Tribune Lands Celebrity Name Game

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK: Celebrity Name Game, the latest collaboration between Debmar-Mercury and FremantleMedia North America, has found a home on Tribune Broadcasting, which plans to launch the half-hour strip in fall 2014.

The nationally syndicated pop culture game show will be hosted by The Late, Late Show’s Craig Ferguson and is set to air on Tribune Broadcasting stations covering 40 percent of the U.S., including WPIX New York, KTLA Los Angeles and WGN Chicago. The game show was developed by Courteney Cox and David Arquette’s Coquette Productions, Scott St. John and Laura Robinson and Richard Gerrits of North 44 Productions. It is based on the board game Identity Crisis.

Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, co-presidents of Lionsgate distributor Debmar-Mercury, commented: “This huge commitment to Celebrity Name Game from one of the premier broadcast groups in the country illustrates the tremendous value stations place in acquiring quality, compatible first-run programming that can play alongside off-network sitcoms in early fringe and access time periods. As we’ve proven with Family Feud, stations are hungry for humor. With an exceptionally funny and popular host like Craig, a strong concept and Fremantle’s extraordinary track record of producing hit game shows, that is exactly what we have with this show.”  
 
Thom Beers, CEO of FremantleMedia North America, added: “We’re thrilled to see Tribune come in with such a solid commitment to this series, showing how quickly they recognized the true magic of this show and every element within it from the uber-talented Craig Ferguson to the dynamically funny Courtney Cox and David Arquette. Together with Debmar-Mercury, we’re excited to bring this entertaining series to audiences across the nation.”