New Line Television landed key big city clearances for its fall 2001 action hour entry Hard Knox, securing homes on WCBS-TV New York, KCAL-TV Los Angeles and WGN-TV Chicago.
Now greenlit in 86% of the country, Hard Knox should have a smooth launch next season. Other recent stations on board with the show are KRON-TV San Francisco, KTVD-TV Denver, WRAZ-TV Raleigh and KING-TV Seattle. Hard Knox, starring Melrose Place's Thomas Calabro and female kick-boxing champ Kim-Maree Penn, was previously secured in such markets as Philadelphia and Boston (both duopoly situations on WPSG-TV/KYW-TV and WSBK-TV/WBZ-TV respectively).
It seems like clearance voids are gradually getting filled for next season's action series. After NATPE finished, most of the action hours hadn't unveiled top market clearances, including Hard Knox, Pearson's Lean Angle (recently clearing its last hole on WCBS-TV), Promark's The Adventures of Jules Verne and Lions Gate/Mercury Entertainment's Tracker. Many syndicators grumbled that News Corps' purchase of Chris Craft were slowing down selling efforts on those stations, which include outlets in New York and Los Angeles. Pearson's Card Sharks is one of the few new shows a Chris-Craft station (WWOR-TV) has picked up. Presently, there's no word yet on Los Angeles and New York clearances for Jules Verne and Tracker.
