Debmar-Mercury’s Celebrity Name Game will end its run after this season, the show’s third.
The show stars Craig Ferguson and features celebrities paired with contestants giving clues to each other to come up with celebrity names and other subjects. It airs on Tribune-owned stations in top markets, and Tribune is a partner on the program. Debmar-Mercury co-produces the show with FremantleMedia North America (FMNA), and it was created by Courteney Cox and David Arquette with their production company, Coquette Productions.
“We’re incredibly proud of Celebrity Name Game and grateful to the terrific fan base that has supported the show for three seasons,” said Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, co-presidents of Debmar-Mercury.
“We’ve had a wonderful time producing Celebrity Name Game and we are exceptionally proud of its three seasons in syndication,” said Jennifer Mullin, FMNA co-CEO. “While we are not renewing in syndication at this time, it is a format we believe in."
Celebrity Name Game was originally developed to air with Family Feud, which stars Steve Harvey and also is produced by FMNA and distributed by Debmar-Mercury. But Tribune, which doesn’t typically air Family Feud, offered the best deal for Celebrity Name Game so it went to those stations and premiered in September 2014.
The show started out in early fringe and access time periods on the Tribune stations but was pushed back to daytime, where it fared better in many markets. The show has remained at a 1.3 live plus same day household rating for months, although in the week ending Nov. 20 it hit a season-high 1.4.
