News

NEW YORK -- Online video platform Ripe Digital has signed TV writing-producing team Ross McCall and Aaron Peters to a multiseries deal.

CAA brought together clients Ripe and McCall/Peters, whose credits include The Simple Life, The Tom Green Show and creating the WB Network sitcom Modern Men.

The first series will be Model Dating: Hawaii, with comedian Jamie Kennedy on board as host. Debuting today, the ad-supported series will feature models dating viewers who write in to the show. CAA also reps Kennedy.

Aaron and Peters also are in development on two other series for Ripe: "Are You In?" an "all-viewer-controlled online reality game show," and The One, an interactive competition that looks for the next "it girl."

Founded in 2002, Ripe said it receives more than 30 million views each month via three broadband sites, its mobile site and through VOD partnerships with Time Warner and Comcast.

Ripe founder and CEO Ryan Magnussen said the shows represent a departure for the young male-focused media company.

Marsh McCall has been tapped to serve as executive producer/showrunner on ABC's upcoming comedy series Carpoolers, from ABC TV Studio.

McCall's assignment on Carpoolers stems from his overall deal with ABC TV Studio, which produces the show with DreamWorks TV and 3 Arts Entertainment.

Carpoolers follows the lives of four men (Fred Goss, Jerry Minor, Jerry O'Connell, Tim Peper) who carpool to work together each day.

On the series, McCall will serve as an executive producer alongside creator Bruce McCulloch, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank and David Miner.

McCall most recently created and executive produced the short-lived NBC comedy series Twenty Good Years, from Warner Bros. TV and Werner-Gold-Miller.

His series credits also include Just Shoot Me, My Big Fat Greek Life and Modern Men.

He is repped by CAA.

WB Network will bench most of its Friday comedy lineup late next month to make room for a new comedy, Modern Men, and a new reality show, Survival of the Richest. Men is set to debut March 17 in the 9:30 p.m. slot behind Reba, displacing the struggling rookie Twins. As of March 31, Survival will run in the 8 p.m. slot that is now home to What I Like About You and Living With Fran. Men, from Warner Bros. Television and executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, revolves around three guys who have been friends since childhood who seek help in the romantic department from a "life coach" played by Jane Seymour. Survival, from RDF Media, is a six-episode competition series that pairs seven wealthy people with seven working-class folks with heavy debts. Each week, one of the two-person teams will be eliminated until one is left to claim a cash prize.