Fast Track
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/24/2002 7:00:00 PM
This Is Reality
Bachelor producers Next Entertainment/Telepictures are also developing Are You Hot?. The six-episode series, for 2003, will be a search for the country's sexiest people, with viewers voting on the hottest man and woman. …
CBS has slated The Amazing Race to return for a fourth run, although the network has not committed to an air date. The Jerry Bruckheimer -produced Amazing Race 3 airs Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET. …
The WB will follow seven professional surfers living and competing against each other in Hawaii in its new reality series tentatively titled North Shore and set to air next summer. "The WB offers the ideal audience for North Shore," says Jordan Levin, The WB's president of entertainment, and we don't doubt him.
Finally (for this week) Lifetime Television is developing a reality show with news you can use. Targeted for early 2003, What Should You Do? features dramatizations of real-life emergencies and expert advice about how to handle them.
Chutes and Ladders
Although Peter Jennings has had an agreement in principle to stay with ABC since August, the i's and t's have all been dotted and crossed on his multi-year contract renewal at ABC NEWS. Like Barbara Walters and Ted Koppel before him, Jennings has set up a production company to do specials for the network—at least four hours of which are guaranteed to appear on ABC in prime time. Under the new deal, Jennings can also produce shows for others, just not CBS, NBC or Fox. …
Bill Maher, formerly host of Politically Incorrect on ABC, is joining HBO to host an hour late-night talk show, debuting Feb 21. The pay network has ordered 20 episodes. …
As expected, Tom Touchet, a top exec at ABC's Good Morning America, has been named executive producer of NBC's Today show, replacing Jonathan Wald, who resigned in October after differences with Today host Katie Couric couldn't be resolved. …
Lisa Ling, one of the co-hosts on ABC's The View, will leave the show in early December to join National Geographic Television & Film as host of the weekly National Geographic Explorer starting first quarter 2003. Explorer airs on MSNBC . Ling's replacement on The View won't be named until next year. …
R. Hewitt Pate, who led the Justice Department's review of the EchoStar/DirecTV and AT&T Broadband/Comcast merger reviews, was named acting assistant attorney general for antitrust after Charles James stepped down to become general counsel for ChevronTexaco.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell is guest speaker at the 2002 Communications Good Scout Award Dinner hosted by the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts on Dec.2 at the Park Hyatt Washington. For information, call (301) 214-9112. ...
A young honoree-to-be will be tapped by the National Television Academy, in association with PBS. The organizations announced the Student Award of Excellence and a show to go along with it, National Student Television, to recognize budding high school TV talent. Visit Web site www.nationalstudent.tv for entry information.
Corrections:
ET on MTV is telecast Friday through Monday on the cable network, not each weekday, as a Nov. 18 story on page 12 reported. Entertainment Tonight is cleared in 98% of the nation; we underestimated its clearances.
In the "To the Rescue" box on page 42 of the Nov. 18 issue, Advanced Video Coding Group was incorrectly identified.
In Market Focus in the Nov. 18 issue, the correct rating/share for ER on WTMJ-TV Milwaukee is 28.7/39.
Did He Pay a Fortune?
Pat Sajak has picked some good letters. Sajak Broadcasting Corp., owned by Wheel of Fortune host and former DJ Pat Sajak, will begin operating radio station WKHZ(AM) in Ocean City, Md., beginning Dec. 1. He has entered into a local marketing agreement with station owner Radio Broadcasting Corp., with an intent to buy. Sajak also runs WNAV(AM) Annapolis, Md.
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