Debmar-Mercury & FremantleMedia North America Team for Game Show

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK: FremantleMedia North America and Debmar-Mercury have joined forces to deliver the nationally syndicated game show Celebrity Name Game, which will be hosted by The Late, Late Show's Craig Ferguson.

The half-hour strip is based on the board game Identity Crisis. Courteney Cox and David Arquette's Coquette Productions developed the show with Scott St. John (Deal or No Deal), who will serve as showrunner.

This is the second collaboration between FremantleMedia North America and Debmar-Mercury, the first being Family Feud.

Thom Beers, the CEO of FremantleMedia North America, commented, “Celebrity Name Game is a hilarious and innovative rapid-fire game show that combines the best of pop culture with the best of comedy. We’ve had incredible success bringing world-class comedians to the world’s most successful game shows with talents such as Drew Carey, Steve Harvey and Wayne Brady. We are delighted to add the ultra-talented and witty Craig Ferguson to our family as he drives the competition and brings nonstop laughter to viewers at home. All of that combined with the fantastic partnership we’ve had with Debmar-Mercury and the incredibly funny and dynamic duo that is Courteney Cox and David Arquette—this show just spells laugh-out-loud magic!”

Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, Debmar-Mercury co-presidents, commented, “Celebrity Name Game will make the perfect companion to Family Feud in early fringe and access time slots next fall. It has every element needed for success: a great concept; a hugely popular and very funny host in Craig who, like Steve Harvey, is very natural and comfortable in the role; a who’s who list of celebrity guests that only Courteney and David can attract; outstanding production auspices with our Feud production partners at Fremantle; and the vast experience of a highly in demand showrunner like Scott. There are no other boxes left to check.”

Ferguson said, “I have to do a show which is of interest to me and Celebrity Name Game is certainly that. What a wonderful concept with such great potential, from two of my favorite people, Courteney and David.”

Cox commented, “We are such huge fans of game shows and believe Celebrity Name Game has the potential to truly stand out. We want viewers to have as much fun watching this series as we have had playing it with friends, many of whom are also big fans and want to be a part of this. Add in Craig, who is hilarious, and we have something really special here that will resonate with viewers.” 

Added Arquette, “It's so much fun bringing a game we love to play, a game that everyone we know plays, and spicing it up for everyone across America to play together."

St. John remarked, “This project is a funny, fun, engaging show.  Everything a great game show should be. To have the opportunity to work with Craig, Courteney, David and the folks at Fremantle and Debmar-Mercury, I couldn’t be more excited.”