NPR’s Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! will make its television debut on BBC America on Dec. 23 with a “2011 Year in Review” special at 8 p.m. Eastern. The show also will run on NPR stations that weekend, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The hourlong special, complete with host Peter Sagal, scorekeeper Carl Kassell and a panel of cutups, will tape live at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago on Dec. 2.
“As a long-time listener of Wait Wait Don’t… Tell Me!, I think its television debut is long overdue,” said Perry Simon, g.m., channels, BBC Worldwide America, “and I can’t wait to see what Peter, Carl and the team look like.”
Doug Berman, the show’s creator, added, “It’s going to be pretty much what we do every week, except NPR has to add a budget line for pants.”
God forbid PBS saw fit to do a TV special of “Wait, Wait”