ARTSETC.
ABC indefinately postpones ‘The Runner’
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by :
- Bartime - The Caribou Tavern (February 8, 2002)
Related Stories:
- Fox Network on a roll with 'American Idol' (January 24, 2003)
- Networks get reality check (October 1, 2001)
- 'Ellie' on its way out? (March 21, 2002)
- 'Price Is Right' announcer Rod Roddy dies in L.A. (October 29, 2003)
- Lopez-Affleck Calif. wedding postponed (September 11, 2003)
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) — ABC’s planned reality series “The Runner” will be sitting out the next season, the network said Monday.
The network said the show being developed by actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck is being put on “hiatus” because it cannot be made in the current environment — a reference to the changes in the viewing landscape since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The high-concept program would have seen a single person — the runner — trying to make his way across the country as agents and television viewers tried to track him down for a bounty of up to $1 million.
The show was originally set to debut on ABC, a unit of The Walt Disney Co., next fall.
“Unfortunately, it is our view that today’s environment would not be conducive to this type of television event,” said ABC Entertainment Television Group Co-chairman Lloyd Braun. “We have spent a great deal of time and effort developing what we feel is a totally unique and exciting series.”
Braun said the show could still be made in the future if circumstances “evolve in such a way that we’ll eventually be comfortable moving forward.”
