Mr. T Puts the 'T' in TV Land When I Pity the Fool Premieres on October 11

Mr. T Puts the 'T' in TV Land When I Pity the Fool Premieres on October 11

Viewers Will Have Multi-platform Access to TV Icon Including Live Video Chat With Mr. T Immediately Following On-Air Premiere

PASADENA, Calif., July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Watch out Dr. Phil, move over Oprah and step aside Tony Robbins, TV Land today announced that Mr. T's new original series I Pity The Fool, will premiere on the network on October 11 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). In I Pity The Fool, produced by Lionsgate, in association with Left/Right Films and Remag Guerilla, Mr. T is on a mission to change people's lives by dispensing his own brand of advice in classic T-style in every city with fools to pity.

"Life can offer lots of challenges and sometimes you just can't do it alone," says Mr. T. "I understand what it takes to overcome adversity and I'm ready to do my part to help people rise above their troubles and come out like new!"

"Mr. T is such an enormous pop culture icon and is one of the most beloved stars of our time," states Sal Maniaci, Senior Vice President, Development and Original Production, TV Land and Nick at Nite. "We're thrilled to be working with him on a show that lets people see the true T and see him experience first-hand funny situations and how motivational he can be."

I Pity The Fool features this classic TV icon in a role that he is very comfortable with -- #1 Jibber Jabber Attacker. Whether he's teaching fools some basic rules or being a motivator for procrastinators, Mr. T becomes immersed in the situation at-hand and becomes a catalyst for change. Upcoming episodes include Mr. T at a car dealership in New York seeking to motivate the employees and improve the relationship between a father and son- in-law working together, as well as Mr. T visiting a dance school to help the students ensure that they will be able to participate in their recital despite their instructor's lack of organizational skills.

Additionally, viewers can enjoy I Pity The Fool on their computer screens as TVLand.com gives fans several different ways to get their fill of T. Immediately following the premiere of the show, at 10:30 p.m. ET, fans will be able to interact with Mr. T himself in a live video chat on the site. Prior to the chat, visitors to the site will see behind-the-scenes video, sneak peeks of episodes and footage produced specifically for the Web. Other I Pity The Fool offerings on TVLand.com will include "Rules for Fools" -- video clips of Mr. T dispensing advice on finances, dating, hygiene, listening, etc., -- and video T-mail, enabling fans to send video e-cards for birthdays, new parents, and more.

Executive producers for I Pity The Fool are Stephen Belafonte (Thank You for Smoking, Never Die Alone), Ken Druckerman (Growing Up Gotti), and Banks Tarver (Growing Up Gotti).

The deal for Mr. T was brokered by The Buchwald Agency.

Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF) is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio. It won the Best Picture Academy Award for CRASH this year, has generated more than 300 million dollars at the domestic theatrical box office for two consecutive years, has built a 500 million dollar-a-year home entertainment business and has numerous primetime television series slated to air in fiscal 2007. It is a premier producer of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Lionsgate's prestigious and prolific library of more than 5,500 titles is a stable and reliable source of recurring revenue and serves as an important foundation for the continued growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality product in markets around the globe.

TV Land and all related logos and titles are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

TV Land Productions was created in 2003 to develop original programming that complements the network's successful acquired programming slate. TV Land Productions has also produced The TV Land Awards Show: A Celebration of Classic TV (March 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006), the Emmy-nominated The Dick Van Dyke Show, Revisited, the network's first original special for broadcast, which premiered on CBS in May 2004, the Emmy-nominated Still Brady ... After All These Years reunion special in September 2004 and Chasing Farrah (Spring 2005), the original reality series that followed iconic Hollywood actress and sex symbol Farrah Fawcett. Over the last year, the network premiered a variety of original series and specials in 2005 including: TV Guide and TV Land Present: The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments, Living in TV Land, TV Land Confidential and Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg. For more information about TV Land's original Wednesday night line-ups, visit www.tvland.com.

Now seen in over 87 million U.S. homes, TV Land's program mix features popular dramas, sitcoms, westerns, Retromercials and a TV-referential interstitial environment, all programmed with a specific audience in mind - the first generation of Americans to grow up watching television and features all-time Classic hits like All in the Family, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, and Bonanza.

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About Viacom

Viacom is a leading global entertainment content company, with prominent and respected brands in focused demographics. Offering programming and content for television, motion pictures and digital platforms, Viacom's world- class brands include MTV Networks (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central, CMT: Country Music Television, Spike TV, TV Land, Logo and more than 120 networks around the world), BET Networks, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Home Entertainment, DreamWorks and Famous Music. More information about Viacom and its businesses is available at www.viacom.com.

Source: TV Land

CONTACT: Rachel Sandler of TV Land, +1-212-846-4412,
Rachel.Sandler@tvland.com, or Vanessa Reyes-Smith of TV Land,
+1-310-752-8081, Vanessa.Reyes@tvland.com; or Leah Krantzler of The Lippin
Group, for Lions Gate Television, +1-323-965-1990, LKrantzler@lippingroup.com

Web site: http://www.tvland.com/
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