Logo

NBC putting on the dog

Aug 4, 2003  •  Post A Comment

“Shop & Style” is a one-hour live shopping show masquerading as a talk show that begins a one-month test run Aug. 4 on NBC-owned stations in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. A “joint commerce programming initiative” between NBC and ShopNBC, it is executive produced by Diane Masciale, a confirmed shopper on loan from NBC News, where she spent the past 11/2 years on “Today” and the previous nine years as a producer on “Dateline NBC.”
Comedian-hosts Lynne Koplitz and Kerry McNally will chat up celebrity guests and contributors, many of whom have an NBC pedigree: Home and garden expert Rebecca Kolls’ syndicated show is distributed by NBC Enterprises. Susie Castillo is Miss USA; NBC and Donald Trump are business partners in the Miss USA pageant. “Extreme Makeover” host Sissy Biggers spent 10 years as an NBC executive before getting her big on-air break. Olivia Jones is a “Fear Factor” winner. Dustin Grazer, “The Warehouse Man,” is just a natural-born hottie. But the most unassailable pedigree belongs to Aldo, Ms. Koplitz’s Yorkshire terrier. A release bearing his name has to be signed before he can make his network TV debut doing “Ruff Yoga,” otherwise known as “doga.” Ms. Koplitz is shopping for an agent for Aldo, Ms. Masciale said. It’s all downward dog from here.