ANTIQUES ROADSHOW producer WGBH Boston announced
today that Mark L. Walberg will make his PBS debut when he becomes host of
public broadcasting's top-rated series this summer. Walberg is well known
to audiences for his roles as host and talent on some of America's most
talked about game and reality shows. He replaces current ROADSHOW host Lara
Spencer when the series begins production of its tenth anniversary season
with an appraisal event June 18 in Providence, Rhode Island. Episodes
featuring Walberg will be broadcast on PBS beginning January 2006.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW and ANTIQUES ROADSHOW FYI host Lara Spencer will continue
to appear on episodes broadcast in 2005. Spencer is stepping down as host
of both series, citing the increased demands of her responsibilities on
Paramount's The Insider.
"We're very fortunate to be able to pass the torch to someone as
experienced and capable as Mark," said ANTIQUES ROADSHOW executive producer
Marsha Bemko. "We're sad to say goodbye to Lara, but grateful she was able
to contribute her enormous talents to ROADSHOW and to the successful launch
of our spin-off, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW FYI."
Walberg started his television career as an assistant at Dick Clark
Productions and quickly moved on to host a sports magazine show on ESPN. It
was there that the late Brandon Tartikoff noticed his work, and that
association produced the nationally syndicated The Mark Walberg Show. Since
then, Walberg has hosted and been featured in an array of popular talk,
reality competition, and game shows, including home improvement
competitions The Mansion and House Rules and knowledge quiz shows Test the
Nation and Russian Roulette -- and as a contestant playing for charity --
won The Weakest Link. He also hosted the relationship challenge Temptation
Island. He recently appeared in the ABC Family Movie of the Week "I Want to
Marry Ryan Banks." Realizing a long-held ambition to produce, Walberg
created and produced Sunday Dinner, the first original series for the
Odyssey Network, with long-time friend and television personality Mark
DeCarlo (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jimmy Neutron).
Walberg admits to being a long-time ANTIQUES ROADSHOW fan who watches with
his family. "With my twenty-year career in game and quiz shows," he said,
"I know ANTIQUES ROADSHOW has a winning formula -- the excitement and
challenge of finding out how much something is worth gets viewers to tune
in, and along the way they get hooked by all the incredibly interesting
history."
In addition to his successful television career, Walberg believes strongly
in devoting time to create opportunities for young people. Currently he is
on the Board of Directors of Goodwill of Southern California and the Board
of Managers of the Hollywood/Wilshire YMCA. Both organizations are
instrumental in providing hope and new futures for people who need help. He
also is very involved with The Young Americans, a musical performance youth
group that tours the world offering music workshops in underserved schools.
Says Walberg, "The personal transformation that happens to people when they
are given the ability to express themselves through the arts --
specifically music and dance -- is inspiring."
Walberg and actress-wife Robbi Morgan Walberg make their home in Los
Angeles, where Walberg coaches their two children's various little league
sports teams.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's Summer 2005 Tour destinations include Providence, Rhode
Island (June 18); Tampa, Florida (June 25); Houston, Texas (July 16);
Bismarck, North Dakota (July 30); and Los Angeles, California (August 13).
Programs taped in those locations will make up ROADSHOW's tenth anniversary
broadcast season in 2006. ANTIQUES ROADSHOW premiered on PBS in January
1997.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is sponsored by Toyota and Liberty Mutual Insurance.
Additional funding is provided by public television viewers.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is produced for PBS by WGBH Boston. Executive producer is
Marsha Bemko.
WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcasting producer, the
source of one-third of PBS's prime-time lineup as well as many public radio
favorites. WGBH-produced Web sites generate 25% of the traffic to
www.pbs.org, the most-visited dot-org on the Internet. WGBH is a pioneer in
educational multimedia and in technologies and services that make media
accessible to the 36 million Americans who rely on captioning or video
descriptions. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys,
Peabodys,
duPont-Columbia Awards... even two Oscars. In 2002, WGBH was honored with a
special institutional Peabody Award for 50 years of excellence. For more
information visit www.wgbh.org.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW press materials, including downloadable photos, are
available at www.pbs.org/pressroom and at http://pressroom.wgbh.org.
Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=188826
Contacts:
Judy Matthews
WGBH Boston
617-300-5343
judy_matthews@wgbh.org
Tom Stebbins
WGBH Boston
617-300-5335
tom_stebbins@wgbh.org
