Terry Crews Roku show: Fun, epic ‘Battle’ reboot set Oct. 23
The Terry Crews Roku show “Battle of the Streaming Stars,” a new celebrity competition series, will premiere Oct. 23 on The Roku Channel, Roku announced Oct. 1. Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions is producing the reboot of ABC’s “Battle of the Network Stars,” and Crews also serves as an executive producer, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Instead of stars from the broadcast networks, the new version pits comedians, actors, reality personalities and creators against one another. Roku says they will compete “in larger-than-life challenges inspired by the shows and movies people love.” The winning team takes home a golden Roku remote.
What Roku announced about the Terry Crews Roku show
Roku has ordered 2 hour-long specials. The first arrives Oct. 23, and the second is set for early 2027.
Crews, who also hosts “America’s Got Talent,” leads the show. Former “Good Morning Football” co-host Kay Adams works the sidelines as a reporter, and actress Yvette Nicole Brown serves as the referee, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Black Girl Nerds reported that 3 teams of 4 celebrities will compete.
Brian Tannenbaum, head of Roku Originals for Roku Media, said the streamer is “taking that spirit and reinventing it for how audiences stream entertainment today.” He added that the series brings “some of streaming’s most entertaining personalities off the screen and onto the field for a competition that’s big, funny, unexpected, and uniquely Roku.”
Manning, an Omaha Productions co-founder, called the original “must-watch TV in the 80s” and said, “We’re excited to team up with Roku to bring that same concept back for the streaming era.”
Crews promised a free-for-all. “In the same spirit as the original series, anything can happen in Battle of the Streaming Stars,” he said in the announcement. “Some of the funniest, most competitive people in entertainment finally get to prove who’s the best athlete in the room, and trust me, egos are going to get tested.”
Why the Terry Crews Roku format matters
The original “Battle of the Network Stars” ran on ABC from 1976 to 1988, with 19 editions that pitted teams of TV stars from ABC, CBS and NBC against each other in athletic events. NBC tried a one-off revival in 2003, and ABC brought it back as a weekly summer series in 2017, according to Wikipedia’s history of the show.
Roku’s take builds the lineup around people fans follow on streaming platforms, social media and reality TV rather than one network’s prime-time roster. The Golden Remote trophy also ties the competition’s top prize to Roku’s own hardware. It’s another push into original programming for the free, ad-supported Roku Channel, which has been an active player in the streaming deal market.
Who is behind the show
Manning, Jamie Horowitz, Colin Campbell and Dan Gati are executive producers for Omaha Productions, and Keith Geller is the showrunner. At Roku Originals, Sean Boyle and Louisa L. Friedman are overseeing the series, per The Hollywood Reporter.
For Crews, the Terry Crews Roku project is the latest high-energy hosting gig for a performer whose fitness and big-screen résumé fit the format. He starred for 8 seasons on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and took over as host of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” in 2020. Brown is best known for NBC’s “Community,” and Adams now hosts the daily sports talk show “Up & Adams.”
What’s next
Roku has not yet named the celebrity competitors for the Terry Crews Roku special. Black Girl Nerds reported the lineup will be announced in the coming weeks. For more on what’s coming to your screens, see our TV & Streaming coverage.
