McGowan joins `Charmed’ cast
Rose McGowan, who gained stardom as a sexy victim in the horror film spoof “Scream,” has been cast in the The WB’s “Charmed,” filling the void created when series regular Shannen Doherty was released last month. Ms. McGowan will be introduced as a long-lost, bewitched sister to Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) and Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs) as “Charmed” sets out for its fourth season in The WB’s 9 p.m. (ET) Thursday time slot next fall.
On June 13, Ms. Doherty was spared jail time when she agreed to speak to teens about the dangers of alcohol abuse after pleading no contest to drunken driving charges in Ventura County in California.
Timberman steps up at Studios USA
Sarah Timberman, previously an executive vice president of series development at Columbia TriStar Television, has been named president of Studios USA Programming. In her new position, Ms. Timberman will oversee all comedy, drama, long-form and reality programming and will report to David Kissinger, president of USA Television Production Group.
Timberman immediately signed fellow Columbia TriStar Television co-workers and producers Danielle Stokdyk and Jennifer Gwartz to multiyear development deals as non-writing producers in developing both drama and comedy series, effective July 2. Studios USA Programming also sealed a separate, multi-year development deal with writer-producer Steve Koren, formerly a co-producer of NBC’s “Seinfeld.”
`Boot Camp’ motion gets the boot
A U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles June 14 refused to dismiss CBS’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Fox, rejecting Fox’s claim that its “Boot Camp” reality series differs from CBS’s “Survivor” because the latter is being charged in another suit with being a rigged drama-and is therefore not a reality series.
CBS is currently battling “Survivor” contestant Stacey E. Stillman’s separate lawsuit claiming that the original run of “Survivor” was a manipulated drama. Even if “Survivor” is found to have been manipulated, CBS still has the right to protect it from being copied, U.S. District Judge Lourdes Baird said in her ruling.
Kahl promoted at CBS
Kelly Kahl, a 51/2-year CBS programming executive, has been promoted to executive vice president of program planning and scheduling at CBS Television. Mr. Kahl, who will continue to report to CBS President and CEO Les Moonves, is moving up from senior vice president of program planning and scheduling, a position he has held since August 1998. In his new position, Mr. Kahl oversees all scheduling of prime-time series, specials, television movies and miniseries.
`Fear Factor’ premiere attracts eyeballs
NBC’s big leap into reality TV with the premiere of “Fear Factor” June 11 paid huge dividends in the young-adult demographic ratings.
In the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (ET) time slot, “Fear Factor’s” 5.1 rating/17 share average in adults 18 to 49 marked about a 50 percent jump from what “Dateline” averaged in the same hour the previous week (3.4/11), according to comparable Nielsen Media Research fast national data. The outrageous stunts program, which some TV critics have found only slightly less dangerous than MTV’s often reviled “Jackass,” reached a 5.3/19 score in adults 18 to 34.“Fear Factor’s” strong young-demo lead-in allowed “Weakest Link” to post a 15 percent increase in adults 18 to 49 (5.9/16) from its previous week’s score.
Ex-Pittard Sullivan team gets ABC gig
Marty Wall, Dale Everett and Dan Pappalardo, former promotion executives with the recently defunct Pittard Sullivan agency in Los Angeles, have been signed to develop and produce ABC Television’s prime-time brand identity campaign for the 2001-02 broadcast season, marking their fourth consecutive year in handling ABC’s brand campaigns.