Welcome back to a familiar face.
TV vet Joan Lunden will co-anchor the “PIX11 Morning News” today (8-9 a.m./Ch. 11) with Sukanya Krishnan and Frances Rivera.
The former “Good Morning America” co-anchor was coming in for an interview during the 7 a.m. hour of the “Morning News” to discuss her work with aplaceformom.com (senior care) and her book, “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Caregivers,” which hit stores in March. Since Joan was going to be in the studio, she was asked to stay to co-anchor the next hour. She’ll be doing the newscast’s anti-bully week interviews.
***
Grand Funk Railroad legend Mark Farner — who’s performing at a Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp event tonight in Manhattan — is the subject of an upcoming documentary.
“I’m Your Captain: The Mark Farner Story,” produced by Flagday Productions, is scheduled to be released in theaters and on the festival circuit next year prior to airing on PBS stations nationwide. The 60-minute documentary will track the arc of Farner’s long, storied career, from his early days with Grand Funk Railroad to the present — including the tragic 2010 accident which left Farner’s 23-year-old son, Jesse, a paraplegic.
(Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp founder David Fishof subsequently threw a benefit concert featuring Roger Daltrey and Farner in January 2011 at BB Kings on West 42nd to help raise funds for Jesse’s care.)
“It’s not like a ‘Behind the Music’ video but it’s a video documentary, with testimonies from different people and it will bring it right up to the point where Jesse is now, and how life is for us,” Farner told me about the documentary. “It’s gonna be more for the fans of Mark Farner . . . and there’s going to be a book, too, which will be my memoirs.”
***
Fox has announced the 24 “celebrity” bachelor and bachelorette contestants for its new dating show, “The Choice,” which premieres June 7 with host Cat Deeley.
The names of the 20 men and four women range in their recognition factor from the very-well-known (Joe Jonas, Dean Cain, Tyson Beckford) to the “Huh?” category (Seth Westcott, Parker Young, Sophie Monk, Hope Dworaczyk). There’s even a physician (Dr. Robert Nettles) and, of course, the requisite Kardashian (Rob Kardashian, who appeared last season on “Dancing With the Stars”).
Here’s the rest of the roster:
Bachelors: Jeremy Bloom; Mike Catherwood; Jason Cook; Pauly D; Rocco Dispirito; Ron Gronkowski; Taylor Hicks; Steven Lopez; Finesse Mitchell; Romeo; Warren Sapp; Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino; Ndamukong Suh.
Bachelorettes: Carmen Electra, Rima Fakih.
The show will be taped in front of a live audience.
***
Last, but not least:
* “Tanisha Gets Married” snared nearly 1.1 million viewers Monday night — an Oxygen record for a freshman reality show premiere. Tanisha Thomas stars . . . AMC has renewed “Comic Book Men” and “Talking Dead” for second seasons. “Talking Dead,” hosted by Chris Hardwick, airs after each episode of “The Walking Dead” . . . Congrats to industry PR vet Rosemary O’Brien, who’s landed as media relations strategist at advertising/PR firm Runyon Saltzman & Einhorn, Inc. (Sacramento, Calif.). It’s a return home for the Northern California native.