‘Dough Ray Me’ Contest Ready Made for ‘Harry’
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NBCUniversal Television Distribution will kick off season two of Harry, starring Harry Connick Jr., with a contest and a new co-executive producer.
The “Dough Ray Me” contest gives audience members the chance to win “dough,” or money; “ray,” the sun rays they will lie in while on a tropical vacation; or “me,” which is something indulgent for themselves, such as a spa day. A select audience member plays for one of the three and has to answer one trivia question from the show to win the prize.
Starting July 31, Connick will start a tour of six cities: Raleigh, N.C.; Pittsburgh; Nashville; Milwaukee; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle. He’ll kick off the tour at WLFL Raleigh, on July 31, then head to WPGH Pittsburgh on Aug. 1, followed by WZTV Nashville on Aug. 2, and WVTV Milwaukee on Aug. 3. Two weeks later, he’ll travel to the Pacific Northwest to visit KATU Portland on Aug. 14 and KOMO Seattle on Aug. 15.
In each market, he’ll discuss the contest, offering viewers a chance to nominate someone “extraordinary” and “deserving” to participate and win a trip to New York to play the game and be a part of the show. Fans outside of those six cities can enter the contest by visiting HarryTV.com.
He’ll also appear on each station’s local news, do meet-and-greets with station executives and shoot custom promos.
In addition to the contest, Jill Mullikin-Bates is joining the show as co-executive producer, coming on board with the current team of EPs that includes Connick, his manager Anne Marie Wilkins, and Justin and Eric Stangel, who executive produced CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman.
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Mullikin-Bates arrives with more than 25 years of experience, most recently serving as vice president of current programming and syndication at ABC Entertainment. Before that, she was VP of current programming and syndication at Sony, overseeing the launch and daily production of The Queen Latifah Show, which ran for nearly two seasons. Prior to that, she spent more than a decade developing syndicated shows at Warner Bros.’ first-run production arm, Telepictures Productions.
Beyond that, Mullikin-Bates has worked on such shows as The Jeff Probst Show, Leeza, Sally Jessy Raphael and The Chuck Woolery Show.
Harry returns for its sophomore season on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.