Fox Television Stations, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and Telepictures Productions Team Up for Eight-Week Preview of "Beyond Twisted"

May 04, 2009

Fox Television Stations (FTS), Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (WBDTD) and Telepictures Productions are teaming up for an eight-week preview of "Beyond Twisted," a new, first-run television series from the producers of the hit entertainment news program "TMZ." The announcement was made by Frank Cicha, Senior Vice President of Programming, FTS, and Ken Werner, President, WBDTD.

In making the announcement, Cicha stated, "As we proved last year with 'The Wendy Williams Show,' these limited test runs allow us to effectively gauge viewers' response to a program while minimizing the risk to everyone involved. Given the great success of 'TMZ,' it made sense to expand our relationship with Warner Bros. and Telepictures."

Debuting on Monday, July 6, "Beyond Twisted" will draw on professional and user-generated content to present an irreverent and funny take on jaw-dropping moments from around the world. The reality-based program will make use of new technology and creative production techniques to present these stories with a unique visual style and a powerful voice.

Werner added, "With the launch of 'Beyond Twisted,' the producers of 'TMZ' are applying some of the same innovations they brought to entertainment magazines to another venerable television genre: reality programming. They have created a new franchise that we think has all the qualities our Fox partners and the marketplace demand: The show can air in virtually any important time period and can run multiple times per day. It will be produced efficiently, and we will deliver a robust number of original episodes, with more weeks per year of new shows than the competition."

Similar to "TMZ," "Beyond Twisted" takes viewers behind the "fourth wall," giving them direct access to the creative process. Shot in the producers' room, the program's narrative will be driven by the spontaneous observations of the show's production staff as they pitch segments for the program.

Hilary Estey McLoughlin, President, Telepictures Productions, commented, "We are thrilled to be partnering with Fox and Harvey Levin and his talented team on 'Beyond Twisted,' which we believe will be another breakthrough concept like 'TMZ.' As we have seen with 'TMZ,' there is real viewer appetite for storytelling with an honest and humorous point of view. And we will continue to marry what's working on the Internet and on television by mining the endless array of amazing video out there that our viewers will immediately want to talk about and share. We think 'Beyond Twisted' has all the elements to make some real noise in the syndication marketplace this summer."

Scheduled to be presented on WNYW-TV (New York), KTTV-TV (Los Angeles), KDFW-TV (Dallas), WJBK-TV (Detroit), KSAZ-TV (Phoenix) and KMSP-TV (Minneapolis/St. Paul), "Beyond Twisted" will also feature a number of cross-promotional platforms, including pre-produced segments for local newscasts.

Harvey Levin, "Beyond Twisted" Executive Producer, said, "There's so much strange, jaw-dropping news in the world. There's a way of packaging it to create a cohesive, hilarious show with the same sensibility and storytelling devices we use on 'TMZ' � but 'Beyond Twisted' is definitely in a category by itself."

"Beyond Twisted" will be produced in Los Angeles by Harvey Levin Productions, Inc. in association with Telepictures Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. Harvey Levin is the executive producer, with Jim Paratore ("TMZ," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show") serving as an executive consultant.

About Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations is one of the nation's largest owned-and-operated network broadcast groups, comprising 27 stations in 18 markets and covering nearly 37.34% of U.S. television homes. This includes six duopolies in the top 10 markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Houston; as well as duopolies in Minneapolis, Phoenix and Orlando.

About Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (WBDTD) is one of the leading suppliers of entertainment programming to the domestic television marketplace, distributing first-run syndicated series, off-network television programs and theatrical motion pictures to local broadcast television stations, as well as to pay, cable, satellite and broadcast networks throughout the U.S. WBDTD handles the domestic distribution of television series produced by Warner Bros. Television, Telepictures Productions, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Horizon Television; selected HBO Independent Productions and the Lorimar Television library; current feature films from Warner Bros. Pictures; and the Studio's unmatched motion picture library.

About Telepictures Productions Telepictures Productions is an industry-leading and Emmy� Award-winning producer of television programming for the first-run syndicated marketplace (having garnered 54 Emmys� in 12 years, including Outstanding Talk Show/Outstanding Talk Show Host for 10 of the last 12 years), as well as original digital content for broadband and wireless. The company is currently producing nine first-run strips: the upcoming George Lopez talk show premiering in November on TBS, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, TMZ, The Tyra Banks Show, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Extra, The People's Court, Judge Mathis and Judge Jeanine Pirro.