Debra Weeks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation | Executive producer/producer journalist |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | Debraweeks.com |
Debra Weeks is an American television producer, executive producer, director, and journalist. She is noted for her role in the development and direction of reality television. [1]
Weeks began her career as journalist in 1982 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism from California State University Northridge. She wrote copy and read the news on radio stations in southern California and Nevada. Weeks began in television as a weather girl at KOLO-TV in Reno, NV, and later worked in Texas and New Mexico as a television news reporter, anchor, producer and managing editor.
Weeks returned to Hollywood as part of the startup team for Paramount Pictures tabloid television magazine series, Hard Copy. She ultimately became the series' Supervising Producer and Managing Editor, working with Peter Brennan and Burt Kearns.
While at Hard Copy, Weeks covered and/or managed the teams reporting on entertainment as well as hard news stories, which included the 1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson, the Waco siege, the Northridge earthquake, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck.
Moving into executive slots, Debra developed and produced multiple reality television projects for network and cable as the surge of reality programming began.
Debra joined with Nash Entertainment, to manage the development and production of NBC's World's Most Amazing Videos. [1]
The Travel Channel's celebrity-driven Road Trip series debuted in 2001 along with the three travel magazine series-Forbidden Places, Destination Danger, and Dangerous Roads. [1]
TLC's World's Best Kept Secrets premiered in 2000. TLC's successful For Better or Worse followed in 2003–2005, beginning the "wedding genre" docudrama. [1]
For Fox in 2003, Weeks executive produced the caught on tape studio audience show Totally Outrageous Behavior, and for Discovery Channel in 2009 with Moments of Impact. [1] [2]
Debra worked with Court TV to rebrand the channel as it transitioned to TruTV by developing and producing the defining reality clip show franchise Most Shocking, [3] debuting in 2006; continuing with Most Daring, [4] Crisis Point, and the countdown show Top 20 Most Shocking. The TruTV reality franchises continued with the comedic cross-genre Clipaholics 2012 and the docu-soap Caught Red Handed, also in 2012.
In April 2012, AXS TV, the newly formed partnership between HDNet, Ryan Seacrest, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), and CAA tapped Debra Weeks as Executive Producer to develop and launch its live entertainment programming block, "AXSLive". [1]
The successful launch of the new programming block was described as "the pop-culture equivalent of ESPN's SportsCenter" and premiered in July 2012 on the newly rebranded AXS TV network. [1]
In 2014, Weeks joined Sean Combs' new Revolt channel as a network Executive Producer. [1]
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TruTV is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of comedy, docusoaps and reality shows, with a recent strong primetime focus on live sports programming produced by TNT Sports.
AXS TV is an American cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to music-related programming and combat sports—related programming.
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TruTV was a Latin American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Entertainment. The programming schedule is centred towards reality shows. It was launched on April 1, 2009 replacing Retro. It is divided in two feeds, one in Spanish language and another one in Portuguese language, for Brazil. In July 2010, an HD feed was launched.
Sharp Entertainment, LLC is a television production company based in Manhattan, New York. Founded by Matt Sharp in 2003, they have produced thousands of hours of programming in reality television. They produce TLC's top rated television franchise, 90 Day Fiancé, which consists of 6 spin off series. The February 23, 2020 premiere of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days had 3.3 million viewers, putting TLC in the #2 spot for the night. Some of their other hits include Love After Lockup, Man v. Food, Marrying Millions (Lifetime), Doomsday Preppers, Extreme Couponing (TLC), and The Fabulous Life (VH1).
Undercover Boss is a British reality television series. Each episode follows a person in a high management position at a major business who poses as an entry-level employee to find faults in the company. The first series, consisting of two episodes, aired in 2009; the second series, with six episodes, aired one year later. This original series sparked the Undercover Boss franchise. Localised versions have been produced in the United States, France, Australia, Germany, Canada and various other countries. In June 2021, it was announced that it would be revived on ITV after a seven-year absence. Retitled Undercover Big Boss, it premiered on 5 August 2021, with four episodes.
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