Rob & Big Coming Back for Second Season on MTV  1/23/07

MTV's Breakout Hit, Rob & Big, Greenlit for Second Season on MTV and MTV2; Dynamic Duo Helps MTV2 Achieve Its Highest Rated Day Ever in Channel History

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- After helping MTV2 achieve its highest rated day in channel history on Monday, January 15th, Rob and Big, MTV's breakout hit series, was picked up for a second season for MTV and MTV2 beginning in Q2 2007 for 8 new episodes. Created by Jeff Tremaine, one of the creators of MTV's "Jackass" and "Wildboyz" series, this reality comedy series stars professional DC Shoes skateboarder, Rob Dyrdek and his bodyguard and best friend, Christopher "Big Black" Boykin. The show premiered on MTV and MTV2 in November 2006 and documented the hysterical daily domestic antics of this unlikely dynamic duo living together in Rob's Hollywood Hills home.

The first full season of Rob & Big reached over 70 million total viewers (P2+) and ranked #1 in its time period (Thu 10:30-11p) among P12-34 versus cable competition. Additionally it ranked #1 in its time period among Teens across all of television as well as generated nearly 5.5 million streams of Rob and Big content on MTV.com since its premiere. After offering the premiere episode as a free download on iTunes, Rob & Big quickly established a digital fanbase, becoming one of MTV's fastest and best selling shows on the service. On MTV2, Rob and Big has reached 27.7 million viewers (P2+) to date. Three of the airings of Rob and Big from Monday, January 15th, were the top ranked telecasts for the day, garnering its highest P12-34 ratings ever on the channel and helping MTV2 achieve its highest rated day in channel history. Season 2 of Rob and Big will also be available on iTunes, AOL and Amazon's UNBOX service as they air.

"Our approach to Rob and Big was to deliver their hilarious brand of reality buddy comedy across all our channels and multiple platforms," said Lois Curren, EVP Series Development, MTV. "Our audience absolutely fell in love with the charming duo's bizarre daily escapades and now, we're thrilled to bring Rob and Big back for a second season to MTV and MTV2 for more of their lovable, non-stop, comic adventures."

The story of "Rob & Big" is simple: After years of being hassled by cops for street skateboarding, Rob hired Big Black as his own personal bodyguard with one goal in mind -- to ride whenever and wherever he wanted. From that point on, this unusual twosome became instant buddies who were always by each other's side. The first season of this breakout hit on MTV and MTV2 featured Rob and Big as they adopted their lovable bulldog Meaty, threw their first house party, attempted to get in shape and even joined a dating service together.

For more information about "Rob & Big" visit http://www.mtv.com.

"Rob & Big Black" is created by Jeff Tremaine, Ruben Fleischer, Rob Dyrdek and Christopher "Big Black" Boykin. Jeff Tremaine is executive producer. Ruben Fleischer is producer. Lauren Dolgen and Heather Olander are executives in charge of production. Lois Curren is Executive Vice President for MTV Series Entertainment and Programming.

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 100 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services -- MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 95 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide. 

SOURCE MTV

-0- 01/23/2007