or


[05/23/13 - 01:28 PM]
ESPN and ESPN3 Present 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals
ESPN will mark its 20th year of televising the event by presenting 14 hours of the competition live beginning Wednesday, May 29.
[via press release from ESPN]

ESPN and ESPN3 Present 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals

ESPN will mark its 20th year of televising the Scripps National Spelling Bee by presenting 14 hours of the competition live across three networks - ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3 - beginning Wednesday, May 29, at 8 a.m. EDT, through Thursday, May 30, at 10 p.m.

All preliminary on-stage rounds will take place on Wednesday and will be carried exclusively on ESPN3, the live multi-screen sports network available in 83 million homes. Linear television coverage will begin on Thursday, May 30, at 2 p.m. with the semifinals rounds on ESPN2, and conclude on ESPN at 8 p.m. with the Final. ESPN3 will also simulcast ESPN2 and ESPN's telecasts.

Throughout the competition, ESPN3 will feature a second "Play Along" version where fans will have the option to view coverage without seeing the word until the last second so they can test their own spelling skills while watching the champion spellers.

The schedule:

Date Time (ET) Round Networks

Wed, May 29 8-11:45 a.m. Preliminary Round 2 & Play-Along Version ESPN3 1:15-6:15 p.m. Preliminary Round 3 & Play-Along Version ESPN3

Thu, May 30 2-5 p.m. Semifinals Rounds 5-6 & Play-Along Version ESPN2 / WatchESPN 8-10 p.m. Championship Finals & Play-Along Version ESPN / WatchESPN

Commentators:

SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele returns for the fourth year as host of the National Spelling Bee. Paul A. Loeffler, a former Bee finalist who represented the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star in the 1990 National Spelling Bee and finished among the top 13 spellers, returns as the TV word analyst. Samantha Ponder, college sports reporter and College GameDay host, returns for her second Spelling Bee as a reporter.

Some ESPN Spelling Bee TV highlights:

· The production open will be themed to Matilda the Musical, the Broadway musical nominated for 12 Tony Awards. In the open, Miss Trunchbull, played by actor Bertie Carvel, shows her jealousy for the champion spellers' knowledge of words via a dark and twisted monologue;

· Video of select champion spellers lip-syncing to the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis hit song "Can't Hold Us";

· Best of the Bee - Highlights the most memorable moments from ESPN's two decades of National Spelling Bee Finals;

· Emmy Award-winning essayist and reporter Tom Rinaldi will be featured in a series of short, poetic essays that capture the essence of the Bee competition and its stars; and

· ESPN's television coverage of the 2013 Bee Finals will include introductory profiles of select champion spellers, highlighting their hometowns, schools and hobbies. Two profiles tell the stories of Arvind Mahankali from Bayside, New York (sponsored by New York Daily News), who has placed third in the championship round each of the last two years, and Vanya Shivashankar from Olathe, Kansas, (sponsored by The Olathe News), whose sister Kavya won the National Spelling Bee in 2009.

ABOUT THE SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE FINALS

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the nation's largest and longest-running educational program. The purpose of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is to help students improve spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all of their lives. Visit spellingbee.com for more information about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which is administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company.

The 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee will feature 281 champion spellers, ranging in age from eight to 14. Spellers qualify for the national competition by winning locally sponsored spelling contests in their respective communities. The champion spellers who travel to Washington, D.C., represent all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe; as well as the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.

For more information and real-time results for all segments of competition are provided at the Bee's official website, http://www.spellingbee.com/

Inside the 2013 National Spelling Bee numbers . . .

· 2 - champion spellers - Vanya Shivashankar (Olathe, Kansas) and Ashwin Veeramani (Cleveland) - whose siblings have won the National Spelling Bee titles in the past

· 5 - champion spellers in the finals for the fourth year - Grace Remmer (Jacksonville, Fla.), Amber Born (Lynn, Mass.), Sriram J. Hathwar (Corning, NY), Arvind Mahankali (Bayside, NY) and Chetan Reddy (Dallas, Texas)

· 8 - age of the youngest speller in the finals: Tara Singh, Louisville, Ky.

