"We're not stupid," ABC entertainment chief says; advertising slots sell out within 15 minutes
LOS ANGELES - Building upon the success of Hines Ward's appearance on 'Dancing with the Stars,' the ABC network announced today that all Fall shows will feature Steelers players.
"We are not stupid," said ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee, "even though all of last year's Fall show ended up being cancelled. We more or less lucked out by having Hines on one of our shows, and the ratings have been great. We have seen the light and are going to take full advantage."
Lee acknowledged that the ongoing NFL lockout aids the network. "The players are just sitting around looking for things to do anyway. And obviously if there are no games, it hurts CBS and FOX a lot more."
Here are a few highlights of the upcoming season:
'WipeOut' - A special episode will feature Baltimore Ravens players. "Our original thought was to have Troy Polamalu on, but we had him run the course and there was no obstacle that could defeat him. But we think Steelers fans will really, really enjoy seeing the Ravens getting hit in the gut with giant boxing gloves and falling off the big balls."
'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' - "The Big Snack [Casey Hampton] will be Jamie's greatest challenge yet," Lee said. "We already have some hilarious footage of Jamie running around dressed like a tomato, and Casey comes along and just crushes him."
'Castle' - Ben Roethlisberger will guest star, "as a victim, for a change," Lee says.
The general manager of WTAE, Pittsburgh's ABC affiliate, is thrilled. "This will be great for both our entertainment and news programming," station manager Bob Brenneman says. "But we just don't have enough time in existing news programs for all the shameless stories we'll be doing. So watch for expanded morning, noon, and evening news programming on WTAE, plus a nightly wrap-up that will take the place of 'Nightline' in Pittsburgh.
"Nobody ever watches 'Nightline' in our market. They never talk football."
