AMC Greenlights "Celebrity Charades" Presented by Actor/Director Bob Balaban, Chad Lowe, Hilary Swank, and Friends

Celebrities to Use their Improv Skills, Creativity and Humor to Support Charity

Programming Event to Premiere on Five Consecutive Nights in June, Boosting AMC's Summer Programming

New York, New York, April 11, 2005 - AMC made its first formal announcement for the Upfront Season today adding "Celebrity Charades" to its already expanding and highly anticipated slate of 2005 original programs. Acclaimed actor/director Bob Balaban, Chad Lowe and Hilary Swank executive produce the series, with Lowe and Swank doing so via their Accomplice Films banner. Six half-hour shows will air as a special AMC programming event on five consecutive nights, beginning June 20. Each game of "Celebrity Charades" will feature 10 guest celebrities divided into two teams, with each guest playing to raise money for his or her chosen charity. During each half-hour episode, games are played, dinner is served and the guests mingle and talk between rounds. Mark Kassen and Adam Kassen of Trigger Street Independent produce the show.

"Celebrity Charades and our growing programming slate is all about the evolution of the AMC brand and our commitment to providing our audience with original content that centers on movie culture," stated Rob Sorcher, AMC's Senior Vice President of Original Programming and Production. "Viewers will see a perfect blend of high energy competition, star gazing and great fun, all in the interest of charity. We are pleased Hilary, Chad and Bob came to AMC with this project and are very excited about their involvement and creative vision."

"Celebrity Charades is going to be an action-packed fun half hour of television," stated Bob Balaban. "We appreciate the freedom AMC has given us to develop this idea, and feel AMC is the perfect home for our show."

Chad Lowe added: "We're all thrilled to be able to bring this fun and intimate party to millions of viewers that appreciate movies as much as we do. We're especially pleased that there is a real pay-off outside of the entertainment value. Some worthy charities will benefit from AMC's donations."

AMC commissioned a pilot of "Celebrity Charades" in the winter of 2004. The half-hour episode was shot in an intimate yet spacious New York City loft where Balaban, Lowe and Swank welcomed their celebrity pals to play three rounds of the game. Each of the new episodes offer viewers an inside look at the personal relationships amongst the celebrity friends as the camera captures conversations, antics and inside jokes the group shares with one another over dinner, and continues to reveal throughout the game. The stars also speak about the charity they are playing for and why they support the worthy cause, through individual or group interviews.

"Celebrity Charades" uses two teams, with five celebrities on each team. Teams are placed in separate rooms, while a neutral player gives one member of each team a clue to act out. Each clue is thematically linked to a movie-related topic. The first team to correctly guess all ten charades and their overall theme wins the game. On the lower third of the screen viewers will see fun facts and trivia about the current clue and can keep tally of each teams correct answers via a running score card. Lowe and Balaban will serve as rotating hosts of the show and participate in the various challenges.

"Celebrity Charades" is the first in a series of AMC original programs to be announced during the Upfront period. The show joins a growing list of strong network series, such as "Sunday Morning ShootOut" and "Movie Club with John Ridley," providing viewers with original content focused on today's evolving movie culture. AMC's commitment to original programming has helped increase audience and ratings delivery to record heights over the last year. At the close of 2004, Nielsen Media released its final year-end data, giving AMC its strongest year ever. In the findings, AMC experienced household and key demo growth year to year with delivery records set for Prime, Late Night, Fringe, and Total Day.

About AMC
AMC, a division of Rainbow Media's Entertainment Services, which also includes WE: Women's Entertainment and IFC Companies, is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 86,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and a critically-acclaimed slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. AMC has garnered many of the industry's highest honors, including 14 Emmy awards. AMC is "TV for movie people."