Craig’s new podcast
It’s official: Craig Ferguson will be launching a new podcast, titled “Joy” with iHeartMedia. Slated to begin “later this year,” the podcast will focus on how people manifest joy in their lives through a variety of circumstances. We’ll keep an eye on the project and let you know when it becomes available. Craig has previously worked in the audio space, hosting a show on SiriusXM Radio.

Late night TV show in the works
Meanwhile, the half-hour television show we told you about last time called Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson continues to be pitched to station groups. We expect word in the spring about whether it will be picked up.

Tour continues
Craig’s “Fancy Rascal” tour continues this month, with five shows in Charlotte, NC, February 23-25; five in Addison, TX, north of Dallas, March 3-5; and four in Brea, CA, near Los Angeles, March 10-11.

Celebrity Name Game
Since leaving the Late Late Show in 2014, Craig hosted ABC’s The Hustler, and History’s Join or Die, and won two Emmys on Celebrity Name Game, a particularly naughty clip of which can be seen below.

Video courtesy: Celebrity Name Game

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A return to late night?

In typical Craig Ferguson zig-when-the-others-zag fashion, it appears our fearless leader could find his way back to the late night airwaves after nearly eight years away.

A half-hour show called Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson is in the works, in which Craig and friends will look back on, and no doubt hilariously comment on, current shows on TV, perhaps in the spirit of Joel McHale‘s The Soup, which ran on E! for a decade.

It’s being pitched to station groups to run in syndication, so whether, where and when it might run is still up in the air. Craig has been in Los Angeles this week, meeting with station executives. Longtime writer and half of Secretariat Joe Bolter will be a part of the show as well.

Sony Pictures Television, with companies like Screen Gems and Columbia Pictures Television in its ancestry and hundreds of shows, and a current slate of shows including Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Shark Tank, The Crown, and perennial syndicated favorites Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune is behind the project.

It may be the spring before we know if the show gets the green light, so we’ll keep you posted.

Comedy Tour Continues
In the meantime, Craig continues to perform standup comedy. His current tour will make stops in Charlotte, NC and Brea, CA in February and March.

Join or Die
Since leaving the Late Late Show in 2014, Craig won two Emmys on Celebrity Name Game, hosted ABC’s The Hustler, and History’s Join or Die, the opening clip of which can be seen below.

Video courtesy: History

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On the Road Again
It’s been a minute, and there has been an extended period of radio silence, but there is Craigy-related news afoot!

Under the banner of the “Fancy Rascal Tour,” Craig Ferguson will be appearing on stage in the US and Canada in August, September and October. Among the areas he’ll visit on this leg of the tour are Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. A complete list of the currently scheduled tour dates is available here.

And if Craig’s responses to some “why aren’t you coming here?” tweets holds true, future dates in other locations may be forthcoming.

A Craig Podcast?
Not long after Craig ended his SiriusXM radio show, many people pestered him about starting a podcast, to which he said no several times. However, he recently tweeted a poll, asking if he should do one. This makes us suspect one may be coming, if only to help promote the tour. We’ll keep you posted.

From the Archives
In this excerpt from Craig’s most recent stand up special, he talks about the oldest joke in the world.

Video courtesy: YouTube

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Hustler Returns
The Hustler, hosted by Craig Ferguson, returns to ABC this week for its second season. You can see it Thursday nights at 10pm ET. After sneaking in an early, unadvertised first episode back in January, the show’s ratings nearly doubled for episode two and gradually stabilized, averaging more than two and a half million viewers for the first season, prompting the network to order more episodes. Most reviews were positive. Some were perplexed by the game’s format, but all praised Craig’s work as the ascot-wearing host.

The show will be part of ABC’s schedule of reality shows and game shows to add original programming to the summer months, which includes Bachelor in Paradise, The Bachelorette, The Chase, The Ultimate Surfer, Press Your Luck, The $100,000 Pyramid, Celebrity Family Feud, To Tell the Truth, Card Sharks and The Celebrity Dating Game.

The Voice of God
The fantastically talented Josh Robert Thompson is having fun ad-libbing like crazy as the “voice of God” on Kelly Clarkson’s talk show.

Video courtesy: The Kelly Clarkson Show

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The Hustler Returns in June
Well, that escalated quickly! Just a short time after we mentioned Craig Ferguson‘s game show The Hustler was in the process of casting new contestants for a possible return to the airwaves, hey presto! The show’s own Twitter account confirmed the show has been renewed by ABC.

And proof if proof were needed that we don’t have (many) super secret squirrel sources, we guessed wrong about when the show might come back. Instead of having to wait for next winter, we’ll start seeing new episodes beginning June 17th.

There is no word on when new episodes might be recorded, but if they’re planning to put one on the air in June, they’ll probably be starting very soon. It’s likely there will be six to eight episodes again this time. The first season ran for eight episodes in January and February 2021.

We’re excited to see new episodes, and we’ll keep you up to date on more news as we hear it.

Difficult Decisions
In this clip from The Hustler, the remaining three contestants split their vote over whom the Hustler might be. As Craig would say, “Tensions are… rising!”

