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MIKE REYNOLDS
Court TV is bringing the gavel down on original films.
The legal network will produce two or three fact-based telefilms annually, the first of which, The Amy Pofahl Story, was announced by chairman/CEO Henry Schleiff at the TCA winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif., last week.
Schleiff said the film grew out of a one-hour documentary the network did last year on Pofahl, who was wrongly imprisoned for 24 years.
The films will carry budgets of between $3 million and $5 million. On tap, a project centering on the Ku Klux Klan from Homicide creator Tom Fontana that will likely air in 2002.
"We're probably looking at two films this year," said Schleiff.
Catherine Crier will move to a new spot on the network - 5 p.m., beginning Feb. 12 - with Catherine Crier Live. The former prosecutor and Texas judge will appear Monday-Thursdays, summing up legal issues and cases in a provocative talk show format.
The network also announced a weekly series, Hollywood at Large, featuring reports on the intersection of crime, justice and popular culture.
The skein starts Feb. 16 at 5 p.m.
During its session, Court TV highlighted two specials that will appear within its 10 p.m. Crime Stories franchise. KISS bassist Gene Simmons will host a one-hour documentary, The Secret History of Rock `n Roll June 11, delving into the bad business and bad characters that have influenced the music charts for the past 50 years.
TNT'S XMAS CLAUS Whoopi Goldberg will star in and Garth Brooks will contribute Christmas songs to the TNT Original film Call Me Claus, slated for a December premiere. Nine days later, Columbia TriStar Television will release the movie on home video. Goldberg will play Lucy Cullins, a cranky producer at a home shopping network, who hires an actor named Nick to play Santa Claus. Nick is really the jolly man, though, and has targeted Cullins as his reluctant replacement, as he faces mandatory retirement after 200 years on the job.
BBC AMERICA ROCK SHOW BBC America will debut The Brit Awards, Britain's premier music celebration, March 2 at 9 p.m. U2 and Madonna are scheduled to perform. Nominees include Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Eminem, Fat Boy Slim and Sisqo. The network will also showcase all new episodes of Castaways from January through March.
WILLIAMS HAS STYLES FOR WE Singer/actress Vanessa Williams will host the second season of WE: Women's Entertainment's Style World, the weekly series that guides viewers through such cities as Tokyo, Sydney, Lisbon, San Francisco and Miami. WE also said it plans to air six to eight original films.
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