selling author and satellite-radio host, Oz is vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University, and directs the Cardiovascular Institute and the Complementary Medicine Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
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