Video courtesy: ABC

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Will ‘The Hustler’ be renewed?
We’ve seen no official word from ABC just yet, however, a sharp-eyed writer for the website TVSeriesFinale.com, which specializes in keeping track of when new shows are coming to television and when current shows are renewed or canceled, says a second season appears to be in the cards.

The first season ran for eight episodes in January and February 2021.

In the article, the writer explained the show’s production company is actively casting for new contestants, and reported the casting announcement confirmed the renewal.

There is no word on when new episodes might be recorded, and due to the ongoing pandemic, it may be some time before taping is possilbe. There was also no specific indication of when new episodes might air, though it seems likely it will return to a similar spot in January and February 2022.

The broadcast networks, which used to run new episodes for most of their prime-time offerings from October (some starting as early as September) through May and re-runs in the summer, have adopted a more spotty schedule.

Most sitcoms and procedural dramas still run about 22 episodes a year. But some of the more expensive-to-produce dramas might air a string of new episodes in the fall, take a long break, and return with more in the spring.

In between, in both mid-winter and in the summer, the networks can experiment with a wide variety of programs. They might experiment with a new sitcom or drama, or run unscripted shows.

That’s when we see competitions (The Bachelor, America’s Got Talent, The Masked Singer), sports, (The Superbowl, baseball’s All Star Game, the Olympics), special events (The Oscars, The Grammys), and game shows (Celebrity Family Feud, Match Game, The Hustler). They’re all designed to run for a brief series of weeks and provide fresh, new shows in the spaces between the other series.

The Hustler is produced by the U.K.-based Studio Lambert, which produces dozens of unscripted television shows both in the U.K. and the U.S. They’re under the umbrella of All3Media group, which is a company owned jointly by the massive European cable company Liberty Global, and Discovery Communications in the U.S., which runs cable channels like the Oprah Winfrey Network, Food Network, HGTV, Animal Planet, and of course, the Discovery Channel, where Craig once hosted Shark Week.

We’ll keep an eye on the network for a possible future announcement. ABC usually lays out the bulk of its upcoming season in May, but sometimes waits to announce winter programs until the fall. We’ll keep you posted.

Suspenseful Game
In this clip from a recent episode of The Hustler, you can see a tense moment when a big decision has to be made.

Video courtesy: ABC

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Game Show To Debut January 7
Craig Ferguson‘s newest game show The Hustler, debuts Thursday, Jan. 7 at 10:00pm ET on ABC. It’ll be part of a full night of game shows, with a new prime-time version of Wheel of Fortune at 8:00pm and a U.S. remake of a U.K. favorite, The Chase at 9:00pm.

The format is based on a similar game show in the UK called The Mole. Five contestants answer questions to build a prize pot. But one of the five contestants secretly already knows the answers and must remain undetected to have a shot at the money. Two contestants are eliminated during play, leaving three. The remaining three have to decide who the Hustler is. If they guess right, the two remaining contestants win the prize. If they guess wrong, the Hustler wins.

A total of eight episodes were recorded before the coronavirus pandemic set in, so it’s unclear if the show will continue beyond the spring. If it does well in the ratings, the network could decide to order more episodes, and it could return if restrictions on studios are relaxed. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Craig Enjoys Downtime
As for Craig himself, he has been enjoying a quiet, low-profile life at his home in Scotland. We had a chance to speak with him recently about his recent work and what lies ahead.

In August 2019, Craig went on stage for a one-time standup gig at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 25 years after his last appearance there. He said it was a fun way to wrap up the Hobo Fabulous tour. Craig remarked he isn’t necessarily eager to get back to doing standup, even when the coronavirus restrictions are lifted. He reiterated what he’s been saying in interviews for a while now, that he’s been there and done that. “Doing the same thing isn’t my thing,” he quipped. He added it’s time for others to pick up that particular torch. However, he did qualify his statement with a knowing, “never say never.”

The Kathie Lee Gifford film Then Came You, featuring Craig, appeared in a one-day theatrical release on Sep. 30, and was the number one film in the U.S. that day, before moving to streaming platforms, where it can still be seen today. Craig said he thought it turned out well and enjoyed simply being an actor in the film, without having to worry about all the concerns of being a writer, producer or director at the same time.

Craig said he is excited about seeing The Hustler finally make it to ABC after recording the show nearly a year ago. He said it is particularly interesting to him as a host, because he doesn’t know the answers and essentially gets to play the game along with the contestants. The hour-long format will offer plenty of drama, twists and turns.

He has appeared as a podcast guest a handful of times in the past couple of years, and popped up to promote Then Came You, but otherwise has been turning down offers to appear as a guest on TV and radio shows.

Craig told us he’s enjoying the downtime, causally working on a potential future film script, and he still has his long-awaited follow-up novel on the back burner, but made it very clear he’s been enjoying not working too much for the past year. It’s a well-earned break, sir.

Hustler Trailer
Here’s a quick look at the only trailer for The Hustler released so far.

Video courtesy: ABC

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