UPN Snags Elliott for Contest Show

[Kooperman]

UPN Snags Elliott for Contest Show

16 minutes ago

By Carla Hay

NEW YORK (Billboard) - It was bound to happen. Music talent-contest fever has been sweeping across TV networks, and UPN finally has a series of its own.

UPN has teamed with Missy Elliott for a new reality show/contest with the working title "Missy Elliott Project." The show will select aspiring performers to accompany Elliott on an upcoming tour, during which the finalists will compete to become potential hip-hop stars.

Grammy Award-winning Elliott is co-executive producer of the series. Auditions for the show conclude March 19. The show's producers say they are looking for an all-around entertainer who can sing, dance and rap. More audition information can be found at upn.com.

In related news, Paramount Domestic Television is launching a new syndicated hip-hop dance contest titled "Dance 360." The show, which debuts this fall, has already been sold to Viacom Television Station Group's TV stations that are owned and operated by UPN. (Viacom is the parent company of Paramount and UPN.) The hosts of the new show are Kel Mitchell (of Nickelodeon's "Keenan and Kel" fame) and Onyx member Fredro Starr.

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