A daily talk show, a countdown skein and an animated series are all on Fox Sports Net’s second-quarter development slate as the national sports service looks to broaden its content beyond live games.
The programming projects are the outgrowth of a recently created network-development department charged with creating nontraditional content, according to executive vice president of programming and production George Greenberg.
Along with Greenberg, the department also features former Sci Fi Channel and FX programming executive Zig Gauthier and ex-MTV: Music Television content-development executive Geoff Suddleson.
One project expected to launch is Fox Sports Net Across America, a weekly series tentatively scheduled for Sunday nights, beginning in March. It will expand on local stories of national interest developed by FSN’s 22 owned or affiliated regional sports networks.
In May, FSN will unveil The Sports List, a weekday strip examining "the greatest sports arguments" in a countdown format, Greenberg said. The show, hosted by TV-sports personality Summer Sanders, will feature Hollywood stars and pro athletes discussing their recollections of events profiled in the series. "It’s like [MTV’s Total Request Live] on steroids," he said.
Also in May, the network is expected to bow its second poker-based offering. The yet-to-be-named, seven-episode series -- slated for late-night fringe -- will pit the best poker players against one another in a head-to-head elimination tournament, with a two-hour final to be telecast live.
Omega Dome, a scripted sports-and-entertainment series that combines live-action sports clips with animation, is also in the development pipeline. "There is nothing like it on television," Greenberg said.
Fox will also commission a New York-based daily topical sports show that will counterbalance the more comedic and conversational Best Damn Sports Show Period. "It’s a cross between Bill O’Reilly and Nightline," Greenberg said.
Also on tap: a quarterly special featuring a top FSN personality hosting a "Barbara Walters-type show for sports," centered around high-profile events like the Super Bowl and World Series.
For more on FSN’s development slate, please see R. Thomas Umstead’s story on page 20 of Monday’s edition of Multichannel News.
