The network has reworked its old ’70s juggernaut, “Battle of the Network Stars,” for a new generation with new television stars including Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin. Each week for 10 episodes beginning June 29, a rotating cast of celebrities will battle each other, with themes such as “TV Dads versus TV kids,” “TV moms versus TV dads” and other genres including “TV sex symbols,” “TV doctors,” “cops” and “troublemakers.”
Matlin, Malina and Mary McCormack, all formerly of “The West Wing,” will be joined by LaMonica Garrett from “Designated Survivor” and Cornelius Smith Jr. from “Scandal” to compete as the “White House” team versus the “Lawyers,” Corbin Bersen, Matt McGorry, Elisabeth Rohm, Catherine Bell and Romi Dias. Malina’s “White House” team is coached by Super Bowl 50 winner DeMarcus Ware. The “Lawyers” is coached by mixedmartial arts fighter Ronda Rousey. The coaches stay for all 10 episodes, while 200 celebrities — including a few original “Battle of the Network Stars” participants — compete for fun.
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg and Joe Tessitore will wear the gold jackets made famous by Howard Cossell when he hosted the original version of BOTNS from 1976-88. That version of the show pitted stars from the then three networks, ABC, NBC and CBS, in competitions you’d find at a children’s summer camp, culminating in a tug-of-war worth most of the points, deciding the winners.
The nostalgic show was appealing to Malina, who told The Malibu Times, “I grew up in a very competitive household. There are some classic family stories of game nights degenerating into sometimes tears and shouting, but more often into laughing and merriment. So, I was raised to play very hard and to be a graceful loser.
“There was more merriment than tears on the new BOTNS,” Malina continued. “I like playing games. I like competition and I like game shows. Beyond that, I really like old game shows. So this whole wave of new versions — rebooted — ‘70s game shows really appeals to me. I’ve been on ‘To Tell the Truth.’ I played ‘Jeopardy.’ I’ve done ‘The Pyramid.’ I did ‘Match Game.’ It’s like a bucket list of game shows that I used to watch with my sister Toby I’m now being asked to appear on and delighted to say yes to every single one. And I feel like BOTNS is the sort of mother of them all. I’m happy they asked me to be a part of it.”
Recalling that he watched BOTNS as a kid in the 70s and into the 80s, Malina added, “I’ve probably seen every episode. I loved it. Loved the experience of seeing familiar faces in a new context — seeing these actors that I liked — that’s Mr. Kotter — now he’s running an obstacle course. I always found that a lot of fun.”
When asked about his favorite event in the new BOTNS, the actor replied, “archery,” claiming he was quite the archer in his day — but then clarified, “My day was in the ‘70s.” He won an archery award at camp in 1978 and then said he took a 39-year break, shooting his first arrow at Pepperdine for the show. “I was pleased to discover it’s more like riding a bike and I still remembered how to do it,” he said.
“The most challenging was tug-o-war.” Malina suffered a nasty rope burn competing in that event. Other than that he just complained of “middle-aged guy soreness.” Saying he did a lot of mental preparation, visualizing the events, Malina recalled he thought about running, saying, “I was shopping and running errands a few days before BOTNS and said to myself, ‘Before I run in a competitive relay I should see if I could sprint.’ I did for one block. I got a lot of weird stares.
“I tried to do a combination of traswh talk and self-deprecation,” Malina commented about competing. “I’m trying to work in how I’m 51 and set the bar very low in case I didn’t perform well. At the same time I did try to trash talk the other team. I had a lot of fun and would do it again in a second.”
