The media empire that is our man Shaq is expanding – again. The ABC TV network has given the green light to a new game show called “Lucky 13,” which will be hosted by none other than Shaquille O’Neal and co-host Gina Rodriguez.
The show has some great history and backing. The Executive Producer is award-winning actor Kevin Bacon. The new series is being produced by Studio 1, the company run by Adrian Woolfe, who was part of the original creative team that developed Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. So, yeah, definitely some serious cred behind this one.
We all know about Shaq. He’s been a fixture of NBA reporting and commentary through his role on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” program for years. He’s been a TV commercial spokesman for brands like The General Insurance, Carnival Cruise Lines and Icy Hot for years.
Co-hosting with Shaq is Gina Alexis Rodriguez. She’s a popular TV actress probably best known for her leading role as the character Jane Villanueva on The CW satirical romantic dramedy series “Jane the Virgin.” Rodriguez won a Golden Globe Award for her work on the show back in 2015.
Lucky 13 Co-Hosts Shaq and Gina Alexis Rodriguez
The BIG Podcast with SHAQ
The show seems simple enough, but there’s a twist (of course!). The game show will test contestants’ knowledge with 13 true-or-false trivia questions. Sounds simple, but here’s the thing: It’s not just about what they know… but what they don’t know, too. Part of the game will be to correctly predict how many of the 13 questions they’ll answer correctly, and how many they’ll miss. Winners could take home a one MILLION dollar cash jackpot. Nice!
The production team behind Woolfe says it’s expecting to start filming the first episodes of the show as soon as next month, so be on the lookout for when it hits the air.
Speaking of Shaq’s other TV gigs, the big man recently had the night off from Inside the NBA. (Maybe he was in Hollywood working on Lucky 13…). Thankfully, another superstar big man was ready and prepped to fill O’Neal’s big (very big!) shoes.
It happened this past Saturday night (as of this posting). NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki joined the “Inside” crew on set to cover Game 1 of the series between Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves. The former Dallas Mavericks star Kenny “The Jet” Smith, Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson in studio for the NBA Tip-Off pregame show at 5:30 p.m., as well as the halftime and postgame shows.
Nowitzki and the rest of Mavericks Nation had a good weekend. The Mavs beat the LA Clippers in six games in their first-round playoff matchup. The Mavs now go on to face the top seed in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder.