Tribune and Sony Pictures Television have decided their new jointly developed and produced strip for fall 2006 will be a one-hour relationship advice strip with comedian and author Greg Behrendt.
All 26 Tribune stations covering about 30% of the country have cleared the daytime program with Behrendt, who co-wrote the best sellers He's Just Not That Into You and It's Called A Breakup Because It's Broken.
No details were immediately available late Friday about the format of the cash-plus-barter show. But it is expected to be a common-sense advice program for women delivered in a humorous manner, in line with the former Sex and the City consultant’s appearances on Oprah.
The selection of the Behrendt show, one of several projects under consideration for the previously announced first-run co-venture between Tribune and Sony, takes Howard Stern sidekick Robin Quivers out of next fall’s syndication derby once again.
Sony unsuccessfully tried to sell the Quivers project last year, then re-shot a pilot with her again this season for Tribune. But rumors have circulated for weeks that Tribune was high on the Behrendt project.
In many top markets, Tribune stations carry multiple runs of NBC Universal’s over-the-top Jerry Springer and Maury in daytime. Tribune previously has struck out with programs that have not been compatible with the audience flow provided by those two single-topic talk shows.
The Berhrendt show joins Judge Maria Lopez on Sony’s fall 2006 first-run roster.
