by Michael O’Connell, Source: The Hollywood Reporter
The public radio quiz show makes its television debut with a “2011 Year in Review” special in December.
BBC America and National Public Radio announced Wednesday that seasoned quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! will get its first television special later in the year.
The Peabody Award-winning program will air a taping of its “2011 Year in Review” special on BBC America, Friday, Dec. 23 at 8:00 p.m.
Taping in Chicago earlier in the month, the special will include host Peter Sagal, official judge and scorekeeper Carl Kasell and frequent panelists Paula Poundstone and Alonzo Bodden. BBC America and NPR will produce, alongside Chauncey Street Productions. Albie Hecht and Doug Berman will executive produce.
“The comedy panel show has been a staple of British television and Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is the gold standard of the format on radio in the US,” said BBC America’s general manager of channels Perry Simon. “This year-end special offers the perfect opportunity to join forces with our friends at NPR and is a great addition to our new original programming development stable. As a long-time listener of Wait Wait Don’t… Tell Me!, I think its television debut is long overdue and I can’t wait to see what Peter, Carl and the team look like.”
True to form, Sagal added: “This is terrific, because I always assumed that the only way I could get on the BBC would be to have David Attenborough narrate my mating rituals. Glad this happened instead.”
One of iTunes most-downloaded podcasts, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! reaches 3.2 million listeners weekly. Its “2011 Year in Review” will also be broadcast on NPR stations Dec. 24 and 25.
