Hughley to Host Brit Import Liar

Comedian D.L. Hughley will host new comedy game show, Liar, adapted from a BBC show produced by FremantleMedia’s Talkback. The show is in development for CBS for early 2004.

Liar is a co-production of FremantleMedia North America and Reveille Productions, with Fremantle’s David Lyle and Reveille’s Ben Silverman serving as executive producers. Fremantle produces American Idol for Fox, the U.S. version of the U.K.’s Pop Idol.

Reveille brought NBC’s now-cancelled BBC-copy Coupling to the U.S.; mounted The Restaurant with Survivor’s Mark Burnett last summer; and has an adaptation of BBC’s The Office on tap.

H.T. Owens will executive produce, in association with 3 Arts Entertainment. Liar airs in five markets worldwide, and launched in the U.K. in August.

In the show, six contestants claim to have a common experience, but five of them are lying about it. The audience, with help from the host, must identify who is telling the truth. If the audience chooses correctly, they split a cash prize, but if they don’t, the best liar wins it all.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.