New half-hour late-night strip Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson will mark the return of both Sony Pictures Television and Craig Ferguson to first-run syndication. The show, which is entering the market now, is intended to debut this fall.
Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson will see Ferguson and friends reviewing TV’s most shocking, surprising and hilarious moments.
Ferguson starred on CBS’s The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson from 2005-14. He hosted the syndicated game show Celebrity Name Game, produced by FremantleMedia and distributed by Debmar-Mercury, from 2014-17. Channel Surf will be produced by Whisper North, which is a division of Sony Pictures Television-backed production company, Whisper. SPT is distributing.
Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson will be executive produced by Ferguson and Whisper North managing director Tom McLennan. Richard Easter (America’s Got Talent and You’ve Been Framed) and Joe Bolter (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson), both of whom have worked with Ferguson for almost 15 years, will serve as executive producers and writers on the show.
"With a shortage of sitcoms available for stations, viewers need a place to laugh," SPT senior VP, U.S. syndication sales Zack Hernandez said in a statement. "Channel Surf is that perfect show. Craig is an extraordinary talent who has excelled in late night, daytime and primetime and has incredibly high awareness. Viewers know and love him."
"Craig shot a hilarious pilot, and we can’t wait to reintroduce our buyers to him and look forward to giving audiences a chance to watch this very funny show," Hernandez added.
“I wanted to do Channel Surf because I think television is ready for the return of the silly/funny/occasional lip-synching puppet format," Ferguson said, also in a statement. "Also, it’s a TV show which contains clips of questionable moments from other TV shows, thus creating a spectacular visual turducken of stupid."
A pilot for Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson was shot in the U.K. this month, and SPT will take the show out to potential buyers this week in Los Angeles. Syndicated buyers and sellers are gathering at the Fox lot in L.A. this week for an off-the-record makeshift NATPE, in light of that conference going away for the time being.
Besides Channel Surf, other shows in circulation to debut in syndication this fall are PPI Releasing’s daytime talk show Michaela, starring former HLN and Good Day LA anchor Michaela Pereira; Debmar-Mercury’s off-GSN People Puzzler, hosted by Leah Remini; and a court show from Allen Media Group starring Eboni K. Williams, who currently hosts a two-hour newsblock on The Grio with Marc Lamont Hill as well as a podcast, Holding Court with Eboni K. Williams. ■
