Sam Champion says that it was acclaimed fashion designer Elie Tahari’s idea to go live, for the first time, from his Fifth Avenue design studio — which he will do in launching his fall ad campaign Monday morning on The Weather Channel’s “AMHQ With Sam Champion.”
“Actually, Tahari approached The Weather Channel to launch this campaign. It’s a cool idea and a great combination, to have the vision to blend fashion and weather,” Champion says. “I really respect Elie Tahara as an amazing designer, and when I heard he wanted to do this, I thought this was great — and of course I wanted to play along.”
Tahari’s new fall collection, featuring model Hilary Rhoda, is also called “The Perfect Storm” — so there’s a connection to The Weather Channel. “Clearly, Elie has a vision and is well-known for his designs that blend classic lines with a little edge,” Champion says. “I think it’s a great match … and there’s no other show like ‘AMHQ’ where you can get better weather and environment content with a fresh new take.”
Monday’s “AMHQ” will reveal all eight of Tahari’s fall campaign images during its 7 a.m. hour from the roof of Tahari’s design center (510 Fifth Avenue) located above his boutique — rain or shine.
Billy’s got game (show)
I have some more info regarding “Monopoly Millionaires’ Club,” the upcoming weekly game show hosted by “Mike & Molly” star Billy Gardell.
Steve Saferin, president of properties group and chief creative officer for Scientific Games — the company behind the TV show — says “MMC” will premiere next Feb. 7 & 8 (Saturday or Sunday, depending on the market) and will air between 7 and 10:30 p.m. in each market (a broadcast deal is being finalized for New York). The initial run of 63 hour-long shows will air through early September 2016 (including repeats), with a cable repeat following each week’s broadcast episode. “We talked to scores of potential hosts and … and everyone thought Billy was a really great choice,” Saferin says. “He’s younger but he’s a sort of everyman. We ran through a couple of games and he knocked it out of the park.”
“MMC” will air from a “four-wall studio” in the parking lot of a Las Vegas casino. “Think ‘Deal or No Deal’ and that’s sort of what you’re going to get,” Saferin says. “Based on the odds, we’ll probably give away $1 million five or six times a year — almost as many times as that amount has been given away in the entire history of television.”