• 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 contemplates delaying 'The Contender' until January

  September 24, 2004
  Both Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety report that NBC is contemplating delaying its launch of the new Mark Burnett/DreamWorks SKG boxing reality show The Contender to January from its planned November debut.

• NBC accelerates 'The Contender' to November debut, matching Fox's copycat show

  July 14, 2004
  If you can't beat them, don't let them beat you. That appears to be NBC's new motto for dealing with the reality-TV copycats at Fox.
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  Jackie Kallen joins NBC's 'The Contender' as "den mother" for aspiring boxers

  June 28, 2004
  Well-known boxing manager Jackie Kallen has joined Mark Burnett's production team for the upcoming NBC series The Contender.

• 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.

• Brawl between NBC's 'The Contender' and FOX's 'The Next Great Champ' heats up

  May 6, 2004
  Boxing matches are known for their embarrassing pre-fight "brawls," which typically take place at press conferences and weigh-ins. It looks like the boxing-focused TV shows will follow in their footsteps.

• Sly Stallone & Sugar Ray Leonard outline NBC boxing reality show 'The Contender'

  April 2, 2004
  Is it Rocky? Is it Spartacus? Or is it the beginning of the end for Don King, Bob Arum and the other big-time boxing promoters?
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  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.

• Mark Burnett and Sly Stallone to produce 'The Contender' reality boxing show for NBC

  February 23, 2004
  Mark Burnett, Sylvester Stallone, and Dreamworks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg have announced that they are teaming up for a new reality boxing series called (what else) The Contender.

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