NBC has slotted two new reality series from Mark Burnett, the producer whose TV hits include "Survivor," "The Apprentice" and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"
The family competition series "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad" will succeed "American Gladiators" in the 8 p.m. Monday slot beginning February 18, while the comedy quiz show "Amnesia" will take over the 8 p.m. Friday slot on February 29, following a February 22 debut at 9 p.m., after the season finale of "1 vs. 100."
NBC's original scheduling plan had another reality series, "The Baby Borrowers," airing in the 8 p.m. Monday slot after "Gladiators" ends its run. But NBC executives are said to have gotten excited about "Dad" after the show's first taping over the weekend. Because of its format as a high-energy competition, it was deemed a better fit to succeed "Gladiators" than the social experiment "Baby Borrowers."
Hosted by Dan Cortese, "Dad" features father-son and father-daughter teams competing against one another. The show was created by Jon Hotchkiss.
"Amnesia" challenges contestants to answer a range of questions from their own life for money. Dennis Miller hosts the show.
The scheduling of "Dad" and "Amnesia" follows NBC's decision Friday to shift its upcoming acquired drama "Quarterlife" from the 9 p.m. Monday slot, where it was to air after "Baby Borrowers," to 9 p.m. Sundays following a February 26 premiere after "The Biggest Loser."
Two more games in play at NBC from Mark Burnett
Craig Ferguson passes citizenship test
No need for any more honorary citizenships for talk show host Craig Ferguson. He's going to be the real deal.
The "Late Late Show" host announced Monday that he got a perfect score on his citizenship test, taken Friday in Los Angeles. The Scottish-born Ferguson will officially be sworn in a few weeks from now.
"All of you people born here, if you had to take that test — well, Canada would be building a fence right now," he said on his CBS show Monday.
It started as a joke last June, when Ferguson received a letter from the mayor of Ozark, Ark., granting him "honorary citizenship" of the town for his kind words about its catfish. Ferguson started a campaign to get the designation elsewhere and is now an honorary citizen of 16,109 communities nationwide.
Deciding to become a citizen of the nation at large required him to take a test with such questions as "What month is the new president inaugurated?" and "Who is the chief justice of the Supreme Court?"
He made it. And in the true American spirit, was already joking that President Bush's final State of the Union address "was like a farewell, special edition of 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'"
"I'm getting cocky for someone who is not yet a citizen, aren't I?" he said.
