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Hot List: Class of 2005: One Year Later

Jun 26, 2006  •  Post A Comment

These 10 industry insiders have continued to make their marks since appearing on TelevisionWeek‘s 2005 Hot List. Here’s the lowdown on what they’ve been up to:

Brightcove founder and President Jeremy Allaire announced a partnership with TiVo last month that will enable Brightcove-delivered broadband video to be distributed directly to TiVo set-top boxes. The Internet TV pioneer also acquired MetaStories, a Seattle-based firm that provides online media publishing solutions, in March.

Kristen Bell wrapped up a second season of “Veronica Mars” last month and, after an iffy wait-and-see period, the fan favorite was picked up by The CW for next fall, where it will follow “Gilmore Girls” on Tuesdays. Ms. Bell also stars in the horror film “Pulse,” due out July 14.

Josh Berman’s “Killer Instinct” didn’t survive its first season on Fox, but the creator is back with another series for the network, the highly anticipated dramatic thriller “Vanished.” The show will premiere in August with “Prison Break” as a lead-in.

Marc Buhaj, VP of programming and scheduling for Cartoon Network and Boomerang, ordered the U.S. premiere of the sixth season of “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” to celebrate Earth Day on Boomerang, the 24-hour commercial-free classic cartoon network that now boasts 75 percent unduplicated programming. Boomerang has also added the Russian “Mike, Lu & Og” to its summer lineup and will celebrate the premiere of “Superman Returns” with a 24-hour Superman-themed cartoon marathon June 24.

When Time Warner arranged to buy the remaining 50 percent of Court TV for $735 million last month, it decided to keep Charlie Collier, executive VP and general manager of ad sales, in place rather than consolidate his department with Turner Entertainment Sales and Marketing. Court TV recently completed research measuring viewer engagement with the network’s programming and ad packages, finding that 97 percent of its 2005 fourth-quarter schedule exceeded expectations for keeping viewers tuned in, even during commercials.

Endeavor partner Ari Greenburg, who has been called the “prolific packager,” put together deals for “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Prison Break” and “Beauty and The Geek,” all of which are heading into second seasons. Four new fall shows-NBC’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “Heroes,” ABC’s “The Nine” and Lifetime’s “Lovespring International”-feature the producing or acting talent of his clients, and he has added actors Bradley Whitford and Jane Kaczmarek and “Everwood” creator Greg Berlanti to his roster.

ABC News correspondent Dan Harris frequently contributes to “ABC World News Tonight” and “Good Morning America.” After anchor Bob Woodruff was injured in Iraq, Mr. Harris shared anchor duties with Elizabeth Vargas and others on “World News Now,” ABC News’ daily webcast that premiered in January. He has covered stories ranging from the Capitol Hill hearings on the legality of RU-486, “the abortion pill,” to rising gas prices and spent two weeks reporting from New Orleans on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In October Ben Karlin added a co-executive producing gig on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” which averages about 1.1 million viewers a night, to his duties as executive producer of “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” Mr. Karlin also served as a writer for this year’s Academy Awards telecast on ABC, hosted by Mr. Stewart, and he and his “Daily Show” colleagues are working on a follow-up to the 2004 best-seller “America (The Book).”

“Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes saw her show gain even more popularity after ABC gave it a post-Super Bowl airing. “Grey’s” moves to Thursdays this fall. Ms. Rhimes is currently developing a drama about female news correspondents.

Eric Schrier was upped to senior VP of current series and alternative and long-form programming at FX this year. Mr. Schrier has expanded FX’s documentary series brand, ordering another season of the Morgan Spurlock-produced “30 Days” and televising the six-part series “Black. White.” “Nip/Tuck” scored a Golden Globe for best drama series last year and its third-season finale in December drew 5.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched program ever on FX.

-Natalie Finn