Fox Stations To Test WBDTD Game Show

The Fox-owned TV stations have agreed to an eight-week test run of a prospective syndicated game show from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and TMZ producer/editor Harvey Levin, TVNewsCheck has learned.

The Fox station “preview” of the new strip — titled South of Wilshire — was later confirmed by WBDTD and Fox Television Stations. It will commence in January and is a co-production of TMZ Studios and Telepictures.

The show is described as “an urban game show” set in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Los Angeles known as Crenshaw, south of Wilshire Boulevard. The show apparently takes advantage of TMZ’s famed ability to collect video footage from the places where celebrities congregate. Home base for the show is a soul food restaurant in Crenshaw called Dulan’s.

On the show, “contestants watch videos shot in Compton, Inglewood, Baldwin Hills and other areas where celebs hang out … restaurants, bars, churches, tattoo parlors, gyms, basketball courts and other venues,” said a joint announcement from Fox Television Stations and WBDTD. “The shop owners and customers at these locations give clues about the celebs.  The videos are rich in character and filled with humor.  Three contestants at Dulan’s guess the identity of the celebs and play for money as the audience dines on some of the best soul food in L.A.  In the final round, a celebrity, whose identity is disguised, gives the clues about him/herself.”

“Interesting and different, within a sustainable economic model — that’s what we’re after, and that’s what we think South Of Wilshire delivers,” said Frank Cicha, senior vice president of pregramming, Fox Television Stations, in a prepared statement. 

“We are thrilled to continue the successful partnership that Fox and Warner Bros. share with Harvey Levin,” said Ken Werner, president of WBDTD. “Together, we have produced distinctive and successful franchise programming and there is no doubt that South of Wilshire will be the latest hit series.”

“The show is super fun,” said a statement from Levin. “It has a really different vibe from other game shows and it works on a couple of levels.  It’s impossible not to play along, and just watching the people at Dulan’s and the videos are entertaining as hell.”