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Celebrity Name Game, which will be hosted by Craig Ferguson when it premieres in September 2014, has been set to air in more than 80 percent of the U.S. — including 19 of the top 20 television markets.
The new game show will appear on four CBS owned stations (San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Detroit) as well as 58 stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, including outlets in Tampa and Minneapolis. It was previously announced that Celebrity Name Game would air on Tribune Broadcasting stations in 25 markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
“Celebrity Name Game makes a strong addition to our access and early fringe lineup, given the success we’ve enjoyed with Family Feud in these same time periods,” said Bill Butler, Sinclair’s vp programming and promotion.
“To have Sinclair, CBS and previously Tribune, three of the nation’s premier broadcast groups, as well as other large-market stations, step up to secure it so quickly is a major vote of confidence in Craig and the show, said Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, co-presidents of Debmar-Mercury — a division of Lionsgate.
Celebrity Name Game was developed by Courteney Cox and David Arquette‘s Coquette Productions along with showrunner Scott St. John, Laura Robinson and Richard Gerrits. Robinson and Gerrits, who will serve as producers on the series, run North 44 Productions. Executive producers are St. John, Thom Beers, Jennifer Mullin, Cox and Arquette.
The game show is based on the board game Identity Crisis. Celebrities are teamed with contestants to identify famous names (actors, singers, athletes, pop culture figures, politicians, cartoon characters, etc.).
Ferguson also serves as the host of The Late Late Show on CBS.
The new game show is being co-produced and co-financed by FremantleMedia North America and Debmar-Mercury. Debmar-Mercury is domestic distributor while FremantleMedia is handling international sale.
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