PROGRAMMING BRIEFS
Staff -- Multichannel News, 9/10/2000 8:00:00 PM
New York-Comedy Central's first foray into sports, BattleBots, debuted with a 2.1 rating, scoring as one of the network's highest-rated series premieres, officials said last week.
The Aug. 30 launch of the show, which features battling homemade robots, attracted 1.4 million households, according to Comedy.
The network has ordered another 13 episodes, with that second season starting in December. That batch of shows will be shot in early November in Las Vegas.
While Comedy is the first cable network to debut a battling robot show, it's not the only one: Sci Fi Channel and MTV: Music Television have similar series in the works. The concept was also a modest success on pay-per-view.
Comedy's first BattleBots episodes were taped over three days, June 9 through 11, at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion in San Francisco.
New York-Nickelodeon and Hit Entertainment plc are teaming up to co-produce Oswald, an animated series about a blue octopus who lives in whimsical city with a pet a hog dog, a penguin and a daisy, officials said last week.
Under the agreement, Nick will retain domestic rights for the show, while Hit will control all international rights.
Oswald is slated to launch on "Nick Jr." in the fall of 2001 with 26 half-hour episodes. The series will be produced by Nicktoons, and it is based on characters created and designed by children's author Dan Yaccarino.
Burbank, Calif.-Disney Channel has green-lit a new series-a live-action comedy with animation-as well as three made-for-TV movies.
The show, What's Lizzie Thinking?, is about a 13-year-old who is surviving the turbulent years of her junior-high-school life with the help of her animated alter ego. Disney has ordered 20 episodes.
The network is also going ahead with three telepics: Luck of the Irish, about a lucky boy whose good fortune turns sour; The Dog House, about a 13-year-old boy who accidentally kidnaps his principal's dog; and The Famous Jett Jackson-The Movie, based on the series.
Fort Lee, N.J.-CNBC's Power Lunch will broadcast live from Southern California this week, officials said. Power Lunch anchor Bill Griffeth will interview various CEOs and take a look at the industries that are driving and reinventing the area's economy from five locations.
Secaucus, N.J.-MSNBC and Newsweek will co-host Shades of Progress, Shadows of Hate, a town-hall meeting on race relations that will be broadcast live Sept. 12 from Birmingham, Ala., at 7 p.m.
The meeting will be moderated by MSNBC anchor Brian Williams and be held at the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of the 1963 bombing that killed four girls. Participants in the two-hour event will include Johnnie Cochran, Rosie Perez and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
New York-MetroChannels will air more than 250 hours of the fall fashion show coverage this year with "Full Frontal Fashion 2001," officials said last week. From Sept. 14 to Sept. 24, Metro will pre-empt its regular programming to cover the fall shows and events of the day from New York's Bryant Park, both in daytime and primetime.
The schedule will include shows such as Runway 2000 Countdown, featuring the best shows from fall 2000; Primetime Party Reports, taking viewers to the hot events; and Metro Media Spotlight, interviews with New York's leading print fashion experts.
New York-VH1's annual celebrity pro-am golf tournament, "Fairway to Heaven VII," will be taped Oct. 15 to 17 at the Royal Links Golf Club in Las Vegas. It will air Nov. 11.
"Fairway to Heaven VII" brings music, television and film personalities together with top pro golfers. This year, one VH1 viewer will win the chance to caddy for Will Smith and Charlize Theron, stars of the upcoming film The Legend of Bagger Vance. To enter the contest, viewers must go to VH1.com and state in 25 words or less why they want to caddy for Smith and Theron.
New York-Bill Nye, the Science Guy, the award-winning educational kids'series, debuts on Noggin with an all-day "Nye Sci-A-Thon" marathon on Sept. 10, officials said last week. Starting Sept. 11, it will air daily at 8 p.m. on Noggin.
No related content found.
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
