Nick Collins

Disney/ABC Domestic Television announced today that Cedric “The Entertainer” would be replacing Meredith Vieira as host of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” beginning with the shows 12th season scheduled to debut in national syndication this Fall.

“We are thrilled to announce that Cedric ‘The Entertainer’ will be at the helm as our new host of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,’” said Janice Marinelli, president, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, in a statement. “With his deep roots as a successful stand-up comedian and actor, Cedric will bring his fresh approach and unpredictable fun to the show.”

Read More >>

Monty Brinton/CBS

For those that don’t know him or have yet to discover him, Robert Scott Wilson is both a model and an actor. In September 2012, Wilson won the coveted position as the first-ever male model on “The Price is Right.” The game show hosted by Drew Carey, currently in its 41st season on CBS, issued an open casting call for male models in Los Angeles in August of last year and hundreds of hopefuls showed up. After being narrowed down to just 26 individuals, the men competed in a series of challenges that were featured on priceisright.com. Such challenges included writing and singing original lyrics based on the theme music from the iconic series. Ultimately, Wilson beat out finalists Clint Brink and Nick Denbeigh and began a week-long stint in mid-October, which has since turned into a regular gig. When news first broke that Wilson would be joining the cast of “All My Children” in the contract role of Peter Cortlandt, one could only wonder if he would be departing the game show after such a short period of time. Wonder no more as the actor tells Soap Opera Network, he’ll be doing both!

Read More >>

For more than 10 years fans of daytime soap operas have been coming to Soap Opera Network to find out how their favorite soap was faring in the weekly ratings report. From time to time we would also provide analysis of how they stacked up when compared to their broadcast counterparts in the talk show and game show genres, but we’ve never looked at how the broadcast soaps (and to a lesser extent the broadcast talk and game shows) compared to syndicated television. Not that it wasn’t easy to provide a comparison, it was just never something we found necessary. In recent months, with the introduction of several syndicated talk shows including “Katie” and “The Steve Harvey Show,” which together took over the 3:00 PM slot from “General Hospital” in much of the country this past September after “GH” moved to 2:00 PM, and the second season without “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” things have changed. Recently, Broadcasting & Cable came out with a report that showed how syndicated programs might be a solid alternative to our soaps in the key demographics when it comes to Madison Avenue buying advertising time. While we wouldn’t want advertisers to give up on our favorite shows, B&C does provide a solid rationalization and even highlights the value of soap operas when it comes to the all important key women demos (Women 18-49, Women 25-54, etc).

Read More >>

Monty Brinton/CBS

On Monday, November 19, the winner of “The Price is Right‘s” first ever Male Model search, Rob Wilson, will be Live Tweeting during the east coast broadcast (11:00 AM ET/8:00 AM PT) of the venerable daytime game show.

Wilson won the nearly two month long contest which found hundreds of hopefuls seeking the coveted position. The contest began with a casting call in Los Angeles on August 30 and concluded on October 8, when Wilson defeated Clint Brink and Nick Denbeigh to be named “TPIR’s” first male model.

You can chat with Wilson by tweeting him @MrRobertScott. Make sure to follow @PriceIsRight for updates on “The Price is Right.”