Long before Twitter offered a forum for celebrities to beef with each other, ABC was encouraging them to settle their differences as well as vie for bragging rights on Battle Of The Network Stars. The competition series originally ran from 1976-1988, with a shortlived revival in 2005, and saw actors from TV shows on the major networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—perform various feats of athleticism. In the late ‘70s, it was where you could go to watch Ron Howard, Billy Crystal, Penny Marshall, LeVar Burton, and Jane Curtin (among so many others) hike up their tube socks and get down to competitive business.
Despite all the cord cutting going on in the world, the networks still offer up plenty of programming, so ABC’s revived the series. But the contestant pool will now be made up of 100 celebrities from network, cable, and syndication. These actors span decades of TV, hailing from everything from The Brady Brunch and Good Times to Baywatch and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Ahead of the show’s June 29 premiere, ABC’s released the names of 60 celeb-testants, including Battle alums Todd Bridges, Jimmie Walker, Willie Aames, and Lou Ferrigno. The match-ups have themes, including pitting Sci-fi Fantasy TV regulars like Charisma Carpenter and Vinnie Jones (who’s appeared on Arrow and Galavant) against TV Cops like Marisol Nichols and Adrian Zmed. There are actually enough fictional law enforcement types to compete in another bracket, which is why we’ll see Erik Estrada take on TV Sitcom actors like Dave Foley.
Here’s a the full list of the famous competitors and a couple photos. Battle Of The Network Stars commences once more June 29 on ABC.
TV Sitcoms Versus Cops
Sitcom folks: Todd Bridges, Leigh-Allyn Baker, Dave Foley, Willie Garson, Jenna von Oy)
Cops: Erik Estrada, Larry Wilcox, Kelly Hu, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Lorenzo Lamas
Sci-Fi Fantasy Versus Cops