Idol judge to produce reality show

11/26/2007

Randy Jackson will be all over America s television screens in a couple of months, and not just because of American Idol.

The Idol judge is opening a new branch of the Dawg Pound at MTV, where he ll executive produce a series seeking America s best dance crew. The working title, fittingly, is Randy Jackson Presents America s Best Dance Crew.

The show, scheduled to premiere in the first quarter of 2008, will pit five- to seven-member dance teams against one another in a series of performances to determine the best. As happens with just about every other competition show, viewers will vote for their favorites each week. Auditions will take place in December in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

If the premise of America s Best Dance Crew sounds a little familiar, you are both right and a careful observer of TV coverage. NBC originally picked up a version of the show, then called World Moves, as a midseason show at May s upfronts. The new regime passed on it, Jackson took it to MTV, and with a narrowing of the contestant pool from the world to the United States, presto: Randy Jackson Presents America s Best Dance Crew.