NBC Sports Network's 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Season Features 10 Races on Three Continents

NEW YORK--March 28, 2012— The NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series will feature 10 races on three continents – North America, South America and Asia – including two new events, IndyCar qualifying coverage, Firestone Indy Lights telecasts, and a new half-hour athlete profile show, IndyCar 36. Race coverage begins Sunday at 2 p.m. ET with the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama from Barber Motorsports Park.

2012 IZOD INDYCAR SERIES: The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule will include two new events with the NBC Sports Network providing live coverage of both the Qingdao, China race on August, 18, and the Series’ finale from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. on Sept. 15. The network will also air one-hour of qualifying coverage the day before each race airs and will replay race coverage the following day. Additionally, the NBC Sports Network will air more than 16 hours of qualification events leading up to the Indianapolis 500.

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series has several compelling storylines this year beginning with the debut of a new car for the first time in nearly a decade. The revolutionary new chassis is designed to be safer and more efficient, while maintaining the close competition that's been a hallmark of the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Additionally this season, 2011 IndyCar Champion Dario Franchitti will go for racing history as he attempts to match Sebastian Bourdais' record of four-consecutive IndyCar titles. Should Franchitti win his fourth-straight title, he would be just the second driver to win at least five season titles joining A.J. Foyt with seven national championships in the United States Auto Club. Some of the new talent to watch this year that will challenge veteran drivers are Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, JR Hildebrand, Simona De Silvestro, Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden.

INDYCAR 36: The NBC Sports Network will extend its all-access 36 series to IndyCar with the premiere of IndyCar 36, Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET, leading into the first day of race coverage. The first driver profiled will be Tony Kanaan, 2004 IndyCar Series winner.

The all-new NBC Sports Network original series is produced by IMS Productions and gives viewers an all-access pass into the life of a world-class driver in the middle of race season. The cameras will follow a driver for 36 hours during a race weekend providing a behind-the-scenes look at the on- and off-track activities of the stars of the IndyCar Series.

The all-access 36 also includes NHL 36, which debuted in December, and Fight Night 36 that aired earlier this month.

FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS: NBC Sports Network will air 12 one-hour telecasts of Firestone Indy Lights beginning tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET, with coverage of last week’s race from St. Petersburg, Florida. Firestone Indy Lights is the premier ladder series for drivers and teams striving to compete in the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500. Primarily run in conjunction with the IZOD IndyCar Series, the Firestone Indy Lights schedule features races on road courses/street circuits and ovals, including the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

COMMENTATORS: Returning to NBC Sports Network’s booth is Bob Jenkins (lead race announcer), Jon Beekhuis (analyst) and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. (analyst). Jenkins is a veteran motorsports television and radio announcer, who has served in the same role since the inaugural season in 2009. Beekhuis, an analyst who has also served at the network since 2009, is a former CART driver (1989-92), the 1988 Indy Lights Champion, and a pit reporter/analyst for numerous networks, including ESPN, SPEED, CBS and NBC.

Dallenbach, a former NASCAR driver from 1991-2001, joined NBC Sports Network last year after covering NASCAR for NBC Sports and Turner Sports beginning in 2001.

REPORTERS: Veterans Marty Snider and Kevin Lee will return this season as pit reporters, and will be joined by newcomer and current IndyCar driver Townsend Bell, who raced in the Indy 500 in 2010 and 2011 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Robin Miller will serve as the network’s IndyCar reporter.

BOB JENKINS ON THE 2012 COMPETITION AND THIS WEEK’S RACE: “This year more than any other in my memory, there are many unanswered questions. One question is: ‘Will the three engines be compatible?’ We saw at St. Petersburg that the new Chevy was the best. But I'll be interested to see if that continues at Barber. The results at St. Petersburg may indicate the beginning of a comeback for Helio Castroneves. After a disastrous 2011, he may be ready to challenge for the championship again and, don't forget, he'll try to join the exclusive list of four-time winners this year at Indianapolis.”

VIEWERSHIP: Since the inaugural season of televising IndyCar Series races in 2009, the NBC Sports Network (formerly VERSUS) has continued to deliver in-depth and all-encompassing race coverage to motorsports fans. In 2011, the network experienced its most-watched IndyCar season to-date and delivered four of the most-watched IndyCar races ever on the network: Edmonton, Baltimore, Texas and Toronto. The 2011 IndyCar Series season was up 10 percent among average viewers and saw increases among key male demos.

NBC SPORTS NETWORK’S WEEKEND COVERAGE (subject to change, all times ET):

DATE COVERAGE TIME

Sat., March 31 IndyCar Qualifying 4 p.m.

Sun., April 1 IndyCar 36 featuring Tony Kanaan 1:30 p.m.

Sun., April 1 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama 2 p.m.

Mon., April 2 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (re-air) 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.

NBC SPORTS NETWORK’S 2012 IZOD INDYCAR SERIES SCHEDULE (subject to change, all times ET):

DATE RACE LOCATION TIME

April 1 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Birmingham, Alab. 2 p.m.

April 15 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Long Beach, Calif. 3:30 p.m.

