Debmar-Mercury, Fox To Test ‘Father Albert’

Syndicator Debmar-Mercury announced today that it will conduct a test on Fox Television stations this summer of a new daily one-hour talk show called Father Albert.

Debmar-Mercury and Fox executives say they have yet to determine how many episodes will be tested, and on how many stations the show will appear. However, a Fox representative did say that the test run of the show will include stations in New York, Los Angeles and other select markets.

Father Albert is Alberto Cutié, a former Roman Catholic priest and TV-radio host who left the church in 2009 to marry a woman. He began hosting a daily daytime talk show, Padre Alberto, in 1999 on Telemundo and three years later, a weekly show, America en Divo, also on the Spanish-language network.

His Spanish-language market best-selling book, Real Life, Real Love, earned him the nickname “Father Oprah.”

Cutié says that while the show will have “an element of inspiration” it will not be religious. Despite his “Father Oprah” nickname, Cutié says his show will actually have more of the gentler elements of Dr. Phil then Oprah Winfrey. “This is a show about human experiences,” he says. “It will be like an open counseling session.”

Debmar’s Mort Marcus says the idea for the show dates back to him hearing a radio profile of Cutié. “There’s a hole in the market for a sort of faith-based show,” Marcus said.

Fox Television Stations SVP of programming Frank Cicha, said: “This really completes our roster with Debmar-Mercury: Tyler Perry, Wendy Williams, South Park, Jeremy Kyle and now a minister.”