NBC's 'The Contender' to premiere February 21, then air Tuesdays versus Fox's 'American Idol' December 6, 2004 Despite witnessing Fox's The Next Great Champ copycat series draw dismal ratings, it looks like NBC and Survivor and The Apprentice producer Mark Burnett are still looking for a fight. A Nielsen fight. NBC announced last week that The Contender, Burnett's highly-publicized reality boxing series that had its premise copied by Fox, will premiere in late February -- and air regularly versus Fox's American Idol ratings heavyweight.
NBC schedules 'The Contender' for heavyweight showdown with FOX's 'American Idol' May 18, 2004 Fresh off this winter's successful strategy of moving producer Mark Burnett's The Apprentice series to Thursdays at 9PM versus television's top-ranked CSI series after Apprentice was pummeled in its originally scheduled Wednesday 8PM time period by FOX's American Idol, NBC and Mark Burnett have announced that they want a rematch -- and this time they'll be bringing another of Burnett's new shows, his much-hyped The Contender series, to the showdown.
George Foreman join NBC's 'The Contender' team March 22, 2004 NBC has announced that World Heavyweight Champion and Olympic gold medal winner George Foreman will appear on NBC's new upcoming The Contender series, which is set to premiere in January 2005. George joins Contender's ever-growing team of Hollywood heavy hitters which include Mark Burnett, Sylvester Stallone, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Sugar Ray Leonard joins NBC's upcoming 'The Contender' series, first audition dates announced March 15, 2004 NBC announced Saturday that five-time world champion fighter Sugar Ray Leonard has signed on to star in The Contender, the network's new upcoming unscripted series that will launch a competitive search for the next boxing superstar. Additionally the network also announced the program's first audition dates.