Johnny Carson Crowned the Number One TV Icon in TV Land and Entertainment Weekly's The 50 Greatest TV Icons

Johnny Carson Crowned the Number One TV Icon in TV Land and Entertainment Weekly's The 50 Greatest TV Icons

Two-Hour Special Premieres on TV Land on Friday, November 16 at 8 P.M. (ET/PT) and List Prominently Featured in Entertainment Weekly on Newsstands the Same Day

NEW YORK, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary Johnny Carson -- the "King of Late Night TV" -- is ranked the number one TV icon in Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons, premiering on Friday, November 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The two-hour TV Land special looks at individuals like Carson in addition to the great Lucille Ball and the hilarious Jerry Seinfeld, who have all made their indelible mark in TV history. The complete list will be revealed in the TV Land Original special and in Entertainment Weekly's annual DVD issue on stands that day. The magazine feature celebrates each icon's contribution to television along with DVD recommendations from each of the icons' work. The TV special is produced by Gay Rosenthal Productions.

The 50 Greatest TV Icons features original talent interviews and archival clips of the entertainers who made the list as well as those who have been deeply influenced by them. From Oprah Winfrey to Simon Cowell and Susan Lucci to Homer Simpson, this countdown special showcases the stars who made a huge impact on television and continue to stand the test of time.

Viewers will be invited to text their choices for who they believe should be the #1 icon during the special's premiere. Viewers' top picks will be featured throughout the show with the final tabulated #1 viewers' choice revealed at the end of the special.

   The 50 Greatest TV Icons by the numbers:    -- 12 Icons from the classic era (1950s-1960s); 21 Icons from the      1970s-1980s and 17 Icons from the modern era (1990s-2000s).    -- There are 22 Comedy Icons; 10 Drama Icons; 8 Variety Icons; 5 Talk Show      Icons; 2 News Icons; 1 Soap Icon; 1 Game Show Icon and 1 Sports Icon.    -- There are 29 Men; 17 Women; 2 Non-human; 1 Animated and 1 Ensemble      Cast.    The list of The 50 Greatest TV Icons in numerical order:    50. Larry Hagman   49. Calista Flockhart   48. Jimmy Smits   47. Simon Cowell   46. Lassie   45. Sarah Michelle Gellar   44. Susan Lucci   43. Flip Wilson   42. James Gandolfini   41. Jon Stewart   40. Sally Field   39. Jennifer Aniston   38. Bea Arthur   37. George Clooney   36. Diahann Carroll   35. Michael J. Fox   34. Bob Barker   33. Ellen DeGeneres   32. Henry Winkler   31. Sarah Jessica Parker   30. Alan Alda   29. John Ritter   28. Howard Cosell   27. Regis Philbin   26. Farrah Fawcett   25. Heather Locklear   24. Michael Landon   23. Barbara Walters   22. Milton Berle   21. Kermit   20. Carroll O'Connor   19. Andy Griffith   18. William Shatner   17. Bob Newhart   16. David Letterman   15. "Not Ready for Primetime Players"   14. Ed Sullivan   13. Jackie Gleason   12. Dick Van Dyke   11. Roseanne   10. Dick Clark   9. Homer Simpson   8. Jerry Seinfeld   7. Mary Tyler Moore   6. Carol Burnett   5. Walter Cronkite   4. Bill Cosby   3. Oprah Winfrey   2. Lucille Ball   1. Johnny Carson   

The 50 Greatest TV Icons is a Gay Rosenthal Production produced exclusively for TV Land. Executive Producers are Gay Rosenthal and Paul Barrosse from Gay Rosenthal Productions and Sal Maniaci, Senior Vice President, TV Land, Development and Original Programming. Nicholas Caprio of Gay Rosenthal Productions is Co-Executive Producer.

   ONLINE    TVLand.com  

TV Land's newly redesigned website has been offering special content for fans throughout the month of November to celebrate The 50 Greatest TV Icons. Since November 1, the site has been featuring a sneak peek of the special and classic clips of some of the top icons featured in the show. TVLand.com has also been allowing users to choose their own list of top 50 icons. Once they have made their selection, they can share it with a friend and see how other fans have ranked the 50. The site also has a message board where fans can debate their choices. TVLand.com yesterday revealed a list of 51-100 Icons, a complement to the TV Land special that ranks 1-50. Beginning today, TVLand.com will feature the complete list of top 100 greatest icons as chosen by TV Land and Entertainment Weekly. Then, beginning November 16, the site will also feature a video gallery of extended celebrity interviews from the special, a TV trivia game, and a photo gallery of the icons.

EW.com

As part of Entertainment Weekly's multi-platform rollout, EW.com -- the magazine's award-winning website -- has been taking The 50 Greatest TV Icons terrific premise and content to a new level with a four-part, interactive companion site. For starters, EW.com visitors have been asked to nominate via blog entries their personal choices for the Top 50 Icons. Once the nominations are in, Entertainment Weekly fans will then have the unique opportunity to participate in an innovative interactive bracket game that allows EW.com visitors to select from the 64 fan-generated nominations and choose the ultimate TV icon. For those visitors simply wanting to take a stroll down memory lane, EW.com is also presenting a four-part gallery of the Top 100 Icons featuring Entertainment Weekly's stunning photography as well as memorable screengrabs from some of yesterday and today's biggest television hits. And for those looking to sneak a rare peek behind-the-pages of Entertainment Weekly, EW.com will post a captivatingly funny and insightful video that builds upon the two-hour TV Land Original special and features the magazine's editors discussing their top TV icons as well as several celebrities (including a few featured icons) discussing their favorite icons.

TV Land continues to build the ultimate entertainment brand on all platforms for consumers in their 40s and 50s. Armed with a slate of original programming, newly acquired classic and contemporary TV, hit movies and its redesigned website -- TVLand.com -- the network is uniquely positioned to superserve the first generation of Americans who grew up alongside television. The network's program mix features original programming, popular dramas, sitcoms and westerns in a fun-filled, pop culture environment featuring a roster of popular shows including All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Andy Griffith Show and Just Shoot Me, which joins TV Land in January, 2008. In the coming months, the network will roll out a slate of new original series' such as High School Reunion, She's Got The Look, Family Foreman and The Big 4-0. TVLand.com, the network's Emmy Award-winning website, is devoted to all aspects of entertainment including TV, music and movies and features full- length episodes, a movie trailer database and over a dozen radio stations. TV Land is now seen in over 90 million U.S. homes.

About MTV Networks

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE:VIA) (NYSE:VIA.B) , is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 140 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services -- MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN/THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

Entertainment Weekly, a winner of four National Magazine Awards is America's leading consumer magazine of entertainment and popular culture. The magazine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., and has a guaranteed circulation rate base of 1.725 million reaching an audience of 10.7 million readers. EW.com, winner of MPA's best entertainment website of the year, is one of the most popular and most comprehensive sites for online entertainment coverage. EW.com's homepage contains unique, online-only content -- articles, photo galleries, reviews, Q&As and blog items, etc. -- plus a complete archive of Entertainment Weekly magazine.

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Source: TV Land

CONTACT: Jennifer Zaldivar, +1-212-846-8964,
Jennifer.zaldivar@tvland.com, or Rachel Sandler, +1-212-846-4412,
Rachel.sandler@tvland.com, or Vanessa Reyes, +1-310-752-8081,
Vanessa.reyes@tvland.com, all of TV Land; or Barrie Gordon of Entertainment
Weekly, +1-212-522-2752, barrie_gordon@ew.com

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

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Profile: International Entertainment