In one of the more entertaining ideas to pop up, TBS Superstation bought rights to The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.
Based on a quirky best-selling book, the series will demonstrate those things you somehow think you need to know, like how to take a punch or deliver a baby in the back of a taxi. Segments will focus less on experts and more on civilians who have been through the experience.
The 22 episodes will come from Columbia TriStar Television, which with Survivor and Real Stories of the Highway Patrol co-producer Craig Pillgian, acquired rights for the book from Chronicle Books. Series airs in 2002, paired with TBS and Columbia's Ripley's Believe it Or Not.
Turner Broadcasting System also detailed plans to rebrand sister network TNT to emphasize dramas. Under the tagline "TNT: We Know Drama", the network will launch an on-air campaign and a consumer ad campaign this summer. One goal is to make the networks more distinct in the minds of viewers, who currently mush the channels together. That, of course, is in large part because they share so much programming, particularly theatrical movie packages, something that isn't stopping. TNT's summer schedule will be loaded with dramas, with reruns of Law & Order bookending new original series Witchblade.
TNT general manager Steve Koonin said that the company hasn't decided what to do with the 11 episodes of the second season of Bull he has in the can. Bull was such a ratings disappointment that the episodes may never see the air, but if there's an actor's strike TNT is more likely to put Bull back on the schedule because the broadcast networks will be stuck with reruns and reality shows.
- John Higgins
