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Former top reality producer-turned-FremantleMedia North America CEO Thom Beers has picked a person with the same background to head the company’s unscripted development. Veteran reality producer Toby Gorman has joined Fmna as Evp of Alternative Programming, effective mid-April. He will spearhead the development of formats for reality competition and game shows for broadcast, major cable networks as well as syndication. He replaces Jeff Tahler, Evp Global Content. “FremantleMedia aims to continue to build on its strong presence in reality, game show and other unscripted television, and Toby has earned a wonderful reputation as a terrific series producer and show runner,” Beers said. The company behind American Idol, The X Factor, America’s Got Talent, Family Feud and Beers’ The Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers has struggled to add another marquee reality franchise to its portfolio over the last couple of years though it has a promising new syndicated...

Following the ratings success of The Voice, NBC is trying yet another singing competition -- The Winner Is. Hosted by Nick Lachey, the series will run for nine episodes this summer. Will it do well enough to be renewed for another season or, will it be cancelled instead? We'll have to wait and see.

Below are the ratings for the Summer 2013 season on NBC. These figures will be updated as the weeks progress so be sure to bookmark and return to this page to see how things are going.

Final season averages: 1.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 4.70 million total viewers.

Episode 01-07: Thursday, 08/08/13 (finale)

0.9 in the demo (-10% change) with 3.83 million (-11% change).

Season averages: 1.21 in the demo with 4.70 million.

Episode 01-06: Thursday, 08/01/13

1.0...

The elimination votes came last night on Big Brother (2.5/8) and they doubled everyone’s expectations. The live one-hour airing of the veteran reality series saw not one but two contestants given the boot on Thursday. The other change of the night was NFL Pre-season football pre-empting the Big 4’s primetime in approximately 15% of the country. That means that last night’s likely inflated fast nationals will probably see a larger adjustment than usual later today. However, with that and the continuing blackout on Time Warner Cable in NY, La and Dallas in mind, Big Brother remained even with last week’s season high show among adults 18-49. The show also had its second highest viewership of Season 15 so far with 7.08 million watching. Besides Bb, CBS was all encores last night. The network won the night both among the key demo with a 1.9/6 and in terms of total viewers with 6.637 million watching.

The show's already been canceled, but "The Winner Is ... " still needed to crown a winner of its first and only season, hosted by Nick Lachey. The last episode of the season saw the winners of the previous six episodes going head to head over three rounds, until there were only two.

The final round featured Sharde Bivans singing against Katie Ohh with $1 million on the line. While Bivans' performance of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" wowed the audience, Ohh's rendition of the Miley Cyrus song "The Climb" won the expert vote. It was close though, with the final tally coming up at 57-44.

Both contestants turned down a guaranteed $200,000 for their shot at the $1 million prize, meaning Bivans walks away empty-handed.

The peacock network is dropping The Winner Is. After this week's installment, NBC has decided to fill the game show's Thursday night timeslot with reruns of America's Got Talent and Hollywood Game Night.

Hosted by Nick Lachey, The Winner Is mixes the performance aspect of a singing competition with the strategy of a game show. Each episode, six acts compete for the chance to win a million dollar prize.

The TV series debuted in early June, airing out of The Voice. Despite the strong lead-in, it brought mediocre ratings; a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 6.3 million total viewers.

When Winner moved to Thursday nights, the ratings took a big nosedive. The latest episode drew a 1.0 in the demo and 4.29 million.

NBC had scheduled to air Winner for at least two more weeks but...

In life, or at least in your refrigerator, sometimes apples really do compete against oranges.

And that’s also the case in the following exclusive sneak peek at Thursday’s episode of The Winner Is (9/8c on NBC), where the eight-member choral group Agape Love Ensemble goes head-to-head with country crooner Thomas Wells.

After the two acts finish their respective performances of Florence + The Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over” and Rascal Flatts’ “Bless the Broken Road,” the 101-person studio audience renders a verrrry close decision: 55 to 46. The problem is, host Nick Lachey isn’t about to reveal which act...

There was a lot of talk about Syfy’s Sharknado on social media on Thursday night but on NBC it was game night. Hollywood Game Night (1.3/4) actually. Hosted by Glee’s Jane Lynch, the Sean Hayes created show features teams of three A-listers and one contestant teaming up to compete in various challenges for a $25,000 prize. The one-hour debut at 10 Pm saw Friends alum Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow joining Alyson Hannigan, Hawaii Five-o’s Daniel Dae Kim, Martin Short, and Kristen Bell in the festivities. The highest-rated show of its slot, Hollywood Game Night also matched the results of the encore show of the Macy’s fireworks last week for NBC’s best showing in the slot since a April 18 airing of Hannibal. However, Hgn was also down 24% from the August 13, 2012 NBC debut of reality series Stars Earn Stripes. Having debuted back on June 10 and aired the next Monday,...

