NEW YORK -- Essence Communications has assembled a stellar group of performers for the two-hour "1998 Essence Awards" show to run on the Fox network in primetime late next month, including Prince, Mariah Carey, Chris Rock, Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Sean (Puffy) Combs and Sinbad.
"I think Fox would've scheduled us in the May sweeps if it had known how well booked we're going to be," said Bob Bain, supervising producer of the show, which Essence Entertainment will tape on April 10 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. One source says the total production budget will come in at $2.5 million.
The 1998 edition of the awards will pay tribute to Prince, Patti LaBelle, Wynton Marsalis and Will Smith. Honorees almost never perform, so Prince's performance is considered a coup for the producers.
Although she won't perform, Whitney Houston will appear to make the presentation to LaBelle. Carey and Bolton will sing some of LaBelle's signature songs.
The actors Vivica Fox, Eriq La Salle and Lynn Whitfield will host the awards show. Honoring Marsalis will be such performers as Manhattan Transfer, Nicholas Payton, Nina Freelon and the Lincoln Jazz Ensemble. The director is Louis Horvitz, who has directed the last two Academy Awards telecasts for ABC.
Susan Taylor, editor-in-chief of Essence magazine and executive producer of the show, says Essence will buy the two hours of Fox's primetime schedule outright and sell the commercial time itself. Advertisers already lined up include American Express, AT&T, Chrysler, JC Penney, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Pepsi-Cola, Revlon and Toyota.
Because the Essence awards telecasts always pay tribute to community leaders as well as performers, the Nielsen ratings have tended to be soft since Fox started carrying the special in 1994.
But last year, on May 22, 1997, the show scored its best household rating ever on Fox, a 5.5. The 1997 show also did better than the three previous telecasts among adults 18 to 34 (a 3.8 rating), adults 18 to 49 (a 3.4) and adults 25 to 54 (a 3.2). The awards started in 1988, and the first three had no TV exposure. CBS presented the awards from 1991 to 1993.
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