FME Unveils Initial Guest Lineup for Costello Series

LONDON, June 25:
FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), in conjunction with its production and
broadcast partners, has presented the first-look lineup for Spectacle: Elvis
Costello with…, a new talk/music
series slated to premiere later this year.

Sir Elton John, Tony
Bennett, Lou Reed, artist/director Julian Schnabel and former U.S. president
Bill Clinton are among the list of guests already in place for the series, which
will air on the Sundance Channel in the U.S., CTV in Canada and Channel 4 in
the U.K.

Additional musical guests
include Davey Faragher, Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve
of The Imposters; guitarist James Burton; producer, pianist, writer, arranger
and singer Allen Toussaint; three-time Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist
Charlie Haden; jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny; jazz pianist Bill
Charlap; Larry Campbell and Tony Garnier of Bob Dylan’s touring band; keyboard
player Kevin Hearn; and violinist/vocalist Jenny Scheinman.

The series is
produced by Rocket Pictures, Prospero Pictures, SpyBox Pictures and Reinvention
Entertainment. FME, which holds the exclusive international distribution rights
for the series, will launch Spectacle worldwide at MIPCOM in October.

FME’s CEO, David Ellender, commented: “We are watching this
series unfold and it is everything we could have hoped for and more. We are
delighted to be partners on this amazing project and to be the exclusive
international distributors of Spectacle:
Elvis Costello with… and are excited to witness the first series grow and develop.
FME’s move into the music field is organic, yet deliberate. It is absolutely
our intention to invest in and build upon our relationships in this genre.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski