Networks crank up the weirdness with new shows
Welcome to 2003, otherwise known as the year when TV got truly weird. The new crop of midseason shows could be the strangest ever, with Fox's "Joe Millionaire" taking top honors, if only for sheer chutzpah. The series, which debuts tonight at 9 p.m., features 20 single women competing for the love of a man they've been told is worth $50 million. The twist: He is actually a $19,000-a-year construction worker. On Wednesday, ABC premieres two new series: "The Bachelorette," a reversed-genders version of its hit reality show, and "Celebrity Mole: Hawaii," which pits third-tier stars like Stephen Baldwin and Corbin Bernsen against each other in a game of trust. Whereas the participants in "Celebrity Mole" are merely washed-up, those from "The Surreal Life," which debuts Thursday on the WB," are enough out of date to qualify as camp icons. MC Hammer, Corey Feldman and Emmanuel Lewis are among those who agreed to live together in a Hollywood mansion for the duration of taping. Even The Weather Channel is getting in on the oddness with a new series on natural disasters. "Storm Stories" debuts tonight at 8.

ABC still holding second-half Super Bowl spots
Super Bowl ads have been selling for about 15 percent more than they did last year, but ABC has yet to sell all of its spots for the year's biggest TV event. Sales have been brisker than last year, when the Fox-aired Bowl didn’t sell its last ad until three days before kickoff, but ABC still has several second-half slots left for the Jan. 26 game. ABC reportedly has fewer than 10 of the 30-second ads left to sell, of about 61 total spots. First-half commercials usually sell out quickly as advertisers fear the second-half exit of bored viewers in case of a blowout game. Last year Fox had sold just 80 percent of its spots at this time. ABC has gotten an average of $2.2 million for the slots it has already sold, guaranteeing more money than Fox got during last year’s depressed ad market. Anheuser-Busch, Visa, Monster and Pepsi are among the companies that have already bought time. Nearly 43 million homes tuned in for last year’s St. Louis Rams-New England Patriots Super Bowl.

Will Willow join exit-door conga line at CNN?
Willow Bay could become the latest in the massive exodus of CNN talent that began a few weeks ago. Bay, whose weekend business programs “Pinnacle” and “Business Unusual” were recently canceled, hasn’t commented on the situation, but rumors have her following recent departures Garrick Utley, Allan Dodds Frank, Mark Potter and more as CNN revamps to challenge Fox News Channel. CNN laid off five staffers from Bay’s program, but will keep executive producer Warren Lewis. That makes the status of Bay, who co-anchored “Moneyline” for two years after a stretch of hosting weekend “Good Morning America,” uncertain. Bay’s rumored to want to stay in Los Angeles with her husband, Disney executive Bob Iger, but CNN may not have any opportunities for her there. During Bay’s two-year stint with “Moneyline,” ratings dropped and CNBC’s “Business Center” became the dominant program until longtime host Lou Dobbs returned to “Moneyline.” Bay then shifted to the weekend shows.

Rates up, new subscribers down for cable in 2002
Americans saw a big jump in their cable bills last year. Cable service rates rose an average of 6.3 percent over the 12 months ending in June, according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission. The report also detailed a large drop-off in new subscribers to cable: 250,000 in 2002 compared to 1.1 million the year before. Satellite television services signed on about 2 million new subscribers in the same period, according to Echostar Communications and DirecTV. Cable companies still control the biggest chunk of the pay television market with 68.8 million subscribers, but satellite services now claim about 18 million subscribers. Cable companies Comcast and Cablevision have defended rate increases as necessary to cover the costs of new equipment and improved programming.

GQ's Cooper: Did I mention I lost some weight?
One of the lesser-known perks of being a top magazine editor is that you can use the pages of your publication to trumpet your personal triumphs. Just ask GQ’s Art Cooper, who, as regular readers of the gossip columns are already aware, was inspired to embark on a stringent weight loss regimen last year after viewing new designs for Ralph Lauren’s Purple Label. Cooper recently climbed down from his editor in chief perch to conduct an interview with fitness guru Adam Zickerman, who happens to be his personal trainer, for the January issue of GQ. A casual reader might get the impression that Cooper was more interested in advertising his newfound svelteness than highlighting Zickerman’s workout philosophy. "Over the past eight months, I’ve dropped sixty pounds by dieting and exercising regularly," states Cooper in the prelude to a question about nutrition. Elsewhere, he enthuses, "You’ve been training me for eight months and the results are spectacular. I can leg press 500 pounds, and I’m more fit than I’ve been since I was in my twenties." In an apparent oversight, Cooper fails to mention anything about his income, SAT scores or sexual prowess.

January 6, 2003© 2003 Media Life

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