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Pax has 'Bonanza' prequel
© St. Petersburg Times, PASADENA, Calif. -- Family oriented Pax TV is going back to the future for its next new fall series, commissioning a "prequel" to Bonanza that will outline the early years of Ben Cartwright and his family. Dubbed The Ponderosa, the show stars sometimes Tampa resident Daniel Hugh Kelly as patriarch Ben, the role made famous by Lorne Greene in the long-running NBC series. Set for a Sept. 9 debut (locally on WXPX-Ch. 66), the show is set 10 years before the classic series, before the discovery of silver in Nevada enriched the Cartwrights. "It scared the hell out of me," said Kelly about taking the role as Cartwright, speaking to TV critics via satellite from the show's location in Australia. "We are all playing icons in many ways." Executives at West Palm Beach-based Pax outlined their fall programming at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour last week, including plans to share shows with NBC, which owns about 33 percent of the company (Home Shopping Network co-founder Lowell "Bud" Paxson owns the network). NBC began airing episodes of Pax's Mysterious Ways on Friday nights this month (the show returns to Pax on Sept. 9). Rebroadcasts of NBC's game show Weakest Link began airing at 8 p.m. Fridays on Pax in June. Pax also will rebroadcast the new NBC series Crossing Jordan in spring 2002. NBC and Pax executives also are watching the impact of rebroadcasts of NBC's Nightly News, airing on WXPX at 7:30 weeknights. This is the only market in the country getting the rebroadcast. Pax also has developed new Candid Camera episodes, a Star Search-inspired talent show hosted by Ed McMahon dubbed Next Big Star and 13 made-for-TV movies. "Every time I see a show where someone eats a rat, I feel like there are probably some viewers out there who have just been pushed over the edge," said Jeff Sagansky, Pax president and CEO, in a swipe at "reality" shows such as Survivor. "Certainly, we wouldn't be doing as well as we were if network TV wasn't putting on all of these rat-infested shows. So I'm delighted."
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From the wire |
