New Looks For Some Old Favorites

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

18 Mar 2007 11:29 PM

"High School Musical"-it's everywhere! The Disney smash hit started off as a TV movie, morphed into a quadruple-platinum CD, then hit the road as a touring live concert and a top-selling DVD. Now, (brace yourself) "High School Musical" is chilling out---on ice.

That's right; "Disney's High School Musical: The Ice Tour" is heading to an arena near you. Beginning August 31st the tour will travel to at least 100 cities over the next year. According to Disney officials, the production will feature "some of the world's most talented skaters" performing to music from the "High School Musical" soundtrack.

Another popular media darling is also getting a summer makeover---one that includes a new name.

Come 2008 Court TV will be no more. According to Turner Broadcasting representatives the cable channel will be renamed to reflect a more action-driven lineup. The new name won't be revealed until summer and will take effect at the start of next year.

It'll be out with the standard real-life cameras in the courtroom drama and in with what network executives are calling "action-packed reality programming." (Gee, what was more real than watching a court case evolve before your very eyes?) I guess the courtroom action moved at a pace that was a bit too slow for audiences to take because it is now being replaced with shows including "Bounty Girls," about a team of female bounty hunters in Florida, and "The Real Hustle," a program which features scam artists and pickpockets at work in New York City.

Die hard Court TV fans take note, the revamped network will still carry (limited) courtroom coverage weekday mornings and executives say the website courttv.com will continue. The network will also feature legal-oriented programming, including talk shows with Nancy Grace and Star Jones, which will air in the afternoon.

Okay, let's review. The network still plans to broadcast courtroom action and feature legal analysis, but it is dropping the name Court TV? And replace it with what?

What's your guess?

Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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