Updated, Thursday, January 8, 2014, 1:30 pm PT.
Debmar-Mercury’s Celebrity Name Game, starring Craig Ferguson, has been renewed for a second season, according to sources, with pick ups from Tribune, Sinclair and other groups.
As part of the renewal, the show is expected to move out of access time slots in many top markets next fall. The syndicated, half-hour weekday strip is currently cleared in more than 93% of the country, including the top 50 U.S. markets, and is averaging a 1.2 season to date household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research.
An official announcement is expected shortly. Debmar-Mercury declined to comment.
Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury, in partnership with Tribune, also has been shopping a talk show starring Ferguson for access time periods in fall 2015, but that show will not go forward.
Celebrity Name Game is co-produced by FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) and Debmar-Mercury and is distributed domestically by Debmar-Mercury and internationally by FremantleMedia. The show was developed by Courteney Cox and David Arquette’s Coquette Productions and is based on the popular board game Identity Crisis, created by Laura Robinson and Richard Gerrits of North 44 Productions. In addition to Coquette’s Cox and Arquette, executive producers include FMNA’s Thom Beers and Jennifer Mullin, and veteran show runner Scott St. John.