Pretty much everyone knows six songs, but is that enough to lead to $1 million?

Contestants on "The Winner Is," premiering tonight (July 11) on NBC hope their singing and their ability to gauge competitors' performances and handicap their odds lead to the prize.

"If you can imagine 'The Voice' and 'Deal or No Deal' having a baby, that is 'The Winner Is,' " says host Nick Lachey.

The summer show had a sneak peek in June and begins its regular run this week.

"It is a head-to-head singing competition," he tells Zap2it. "After they perform, the 101 people in the audience vote."

Lachey starts by offering contestants $10,000 to leave. Each episode showcases six contestants, and one advances to the final.

"You have to believe in yourself," Lachey says. But as much as performers need confidence, they also need to "be objective and say, 'I won't win that one,' and there is a mental warfare.

Nick Lachey recently dropped the new 98 Degrees record "2.0," hit the road with New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men for The Package Tour and has hosting duties on new NBC series "The Winner Is" and just saw a fourth season of "The Sing-Off" greenlit for later this year – but Lachey says becoming a new dad which is his greatest achievement.

In fact, the 39-year-old pop star was so moved by fatherhood that he squeezed in making a solo lullaby record "A Father's Lullaby'.

HuffPost Canada Music chatted to Nick about reuniting with 98 Degrees, why he loves Canada and fatherhood – from the highs of breakfast bonding with infant Camden, to having to watch his TV host wife Vanessa suffer baby blues.

Camden is gorgeous! Did you always plan to make a lullaby record?

I hadn't considered it but when I found out we were pregnant you start to experience...

These days, our knowledge of celebrities too often originates with paparazzi images and snarky quotes by anonymous "insiders." After a while, it's easy to forget that stars are real people. That's why HuffPost Celebrity decided to launch its all-new #nofilter quick-fire question-and-answer series. Because how well do you know someone until they've shared their guiltiest pleasures?

Nick Lachey is known for swoon-worthy pop ballads, but the 98 Degrees frontman was never heard crooning about fast-food offerings … until now. Lachey, 39, has teamed with Wendy’s for the chain’s "Pretzel Love Songs" campaign to launch its new Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger. Fans who tweet praise for the Pbc using the hashtag #PretzelLoveSongs may see their comments used as lyrics in a series of original music videos throughout the summer. And Monday night, Lachey kicked off the initiative at a Manhattan Wendy's by performing his first ode to the burger, along with older hits...

Nick Lachey was apparently not on Jessica Simpson's "It's a Boy!" announcement mailing list. Asked if he had spoken to his ex-wife since the birth of her second child, son Ace Knute Johnson, on June 30, Lachey admitted that he had not—but he hopes all is well! "Nope, no. We're not in touch," the host of The Winner Is told E! News at the NYC launch of Wendy's #PretzelLoveSongs campaign in honor of the chain's new Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger. "I certainly wish her the best and I would like to think the same on her end, but we don't speak," Lachey said. "We haven't spoken in years." The remarried dad, who welcomed son Camden with wife...

Another week in the summer season and another reality show makes its debut. Last night it was NBC’s The Winner Is (1.9/6). Created by The Voice co-producers Talpa Media USA, the short-run series hosted by Nick Lachey is a mix of a game show and singing competition series with contestants vying for cash prizes or a verdict from the experts panel. On the ninth-show finale a $1 million grand prize will be up for grabs. The second-most-watched and second-highest-rated show Monday, The Winner Is was up 12% in adults 18-49 from NBC’s premiere of the Mark Burnett-produced Stars Earn Stripes on August 13 last year and down a tenth from the season finale of previous slot occupant Revolution last week. The top summer debut so far on any network, The Winner Is runs for one more Monday before moving to Thursdays on July 11. A two-hour live performance edition of The Voice...

NBC is hoping to have dominant singing competitions on the air year-round. While "The Voice" is wrapping up, the network kicked off its summer entry, "The Winner Is..." This series gives contestants a chance to opt out for cash, while leaving their fate entirely in the hands of the studio audience.

Singers perform head-to-head in front of 101 music lovers who then vote on the act they like the best. The numbers go up on the screen -- with 101 voters there will always be a winner (51-50 in the closest possible scenario). After seeing the numbers, but before they know who got which score, host Nick Lachey offers the singers a chance to take some money and run.

If they take the cash, though, they lose out on the chance to advance in the competition. Throughout the night, everyone was feeling confident and passing on the quick cash, which meant broken...

NBC's new music competition series "The Winner Is," hosted by Nick Lachey, gets a special preview tonight (June 10) after "The Voice."

