Senoia's Rutledge Wood, best known for his NASCAR coverage and a host on History's "Top Gear," is getting a second show on the network called "Lost in Transmission."
Known by his friends as a scavenger of vehicles, he is going to pursue his love of restoring cars on a show with George Flanigen. History will air six test episodes this spring.
The descriptive:
Rutledge is an expert at finding rare cars and George is a shrewd operator with an eye on the budget providing a much-needed counterbalance to Rutledge's passion.
Their journey will take them off the beaten track, where they get lost in Southern flavors, meet eccentric characters and discover the heart of American car culture. Go along for the ride with two buddies on the ultimate road trip... saving America's greatest, weirdest, and coolest cars.
Wood said the show came to fruition after a couple of years discussion with History execs. "For me, the most important thing was to do something fun that I believed in," he texted me, "and was closer to home so I could be with my wife and 3 daughters more... and from that aspect, it has been amazing! I have gotten to put a lot of my friends on the new show with me and I hope people will love it as much as I love doing it."
History, he said, has not cancelled "Top Gear." He's hoping it will return with Adam Carolla and Tanner Foust. "We absolutely love doing the show together," he wrote.
He also has a new gig with NBC Sports talking motorsports, moving from Fox Sports 1.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
VH1's "Sorority Sisters" has now aired four episodes. The much maligned show actually saw ratings increase last Monday from 1 million two weeks ago, jumping to about 1.3 million. It's holding just under half of whatever lead-in "Love and Hip Hop."
Efforts by critics to get VH1 to kill it using advertiser pressure and viewer boycotts has not worked yet. But the cast did act all defensive and put upon during a special episode where they addressed the negativity toward them. They basically used the small number of "death threat" whack jobs to downplay all critics, including those who provided reasonable arguments why they found the show antithetical to the sorority culture.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The Weather Channel is shifting its evening show in March to focus on Mike Bettes, who has been working mornings with Sam Champion.
The new program, which has yet been named, will originate from The Lab, the network's expert area and studio, which is home to the network’s severe weather analysis and features advanced forecasting tools and weather graphics.
According to the Atlanta-based network, Bettes will give his take on the day’s events and provide viewers with a look behind the curtain on how forecasts are made and why they did or did not come true. He will tap into the expertise and passion of the network's weather experts, giving them a platform to do more than just forecast -- sharing their views, debating the issues and going deep on the rationale behind the forecast. Bettes will also host visiting experts and cover severe weather as it unfolds.
Like Wood's show, I'll write more details about the show when the launch gets closer.
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Last week's debut of Fox's "Empire," which did exceptionally well in Atlanta, has pulled in 13.2 million viewers, counting DVR usage up to three days after airing. Another 1.1 million viewers were caught on demand.
Its 18-49 numbers were especially strong, with a 5.3 rating.
Now it all comes down to retention in coming weeks. Will audiences stick around despite mixed reviews?
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