Sony Pictures Television is the surprise victor in the long-running lottery to see which syndicator would win the rights to co-produce and distribute Harpo's latest project, Dr. Oz.
The show will feature Dr. Mehmet Oz, a respected heart surgeon and health expert who has become well-known through his frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and multiple Discovery Communications programs.
Like other talent successfully spun off from Oprah—Dr. Phil McGraw and Rachael Ray—the doctor convinced Winfrey and company that he was ready for his own program by achieving high ratings and a strong fan base through his regular stints on Oprah.
Unlike Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray, Dr. Oz will be a co-production of Harpo and SPT and will be distributed by SPT. Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray are each co-produced with CBS Television Distribution.
CBS is also producing The Doctors, a spinoff of Dr. Phil that debuts this fall and a show that may be a direct competitor to Dr. Oz. If The Doctors succeeds, most of the CBS-owned TV stations won't have time slots to offer to Dr. Oz.