· 52 - percentage of champion spellers who are girls

· 89 - percentage of spellers between ages 12 and 14 years old

· 129 - eighth graders in the finals, the grade with the largest number of champion spellers

· 179 - number of champions spellers who attend public schools





  [may 2013]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
   


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)




[04/17/24 - 01:03 PM]
Sunday Night's "Billy Joel: The 100th - Live at Madison Square Garden" Wins Its Time Period and Hits a High Note Scoring 5.73 Million Viewers
It originally aired Sunday, April 14 and due to the overwhelming demand from his legion of fans, will have a special encore airing this Friday, April 19 and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
[04/17/24 - 12:16 PM]
Season Three of Musical Game Show "Don't Forget the Lyrics" Hosted by Emmy Award-Winner Niecy Nash Premieres Thursday, May 23 at 9/8c on FOX and the Next Day on Hulu
Additionally, the season finale of "Farmer Wants a Wife," previously announced as airing on Thursday, May 9, is now scheduled to air on Thursday, May 16 following the return of "I Can See Your Voice."
[04/17/24 - 12:10 PM]
Great American Family Announces Production Wrap on "A Christmas Less Traveled," Starring Candace Cameron Bure and Eric Johnson, Part of Great American Christmas 2024
In the film, "The Dine and Dash" diner has a stack of mounting unpaid bills, forcing its owner, Desi (Bure) to sell her beloved, mint condition, cherry red 1964 Ford F-100, a gift from her deceased father.

[04/17/24 - 11:00 AM]
National Geographic Honors WW2 Soldiers of Color with Two New Specials
Continuing National Geographic's 136-year record of giving viewers access to pivotal historical moments with new breadth and insight, the network will honor the contributions and sacrifices of overlooked Allied soldiers of color with two new specials on Monday, June 3.
[04/17/24 - 10:02 AM]
Paramount+ Announces New Episodes of "Behind the Music" to Premiere May 1
The new episodes profile Bell Biv DeVoe, Trace Adkins and Wolfgang Van Halen and remastered episodes feature 50 Cent, Bobby Brown, Ice-T, Milli Vanilli, The Notorious B.I.G. and Sinead O'Connor.
[04/17/24 - 10:00 AM]
National Geographic Unravels the Culture-Defining Stanford Prison Experiment and Its Controversial Legacy in "The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth" (w.t.)
From director Juliette Eisner, executive producer Alex Braverman and Muck Media, the three-part series unravels the layers of intrigue and controversy surrounding one of psychology's most debated studies from the past 50 years.
[04/17/24 - 09:59 AM]
Iliza Shlesinger Heads to Prime Video for Next Stand-Up Comedy Special
The taping will take place at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City on November 2, and the premiere date for the one-hour special will be announced at a later date.
[04/17/24 - 09:49 AM]
"Saving Sakic" Now Streaming on ESPN+
The documentary follows the high-stakes saga that ensued when Colorado Avalanche Chairman/CEO Charlie Lyons was blindsided by an attempt to sign away the captain of his team, Joe Sakic.
[04/17/24 - 09:01 AM]
Video: "Sweet Tooth" - Final Season - Official Teaser Trailer - Netflix
Experience the final season June 6, only on Netflix.
[04/17/24 - 09:01 AM]
Apple Renews Globally Acclaimed, Hit Space Drama "For All Mankind" for Season Five and Announces New Spinoff Series "Star City"
"Star City" is a propulsive, paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race - when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon.

[04/17/24 - 08:07 AM]
First Look: Hulu Documentary Film "Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge"
An unprecedented look at the non-stop life of a cultural luminary, the film launches June 25 on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.
[04/17/24 - 08:03 AM]
All-New Season of "Ghost Adventures" Returns Wednesday, May 15 on Discovery Channel
This season documents some of the team's most haunting encounters yet, including sinister Skinwalkers and an unprecedented first-ever investigation of the iconic Los Angeles Hospital.
[04/17/24 - 07:20 AM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Celebrates One-Year Anniversary, Continuing Its Reign as Television's Number One Entertainment Talk Show
The series has increased in Total Viewers by 3% year over year (2.288 million vs. 2.229 million).
[04/17/24 - 07:07 AM]
Global Music Icon Barbra Streisand to Release New Single for Upcoming Peacock and Sky Original Series "The Tattooist of Auschwitz"
This will be Streisand's first ever recording for a TV series and will be released globally by Columbia Records on April 25, ahead of the series global launch on May 2.

[04/17/24 - 07:04 AM]
Video: Apple TV+ Debuts Trailer for Season Three of Global Hit Comedy Series "Acapulco," Starring and Executive Produced by Award-Winning Actor Eugenio Derbez
"Acapulco" returns for season three with the first two episodes debuting globally on Wednesday, May 1, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through June 26.