Craig Ferguson’s syndicated game show “Celebrity Name Game” has been renewed for a third season on Tribune Media and Sinclair Broadcast Group stations. The deal takes the FremantleMedia North America/Debmar-Mercury strip through the 2016-17 season on its core local station affiliates. To date it’s been re-upped on stations representing more than 70% of U.S. TV households.
“Name Game” has bucked the odds and delivered decent numbers in a difficult landscape for daytime strips. The quiz show features celebrities competing to answer a rapid-fire series of questions revolving around pop culture. Ferguson won the daytime Emmy for game show host last year.
“We knew from the outset that this format had something special and seeing Craig win the Emmy for season one only reaffirmed our beliefs,” said FremantleMedia North America co-CEO Jennifer Mullin.
Debmar-Mercury chiefs Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein noted that the game show has proven to be solid counter-programming in a sea of talk and court shows.
“Celebrity Name Game works so well because it is funny, serving as a viable alternative and companion to sitcoms on stations’ schedules,” said Marcus and Bernstein, co-presidents of Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury.