In case you're undecided about whether or not to add yet another singing show to your TV schedule, we asked Lachey to give us his best pitch for the show on the red carpet of the recent NBC upfront.

Check out the video above to see the 98 Degrees frontman and host of NBC's "The Sing-Off" explain what makes "The Winner Is" unique and unpredictable.

"The Winner Is" will have two post-"Voice" airings on June 10 and 17 before officially kicking off its season at 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 11.

Will you be watching?...

News

Deadline says that ABC is close to ordering a series from Bryan Singer and The L-Word creator (which I believe is when AfterEllen readers and contributors tell us to run). The Black Box follows a successful neuroscientist who hides her mental illness from the world.

I was able to go with season two as the “Our judges were smoking crack

when they aufed Anthony Ryan” season, I don’t know what they can offer this season.

Buzzeed asks if there are enough worthwhile Project Runway designers to justify a third season of Project Runway All Stars. Since their answer includes suggestions like Vincent Libbretti and Angela Keeslar (but my all-time fave Diana Eng only gets an honorable mention), I’d say the answer is no.

Lifetime’s been having success in turning media-frenzy crimes into movies, so wny not take on a classic trial of the century? The channel...

On TV this Monday: Switched at Birth returns for the summer, the Lapd investigates more Major Crimes and King & Maxwell leap off the pages of David Baldacci novels and onto the screen. Here are 10 programs to keep on your radar.

8 pm The Bachelorette (ABC) | Desiree and the remaining men play a game of dodgeball (which is sure to get way too competitive), and singer Kate Earl serenades Desiree and a date.

8 pm The Voice (NBC) | Will performances from the Top 5, Usher, Fall Out Boy and Season 3 alums Tony Lucca, Nicholas David and Terry McDermott cut into Christina Milian’s speaking time?...

Nick Lachey is keeping busy. With a new gig hosting the NBC series The Winner Is, the 39-year-old singer is also gearing up for his upcoming reunion tour with 98 Degrees. Not to mention, he's also doing daddy duty for the very first time. But as Lachey picks up his second hosting job, we couldn't help but wonder if being around other musicians gave him the itch to get back into the studio with the boys.

"I think that in particular it kind of gave me the itch to say, you know this really would be cool to get the guys back together and do something again. But being around great music is great no matter what it is," he told me. "I think its more coincidence than cause and effect being around these kinds of shows. It kind of rekindles your joy for music and does make you want to...

Ready for another singing competition on television? Before you roll your eyes, you should definitely see what makes Nick Lachey's The Winner Is a bit twisted. As you'll see in this exclusive first look, two singers perform in front of 101 people who will be judging their performances and picking one to move on. After they sing, the votes are tallied up, but it isn't revealed which singer got which number of votes. And then comes the next phase of the competition, where Lachey basically asks each singer: Do you have enough confidence in yourself to believe that you won the singing duel? Check out the sneak peek above to get a taste of The Winner Is, premiering July 11 on NBC. (E! and NBC are both...

Most music-reality competitions hold out the promise of a record deal, but NBC’s The Winner Is is all about the money. Nick Lachey hosts the new show, in which amateur contestants — ranging from a registered nurse to a school-bus monitor — compete for a million dollars in a Deal or No Deal-type pressure environment.

Watch an exclusive promo below.

Check out a sneak peak of The Winner Is on June 10 on NBC.

NBC has set its premiere dates for its new scripted drama series from creator Edward Bernero ("Criminal Minds") in June and alternative series The Winner Is…" and "Hollywood Game Night," hosted by Nick Lachey and Jane Lynch, respectively. Sony Pictures TV's "Crossing Lines" debuts with a two-hour premiere on Sunday, June 23 at 9 p.m. before airing its regular time slot at 10 p.m. beginning June 30. It explores cases from the International Criminal Court and the people who track down global criminals. It stars William Fichtner, Donald Sutherland, Marc Lavoine, Gabriella...

NBC has set a few more pieces in its summer schedule puzzle, slotting new unscripted series The Winner Is … and Hollywood Game Night and acquired drama Crossing Lines. The Nick Lachey-hosted The Winner Is …, where each episode features six acts that go head to head and sing for a shot at a $1 million grand prize, will premiere July 11 and air in the Thursday 9-10 Pm slot. It will be followed at 10 Pm by the Jane Lynch-hosted Hollywood Game Night, which features A-list celebrities partaking in a cocktail party atmosphere that is based on the real-life game nights of creator Sean Hayes. Ed Bernero’s Crossing Lines will launch June 23 with a two-hour premiere from 9-11 Pm and will air in the Sunday 10 Pm slot starting June 30. NBC previously scheduled Get Out Alive With Bear Grylls and American Ninja Warrior on Monday, America’s Got Talent on Tuesday and Wednesday,...