April 29 Sao Paulo Indy 300 Sao Paulo, Brazil 11 a.m.

June 9 Firestone 550 Fort Worth, Texas 8 p.m.

June 23 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Newton, Iowa 8 p.m.

July 22 Edmonton Indy Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 2 p.m.

August 18 Streets of Qingdao Qingdao, China 12 a.m.

August 26 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma Sonoma, Calif. 4 p.m.

September 2 Baltimore Grand Prix Baltimore, Md. 2 p.m.

September 15 Auto Club Speedway Fontana, Calif. 8 p.m.

NBC Will Launch NBC Kids, Starting Saturday, July 7

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – March 28, 2012 -- NBC will launch NBC Kids, a new Saturday morning programming block designed specifically to address the developmental needs of preschool-aged children, premiering on Saturday, July 7. Programmed by the kids experts at Sprout, the nation's first 24-hour preschool television channel, this new three-hour block will feature educational series that promote active, healthy lifestyles for younger children.

NBC Kids will include the U.S. broadcast premieres of quality, preschool series “The Wiggles," Sprout’s “Noodle & Doodle,” Jim Henson's “Pajanimals,” “Poppy Cat," “Justin Time,” as well as the popular “LazyTown,” designed to encourage healthy eating and exercise.

The announcement was made jointly by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC Entertainment, and Sandy Wax, President of Sprout.

“NBC is proud to partner with Sprout in providing progressive new programming that will entertain and encourage children to achieve more positive life choices,” said Greenblatt. “This is an ideal blend of entertaining shows that also offer promising benefits to the development of children on many levels.”

“Producing this new block for NBC will extend the reach of quality preschool programming beyond Sprout’s cable, VOD and digital platforms affording millions of families the opportunity to watch quality preschool series that promote active, healthy lifestyles,” said Wax.

NBC Entertainment develops and schedules programming for the network’s primetime, late-night, and daytime schedules. NBC’s quality programs and balanced lineup have earned the network critical acclaim, numerous awards, and ratings success. NBC has earned more Emmy Awards than any network in television history.

NBC’s roster of popular scripted series includes such critically acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning comedies as "The Office" and "30 Rock," the latter starring Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey. NBC’s drama slate includes the veteran, award-winning series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and the popular first-year musical “Smash.” Unscripted series for NBC include the vocal competition hit “The Voice” as well as "The Biggest Loser," "The Celebrity Apprentice" and "America's Got Talent." NBC's late-night story is highlighted by "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," "Last Call with Carson Daly" and "Saturday Night Live." NBC Daytime's "Days of our Lives" consistently ranks among daytime’s top programs in the valuable women 18-34 category.

The five-time, Emmy Award-winning NBC.com streams full episodes and provides original content for NBC entertainment shows online and through apps for mobile and tablet devices.

About Sprout®
Available in over 50 million homes, Sprout is the first 24-hour preschool destination available on TV, on demand and online for children ages 2-5 and their parents and caregivers. The 24-hour digital channel, which launched in September 2005 along with the website (SproutOnline.com), is the only channel that follows the day of a preschooler from breakfast to bedtime with its distinctive, interactive programming and original hosted blocks. Sprout’s VOD offering is the #1 on demand service for younger children with over one billion views.

Sprout is a partnership among NBCUniversal, PBS, Sesame Workshop and Apax Funds. Its program lineup of gold-standard, curriculum-based preschool shows includes: Sesame Street®, Bob the Builder™, Barney & Friends™, The Wiggles®, Caillou®, Pajanimals™, Thomas & Friends™, LazyTown™, and more.

Upfronts 2012: USA Network Lines Up Grammy Winners Hudson, Ronson at Manhattan Event

Cable's top player USA Network will put its on-air talent forward on display, flanked by performances from a couple of Grammy Award winners.

USA, during its talent-only presentation at 3:30 p.m. on May 17 at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan, will feature performances by Oscar and Grammy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson and world-renowned DJ and Grammy Award- winner Mark Ronson.

The "characters welcome" network, which is debuting Political Animals this summer, will showcase its talent roster at the presentation, with appearances anticipated from Sigourney Weaver, Matt Bomer, Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Callie Thorne, Kurt Warner, Jeffrey Donovan, Mark Feuerstein, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, The Miz, Piper Perabo, James Roday, Sarah Shahi, Michael Ealy, Tim DeKay, Mehcad Brooks, Gabrielle Anwar, Dule Hill, Tiffani Thiessen, Chris Gorham, Reshma Shetty, Willie Garson, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Corbin Bernsen, Paulo Costanzo, Warren Kole, Ryan Johnson, Gina Torres, Meghan Markle, Coby Bell, Peter Gallagher, Sonya Walger, Jack McGee, Marc Blucas, Michael Trucco, Maggie Lawson, Rick Hoffman, Virginia Williams, Baron Vaughn, Marsha Thomason, Sharif Atkins, Kiersten Nelson, Scott Cohen and Timothy Omundson, among others.

