Syndicators In Home Stretch For Fall 2011

The first-run broadcast syndication market for fall 2011 is taking shape with a handful of shows emerging as frontrunners in the race to get to air. They include three talk shows — Warner Bros.’ Anderson Cooper, Sony Pictures Television’s Lisa Oz and Tribune’s Bill Cunningham — and a dating-reality half hour from CBS Television Distribution, Excused.

Warner Bros. will begin formally pitching Cooper to stations as an Oprah replacement within a few weeks.

Sony has high hopes for the relationship-advice show featuring author and former Sirius radio host Lisa Oz, the wife of Mehmet, the star of its Dr. Oz. It plans to shoot a pilot by the end of the year with Corin Nelson and Scott Stone executive producing.

Tribune is pushing ahead with Cunningham, another conflict talk show is the vein of Jerry Springer and Maury. Thanks mostly to Tribune’s own stations, Cunningham is already cleared in 40% of U.S. TV homes. Tribune has yet to name a distributor for the show, but NBCU, which handles Springer and Maury, would be a logical choice.

CTD’s Excused is being produced by Renegade 83 Entertainment, the creator of the old Blind Date, for late fringe or latenight slots.

But it’s talk that’s uppermost in the minds of syndicators and broadcasters.

“There is more of a concentration on talk than any other genre,” says Bill Carroll, VP and director of programming at rep firm Katz Television Group. “That probably reflects the fact that there will be a lot of repositioning of existing programs with Oprah leaving afternoons. That will open up opportunities for other talk shows in daytime.”

Oprah Winfrey is shutting down her broadcast syndication show after an extraordinary 25-year run to concentrate next season on her new cable network. She is creating OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in partnership with Discovery Communications.

“The one thing we know to be true with the big-name talents this year is that there will need to be cash license fees in addition to barter,” says Carroll. “If that doesn’t happen, those projects won’t go forward.”

Others shows that may try to snag openings on station programming grids are CTD’s The Lawyers, a talk-panel show from the team behind The Doctors, who originally tried to get the show off the ground last year.

Independent syndicator Debmar-Mercury is developing three talk shows, including one with comic actor Fran Drescher, which six Fox O&Os will begin testing next month.

“We’ll take a look at shows like Anderson Cooper when Warner Bros. pitches it and we will watch the Fran Drescher test,” says Sean Compton, president of programming at Tribune.

Debmar is also in the market with a U.S. version of ITV Studio’s British talk show Jeremy Kyle. And it’s developing talk-panel show The Chefs with ITV for 2011, possibly for a test.

Harpo Productions, Sony’s production partner on Dr. Oz and Nate Berkus, has had a development deal with one-time MTV host and former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy since 2009. It could come together for 2011, but more likely for 2012.

Litton, which re-launched court show Judge Karen this season, is working on a conflict talk show.

Twentieth Television tested two talk shows this past summer, the humorous half-hour The Kilborn File with Craig Kilborn and The Huckabee Show with former presidential candidate and Fox News host Mike Huckabee. But neither show racked up big ratings.

Warner Bros. has two other talk shows waiting in the wings should Anderson Cooper stumble. The more likely of the two to step up is a show with VH1 regular Dr. Drew Pinsky. The other show features Steve Ward from VH1’s Tough Love.

A couple of court shows are in the works.

Mighty Oak Entertainment, which is best known for weeklies like Whacked Out Sports, is pitching stations on Psychic Court, in which psychics can testify as expert witnesses. Larry Seidlin, a judge who gained notoriety during the Anna Nicole Smith child custody trial in 2007, is attached to the show.

Trifecta’s Last Shot with Judge Gunn will focus on drug cases and will tape inside a real courtroom.

The dating-reality genre has a couple of shows in the pipeline, led by CTD’s Excused. Trifecta Entertainment is expecting to snag station deals for Ashton Kutcher’s Geek Meets Girl.

Program Partners has landed station deals for Canadian entertainment newsmagazine and gadget-review show The Electric Playground, including on ABC O&Os in top markets for quarterly specials this year. The plan is for the show to air weekly in 2011 and as a Monday-to-Friday strip in 2012.

“This material lends itself to multiplatform use,” says Josh Raphaelson, principal at Program Partners. “It’s fast paced and well segmented. This is material stations can use on broadband platforms and mobile platforms.”

A good bet among weeklies for fall 2011 is Pt Dume from Twentieth Television, which is already cleared in 30% of the country.

Meanwhile, Mighty Oak Entertainment has 22 episodes of weekly Sportz-A-Palooza in the can. And Scott Sternberg Productions is developing a game show, The Limit.

Other programs said to be in the works include talk shows with Paula Abdul, Ty Pennington of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Paige Davis, formerly of TLC’s Trading Spaces.

Projects that have been sent to the bench: CTD’s Say It Now with Valerie Bertinelli; a Disney-ABC talk show originally earmarked for 2010 with actress Aisha Tyler; Tribune talk show Bubba the Love Sponge; and a singing competition One in a Million from Trifecta and reality producer Mark Burnett.