Terrell Owens to have his own reality show on VH1

OK, In case you didnt know, I am a HUGE Bills fans so this is exciting to me!! I can certainly add another reality tv show to my schedule!!!

Stay tuned for T.O. VH1 reality show
By Alan Pergament /
NEWS TV CRITIC

The latest chapter in the life of Terrell Owens will put Buffalo on the prime-time TV map even if the Bills aren’t featured prominently on ESPN’s Monday Night Football schedule.

That’s because Owens is the star of a new VH1 reality series, “Playing the Field,” which will feature the former Dallas Cowboys star receiver turned Buffalo Bill.

VH1 President Tom Calderone, a 1986 graduate of Buffalo State College, said Tuesday he wouldn’t know for a month about just how much of Buffalo will be featured on the program.

“It will be a backdrop,” said Calderone. “I don’t know how much of Buffalo will be in it. The show is in a tailspin. It was going to be filmed in Dallas and Miami [where Owens lives] now it is Miami and Buffalo.”

About two months ago, VH1 commissioned a reality series starring Owens that is set to premiere on Monday nights at the end of July. It was a no-brainer to do a series with Owens, a showman who sells the NFL, popcorn and himself.

“It’s about the behind-the-scenes of Terrell, his quest to find what else is in life,” said Calderone. “Football is definitely the backdrop of it.”

Who knew that Owens would find out the next stage of his life would be in Buffalo?

When Owens was dropped by Dallas, Calderone was e-mailing the producers.

“I was going, ‘OK, let’s follow this drama,’ ” recalled Calderone. “Already, people, knowing my connection with the team, are calling me going, ‘Did you guys make a deal with the Bills?’ ... ‘That’s kind of an odd coincidence.’ ”

“I talked to the producers over the weekend and they’re ready to start setting up shop in Buffalo and ready to go,” added Calderone. “I’m excited because the series itself is going to be really good and now [it has] the backdrop of my favorite city and my favorite team.”

As a Bills fan, Calderone was quite enthusiastic when he learned Saturday that the Bills had signed the controversial receiver.

“My initial reaction was euphoria almost,” said Calderone, who was featured in the Bills advertising campaign last season without being identified as the VH1 president. “It’s a great shot in the arm for the franchise, a great shot for the city and also shows that the Bills are committed to win.”

Bills benefit

As VH1 president, Calderone was just as excited about the impact the Bills acquisition would have on the series.

So far, only a pilot that centers around a charity event that Owens attended in Dallas has been completed, but cameras have been following Owens for weeks. Calderone doesn’t believe camera crews were with Owens on his flight to Buffalo on Saturday, but cameras followed him the day before he signed and also caught his return home to Miami.

The series is supposed to end the first week of September before the Bills opener.

Calderone is among those Bills fans who think that Owens’ signing gives the team a shot at being part of one of the “Monday Night Football” openers in September.

“We don’t want to air it against ‘Monday Night Football’ when the Bills are playing,”

“Already, people, knowing my connection with the team, are calling me going, ‘Did you guys make a deal with the Bills?’ ... ‘That’s kind of an odd coincidence.’ ” VH1 president and Bills fan, Tom Calderone said Calderone.

VH1 will learn whether that is a problem months ahead of time when the NFL schedule is announced in April. History suggests that the speculation about Owens’ influence on the Bills’ prime-time schedule is exaggerated and that the Bills being involved in the Monday night opener is a long shot.

But then so was Owens signing with the team. The NFL generally is more interested in spotlighting winning teams and avoids relying on one player who may be sidelined by the time the game is played.

However, the VH1 series surely will put the prime-time spotlight on the Bills this summer and Calderone’s influence should reduce the chances that Buffalo will be the victim of cheap shots by the producers.

Off of the pilot, Calderone expects viewers will be surprised to see another side of Owens. “Needless to say, he is such a character,” said Calderone. “What has been very eye-opening based on the pilot and the experience that we’ve had with him so far is that he’s truly a really different guy off the field. And he has this really cool circle of friends that really try to help navigate his personal life when he is not playing football. He’s a guy who brings the party with him so to speak wherever he goes. You don’t really find too many dynamic players like this.”

Making adjustments

While there is speculation that Owens will have to make some adjustments playing in a small NFL city without the nightlife of San Francisco, Philadelphia or Dallas, Calderone thinks Owens will fit in just fine and the show will have enough highlights.

“He kind of makes his own noise,” said Calderone. “I think he’ll find his niche there, I really do. And you have to remember, on his off weeks he has other businesses out there, including his charities and everything else, so we’ll be following every aspect of him.”

Fateful decision

Meanwhile, the professional drama that Calderone experienced last weekend when Owens was signed was nothing compared to the personal drama the Long Island native experienced four weeks ago.

Calderone, whose Buffalo State classmates included Channel 4’s Lisa Flynn and WGR radio’s Howard Simon, loves Buffalo. He flies here often to lecture at Buffalo State. He takes Continental flights here four or five times a year to speak at his alma mater or go to Bills games, which is where the personal drama comes in.

Calderone had planned to take Flight 3407 on Thursday, Feb. 12, the night of the tragic crash, to attend the funeral of a friend’s father. Many of Calderone’s friends, including Buffalo State alumnus Tom Fontana (“St. Elsewhere,” “Oz”) thought he was on the flight. He and Fontana were scheduled to do a Buffalo State event the next night.

Calderone never bought a ticket because the winds in New York City that day were so incredibly strong that he said that glass was flying off buildings at construction sites and roads were being shut down. From his 20th floor office in Times Square, Calderone doubted the flight “on such a small plane” would take off, and he didn’t want to sit at Newark airport for hours.

He kept checking Continental until he finally decided at around 6 p. m. to drive the six-hour trip to Buffalo on Friday morning. He went to sleep before learning about the crash and awoke Friday morning to see that his friends had called his cell phone all night and feared that he was on the flight.

“Someone decided for me to make the right decision and not fly that night,” added Calderone. “When I drove up there listening to WBEN, it was just horrific."