NBC Renews Critically Acclaimed Drama 'Smash' For Second Season

NBC Photo

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – March 22, 2012 – NBC has renewed its critically acclaimed musical drama “Smash” (Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET) for a second season, it was announced today by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC Entertainment.

“Smash” is NBC's #1 drama in adults 18-49 and total viewers. "Smash" is up 160 percent in 18-49 versus NBC's season average in the time period prior to "Smash" (with a 2.6 rating vs. a 1.0, "live plus same day") and in total viewers, "Smash" has improved the time period by 100 percent (7.7 million vs. 3.9 million).

Among the many positive notices the series has received, USA Today wrote, “‘Smash’ pulls out all of the entertainment stops and succeeds… just the kind of gloriously entertaining, wildly ambitious network series you hope for each season…” The Los Angeles Times wrote, “…‘Smash’ is a triumph.” And EW.com referred to “Smash” as “…one damn lively show with a lot of promise.”

NBC’s “Smash” – which debuted February 6 -- celebrates the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theater as it follows a cross-section of dreamers and schemers who all have one common desire – to be a “Smash.” Evolving from an idea of executive producer and multiple Emmy and Oscar winner Steven Spielberg (“ER,” “Schindler’s List”), the series unites the hit-making Broadway writing team of Julia Houston (Debra Messing, Emmy winner, “Will & Grace”) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle, “Legally Blonde: The Musical”) with producer Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston, Oscar winner, “Prizzi’s Honor”) to create a new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, and seasoned chorus girl Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty, “9 to 5: The Musical”) vies with newcomer Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee, “American Idol”) for the role of a lifetime.

The cast also features Jack Davenport (“Pirates of the Caribbean” films), Raza Jaffrey (“MI-5,” “Sex and the City 2”), Brian d’Arcy James (“Shrek the Musical”) and Jaime Cepero (“Porgy & Bess”). In addition to Spielberg, the executive producers include Theresa Rebeck (“Mauritius”), David Marshall Grant (“Brothers & Sisters”), Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (“Chicago,” “Hairspray”), Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey ("United States of Tara," "The Borgias") and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray,” “Catch Me If You Can”). The first three episodes were directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer.

“Smash” is a production of Universal Television in association with DreamWorks Television and Madwoman in the Attic.

Fresh Start for Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett on WE TV!

I must have missed the official release, or maybe there just wasn't one but Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett no longer has her tv show "Kendra" on E! channel. I had noticed a couple of weeks ago a rumble on twitter that Kendra was "moving on", but couldn't get a answer as to what that exactly meant.

So what exactly happened to her E! show, “Kendra,” which premiered in June 2009? She’s a little vague with her response, telling USA Today that she “parted ways” with the network after they “went in a different direction.”

Today though WE TV announced that Kendra and family would be apart of a new project on their channel titled "Kendra on Top". Here is what Kendra has to say on the interesting title:

“Of course you can look at it however you want to look at it, but the reason we named it that was because everyone said, ‘Kendra, you’re the most fit, you’re the best wife, you’ve got the best family.’ Everyone’s been saying those words to me so we summed it all up.

“You can take it and play with it and have fun with it. I’m OK with it, ‘cuz I’m a free person, I’m open. That’s the fun part of it, but the real meaning is where my life is now.”

WE has ordered 14 episodes of “Kendra on Top,” which begins filming in Los Angeles this month and is slated to debut this summer.

Kendra is calling her deal with WE “a fresh start” and “a perfect fit,” She says, “My life is a journey. I love to put it on TV.”

This means the new series will still include hubby Hank Baskett, 29, showing his business side as he tackles life after the NFL. It will also cover their continued adventures in parenthood, as little Hank, now 2, enters Montessori preschool.

The Fringe Team's Favorite "Walterisms"

Ever wonder what Walter wonders? WonderCon did. Check out these “Walterisms” compiled by the friendly folks at Fringe unveiled at WonderCon over the weekend.

Fringe returns to FOX on Friday, March 23rd (This Friday) at 9/8c.


** I was asked by Warner Bros. to share this information with my followers. I did not receive any compensation for this post. I just agreed to post this because I am a fan of the show.**

Alcatraz Highlight Reel

What happened to the Alcatraz 63s? Find out in this explosive highlight reel, which premiered exclusively at WonderCon this past weekend!

Don't forget to watch Alcatraz tonight at 9/8c on FOX!

** I was asked by Warner Bros. to share this information with my followers. I did not receive any compensation for this post. I just agreed to post this because I am a fan of the show.**

Psych- "Shawn and the Real Girl"

Tonight on Psych: Shawn and Gus go undercover to investigate an attack on a reality-TV contestant who appeared on a dating show in which men compete for the affections of a woman they've crossed paths with but never officially met.

Tune in to an all new Psych tonight titled "Shawn and the Real Girl" at 10/9c on USA Network

Fairly Legal Returns March 16th on USA!

We are all eagerly waiting for the return of Fairly Legal right? Well I know I am! USA Network released this short sneak peek of the March 16th return episode.

Anyone else excited for the return of Fairly Legal? I can't wait to see what happens between Kate and Justin!