Arliss is an American dark comedy series, created by and starring Robert Wuhl, about the glitzy, big-money world of professional sports, with Wuhl playing the eternally optimistic and endlessly resourceful L.A. sports agent Arliss Michaels, whose Achilles' heel is his inability to say "no" to clients and employees. Arliss ran for seven seasons and 80 episodes on HBO, from August 10, 1996, to September 8, 2002. After almost two decades of being off-air, the entire catalog of Arliss episodes returned to HBO Max in a streaming format as of September 2022.
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère or host. The variety format made its way from the Victorian era stage in Britain and America to radio and then television. Variety shows were a staple of English language television from the late 1940s into the 1980s.
American Gladiators is an American competition television program that aired weekly in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own "gladiators", in contests of strength and agility. Following the success of American Gladiators, other countries began to produce their own versions of the show.
Iain Lee is an English former broadcaster, writer, and television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show The Late Night Alternative on "pay to view" Patreon.
WWE Tough Enough is an American professional wrestling reality competition series that was produced by WWE, wherein participants undergo professional wrestling training and compete for a contract with WWE. There were two winners per season for the first three seasons, all of which aired on MTV. A fourth competition was held in 2004, with only a single winner, who was integrated into UPN's SmackDown!. As revealed in October 2010, the USA Network, revived Tough Enough to air it immediately prior to Raw, starting on April 4, 2011, a day after WrestleMania XXVII. The first three seasons were co-produced with MTV, while the revival is a co-production with Shed Media. Reruns of the 2011 season were broadcast on Universal HD, Oxygen and G4.
The Soup is an American television series that aired weekly on E! from July 1, 2004, until December 18, 2015, as a revamped version of Talk Soup that focused on recaps of various popular culture and television moments of the week. The show was hosted by comedian Joel McHale, who provided sarcastic and satirical commentary on the various clips. On November 18, 2015, The Soup was cancelled by E! and its last episode aired December 18, 2015. On February 18, 2018, The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale, a spiritual successor to The Soup, premiered on Netflix.
Lee Leonard was an American television personality who was involved in the launch of cable television networks ESPN and CNN.
A tabloid talk show is a subgenre of the talk show genre that emphasizes controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter. The subgenre originated in the United States and achieved peak viewership from the mid-1980s through the end of the 1990s. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through television syndication, tabloid talk shows originated in the 1960s and early 1970s with series hosted by Joe Pyne, Les Crane, and Phil Donahue; the format was popularized by personal confession-filled The Oprah Winfrey Show, which debuted nationally in 1986. The format has since been emulated outside the United States, with the United Kingdom, Latin America and the Philippines all having popular shows that fit the format.
Lee Reherman was an American actor, appearing in television and film and hosting television reality shows.
Ryan John Seacrest is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest co-hosted and served as executive producer of Live with Kelly and Ryan, and has hosted other media including American Idol, American Top 40, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. He became co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 2005, and became the sole host following Clark's death in 2012.
Gladiators is a sports entertainment television show that was an international success during the 1990s and early 2000s with versions of the show being filmed for local broadcasters in the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Nigeria, and Denmark. Russia, Germany, The Netherlands, South Korea and the Bahamas would also compete in international shows during the series, despite the fact that they did not have their own domestic series.
Gladiators was an Australian television series which aired on the Seven Network in 2008. It was a revival of the earlier series of the same name, and was based on the American version of the show, which was also revived in 2008.
Dancin' On Air was a 1980s television dance music reality show. It was the forerunner of the TV show Dance Party USA of the same genre. Both shows were produced and created by Michael Nise and his father Frank. The show started with US$100,000 from a small group of investors that included The Tonight Show Band leader Doc Severinsen. The program earned a 128% return on investment (ROI) within the first six months. Dancin' On Air was shot live at WPHL-TV Channel 17 studios in Philadelphia. The production staff worked out of the Nises' production offices and studios located in Camden, NJ.
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest-working man in show business", he held the Guinness World Record for the most hours spent on US television.
David Fishof is an American music producer, sports agent, and the founder and CEO of Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp. Born in New York City, Fishof began his career representing acts in the Catskill Mountains. From there he went on to represent Herschel Bernardi and other entertainers.
Arthur Smith is a Canadian television producer who is the Chairman of A. Smith & Co. and Chairman of Tinopolis USA. Best known for the multiple Emmy nominated American Ninja Warrior and FOX's longest-running competition show Hell's Kitchen, he was inducted into the Realscreen Hall of Fame in 2021, and was named Producer of the Year 2020 by Broadcasting & Cable. He previously worked for CBC Sports, Dick Clark Productions, MCA Television Group, and Fox Sports Net. He has won multiple NAACP awards for his series Unsung, Rose D'Or Awards for I Survived A Japanese Game Show, a Critics' Choice Real TV Award, a Realscreen Award and multiple Reality Television Awards. In addition, his shows have been nominated for Daytime Emmys, Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards, Producers' Guild Awards and People's Choice Awards.
Beef is an American comedy-drama television miniseries created by Korean-American director Lee Sung Jin for Netflix. It stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as Danny Cho and Amy Lau, respectively; two strangers whose involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a prolonged feud. Appearing in supporting roles are Joseph Lee, Young Mazino, David Choe, and Patti Yasutake.
Gladiators is an Australian television series, which premiered on 15 January 2024 on Network 10. It is hosted by Beau Ryan and Liz Ellis. It is based on the earlier Australian iterations of the American version of the franchise. The first iteration being broadcast from 1995–1996 and a short-lived revival being the second in 2008.
Jim Kalafat is an American athlete, actor, and producer. Under the stage name Laser, he competed as a gladiator on the American TV show American Gladiators from 1989 to 1996.
