Husband for Hire
Mark Consuelos, recently host of the reality dating show, Age of Love, has signed with Oxygen to portray the title role in the made-for-TV romantic comedy, Husband for Hire, which is set in Mexico. Consuelos plays Nate, who’s hired by a Latina businesswoman, Lola (Nadine Velasquez), to play her husband to gain a family inheritance. Co-stars include Mario Lopez as Lola’s ex-fiancé and Erik Estrada as her traditional father. No airing details had been announced at press time.
Let’s Make a Deal
The Lifetime Network has just signed a deal with identical twin sisters Natalie and Nicole Garza, with plans to develop a comedy project around them. Since 2005, the sisters have been best known as the new Doublemint twins in the classic Wrigley gum commercials, but they’ve also appeared in such films as National Lampoon’s Transylmania and the Oxygen Channel’s Campus Ladies…. Comedian Carlos Mencia has signed on with Comedy Central for a fourth season of Mind of Mencia. The network ordered 10 new episodes, which will air this spring…. Heartthrob Benjamin Bratt has signed to star in a pilot for A&E called The Cleaner about a recovering addict who goes to unusual extremes to help other addicts get clean, dedicating his life to the cause after making a deal with God. The former Law & Order star is also slated to co-star in A&E’s upcoming miniseries, The Andromeda Strain.
Manny’s Still Handy
The Disney Channel recently debuted the second season of its hit preschool series, Handy Manny, starring Wilmer Valderrama as a voice of handyman Manny Garcia, the neighborhood fix-it man who, with the assistance of his talking tools, can fix everything in town, including broken friendships. One of the show’s aims is to help viewers comprehend and retain Spanish words and phrases, as well as present positive images of the Latino community. The series—which had Playhouse Disney’s highest-rated premiere ever upon its 2006 debut—airs at 9:30 a.m. weekdays; 10:30 a.m. weekends.
