After preparing two rolling launches for the strips “Texas Justice” and “Good Day Live,” Twentieth Television has cleared its third program this year, this time nationally. However, last year’s top first-run rookie strip, “Power of Attorney,” has been canceled by the syndicator.
“The Rob Nelson Show” is set to air on all of the Fox owned-and-operated stations, representing 40 percent of the country. With a planned launch in fall 2002, the upcoming talk show will be executive produced by Linda Ellman, formerly with “Entertainment Tonight” and “Hard Copy,” and will be produced by Monet Lane Productions in association with Twentieth.
“Rob has been called a young Phil Donahue, yet he already has a wealth of experience in the talk-show arena,” said Bob Cook, president and chief operating officer of Twentieth. “He’ll bring the same blend of controversy and compassion to his show that made Donahue such a success in daytime.”
Earlier this year, Twentieth took up a regional launch of “Texas Justice,” which is now scheduled to debut nationally in January. Last month the company prepared “Good Day Live” for a test run in a number of markets, including Los Angeles, where it is scheduled to air this week.
The announcement marks the first talk show to be launched under the Cook/Robb Dalton regime at the syndicator. Mr. Cook joined Twentieth just over a year ago, while Mr. Dalton came aboard at the end of September as president of programming and production.
This marks Mr. Nelson’s return to the talk-show format. He was previously host of “The Full Nelson” on Fox News Channel.
“Power of Attorney” ended production last Friday but will continue to air episodes through Jan. 4. “Texas Justice” will debut the following Monday in many of those time slots.
“Power” last year boasted a 2.0 Nielsen Media Research household ratings average, but this year is earning a 1.8. Twentieth’s “Divorce Court,” however, will go on as the distributor has now renewed it for season three in more than 60 percent of the country.