Sony Pictures Television is preparing a return to the syndicated talk show arena with a half-hour late-night comic strip hosted by Craig Ferguson. Produced by Whisper North, a division of SPT-backed production company Whisper, Channel Surfing with Craig Ferguson shot a UK pilot earlier this month and is being shown to potential buyers by distributor SPT this week in Los Angeles.
Channel Surfing with Craig Fergusonwhich also marks the late-night comedian’s return since leaving CBS The late show in 2014, will feature Ferguson and friends as they “review the shocking, surprising and hilarious moments from the shows of the week”.
Ferguson and Whisper North managing director Tom McLennan, former Entertainment North manager for ITV, will serve as executive producer, and Richard Easter (America’s Got Talent) and Joe Bolter (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson), who worked with Ferguson for nearly 15 years, will serve as writers on the series.
This is a rare late night syndication entry; Arsenio Hall attempted a revival of his famous 1990 syndicated speaker with Tribune in 2013; it only lasted one season. Late night is less crowded these days, with a number of talk shows dropping off, including Desus and Mero And Full frontal with Samantha Bee, and the future of The daily show And The late show in the stream as their hosts depart.
More importantly, instead of the traditional hour-long format of syndicated talk shows, Channel Surfing with Craig Ferguson is 30 minutes, with Sony targeting late-night slots currently occupied by sitcom reruns as fewer and fewer comedies enter the off-network syndication market.
“With a dearth of sitcoms available to stations, viewers need a place to laugh. Channel Surf is the perfect show,” said Zack Hernandez, SVP, US Syndication Sales, SPT. hilarious, and we can’t wait to introduce our buyers to him again and we can’t wait to give the public a chance to watch this very entertaining show.”
Following the end of his Late show run, Ferguson hosted the unionized Celebrity Name Game, The ABC scammer and history Join us or die.
“I wanted to do Surf Channel because I think TV is ready for the return of the silly/funny/casual lip-sync puppet format. Plus, it’s a TV show that contains snippets of questionable moments from other TV shows, creating a spectacular visual turducken of stupid,” Ferguson said.
As for SPT, who is behind the union behemoths Danger! And Wheel of Fortune, the studio largely stayed away from the syndicated daytime talk show space, which became very difficult to make money, especially for a studio not affiliated with a station group. Its last remaining diurnal band, The Dr Oz Show, as well as its consequences The Good Dish, finished last season.
Ferguson, who just wrapped up a comedy tour of North America last year, is replaced by WME, Vault Entertainment and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman.
