ABC ANNOUNCES NEW WEDNESDAY NIGHT LINEUP, WITH ALTERNATIVE SERIES �THE NEXT BEST THING: WHO IS THE GREATEST CELEBRITY IMPERSONATOR?� AND �AMERICAN INVENTOR,� AND NEW DRAMA �TRAVELER�
Special Two-Hour Premiere of �The Next Best Thing� and �Traveler� to Air Wednesday, May 30
�American Inventor� Returns for a Second Season the Following Wednesday, June 6
ABC announces its new Wednesday night lineup: New alternative series �The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?,� returning series �American Inventor� and new drama �Traveler.� A special two-hour premiere of �The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?� will air WEDNESDAY, MAY 30 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET; the series will normally air from 8:00-9:00 p.m.), followed by the new drama, �Traveler,� from 10:00-11:00 p.m., ET. �American Inventor� returns for a second season the following WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
�The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?,� hosted by Michele Merkin (�Foody Call,� �Extreme Dodgeball�), follows the search to find the best celebrity impersonators from across the country with a live finale in Las Vegas. Jeffrey Ross (�American Dreamz,� �The Aristocrats�) and Elon Gold (�Stacked,� �Cheaper by the Dozen�) join actress-comedian Lisa Ann Walters as judges on �The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?�
�The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?� is produced by Peter Engel Productions Inc. and New Wave Entertainment�. Peter Engel and Barry Katz serve as executive producers. Also executive-producing is the team of Fax Bahr and Adam Small (�The Jamie Kennedy Experience,� �Mad TV�). Peter Engel has produced over one thousand episodes of weekly entertainment, including the teen mega-hit �Saved by the Bell.�
New Wave Entertainment is a premier content development and production enterprise and one of the entertainment industry�s largest entertainment marketing and creative services agencies. Burbank-based New Wave is owned by principals Paul Apel and Alan Baral.
�Traveler� follows three best friends and roommates from graduate school -- Jay Burchell, Tyler Fog and Will Traveler � who are about to depart on a cross country road trip together and make New York City their first stop. But when an innocent prank at one of New York�s oldest art museums coincides with the bombing of the iconic building, Jay and Tyler realize that their �friend,� Will, has framed them for a domestic terrorist attack. Now Tyler and Jay must answer two questions to prove their innocence: Who is Will Traveler? And why did he do this to them? Flashing back to the prior two years to illustrate the formation of this friendship and Will�s insidious behavior, this action-packed one-hour drama taps into 21st-Century paranoia with provocative themes and complex characters.
Starring in �Traveler� are Matthew Bomer (�Tru Calling�) as Jay Burchell, Logan Marshall-Green (�The O.C.,� �24�) as Tyler Fog and Aaron Stanford (�X-Men: The Last Stand�) as Will Traveler. The cast also includes Pascale Hutton (�Smallville�) as Jay�s girlfriend, Viola Davis (�Century City,� �Solaris�) as Agent Jan Marlow, Anthony Ruivivar (�Third Watch�) as Agent Guillermo Borjes, Steven Culp (�Desperate Housewives�) as Special Agent in Charge Fred Chambers, William Sadler (�Roswell,� �The Shawshank Redemption�) as Carlton Fog and Billy Mayo (�24,� �Air Force One�) as The Porter.
�Traveler� is a production of Warner Bros. Television, in association with The Jinks/Cohen Company. Executive producers are Charlie Craig, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen. The pilot was written by David DiGilio and directed by David Nutter.
�American Inventor,� the embodiment of the ultimate American dream, will uncover the hottest new product and make one struggling inventor�s dream come true. It returns for its second season to find the ultimate in homespun ingenuity and make one struggling inventor�s dream come true with a grand prize of one million dollars and the opportunity to market their product worldwide. The biggest search for America�s best new invention will take place in various cities across the country, at locations that speak to the spirit of ingenuity and innovation. In the end, it will be up to the American public to call in and place their votes for the invention they feel is worthy of the coveted grand prize.
�American Inventor� is produced by FremantleMedia North America, Simon Cowell�s Syco Television and Peter Jones TV Ltd. Simon Cowell, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Siobhan Greene, Peter Jones and Clay Newbill are executive producers. Dug James and Tabitha Hansen are co-executive producers.
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