‘Better Late Than Never’: William Shatner, Henry Winkler, And Friends Ready For Another Trip
NBC announced today in a press release that the “boys of summer,” featured in Better Late Than Never, will be heading out for a second world-traveling trip. The reality-based series that featured actors Henry Winkler and William Shatner, football legend and NFL analyst Terry Bradshaw, boxing Hall of Famer and grill maker George Foreman, and (much younger) comedian Jeff Dye was this summer’s No. 1 new broadcast series, so the five are getting their bags packed for another adventure.
“The success of Season one was such a joyous surprise,” said Winkler who also served as executive producer. “I can’t wait to see where Bill, Terry, George, Jeff and I will be exploring next. Anybody know where we are going??? They don’t tell me anything!!!”
Airing just four episodes that began right after the 2016 Summer Olympics, Better Late Than Never averaged a 1.8 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 8.1 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. The special limited series beat out its competition from ABC and CBS every week.
During the time of filming Better Late Than Never, the five celebrities travel through Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong; and Phuket and Chiang Mai, Thailand, jumping right in the local culture, traditions, and food. And despite the fact that these men are celebrities, for the most part, they experienced the lands like common folk. The end result is sort of like watching your relatives’ videos of their most recent trip, but a lot more fun.
“You just don’t know what America is going to watch,” Shatner told Fansided. “We were staggering around in the monsoon season in East Asia and tripping over each others’ feet and eating each others’ worms and octopus and unshaven and unkempt and miserable at times and joyous at others and we were just fending for ourselves and trying to help each other with no thought of how this is going to sell and the fact that it is as successful as it is comes as a surprise, certainly to me.”
“Like everyone else, we fell in love with all the adventures Henry, William, Terry, George and Jeff faced as they educated themselves and adapted to new customs in foreign cities,” said Paul Telegdy, president, Alternative and Reality Group, NBC Entertainment. “This innovative format allows for unprecedented escapades that cut through the clutter and grabbed viewer’s attention. We can’t wait to see what places they explore and how they adapt to their environment in season two.”
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“I had no idea that this show would be successful,” says Terry Bradshaw. “I mean, there’s so many – I’ve been a part of, I don’t know, four, five, pilots that never made it and yet we got a chance to actually shoot this show. I think while we were doing it I was so hot and miserable and hurting I never gave any thought that this thing would just be more than what it was, four shows, six shows and then you sit around and you go, well will it be picked up? Who knows that and you just move on.”
So while all five stars have signed on to do another round of Better Late Than Never, no one knows where they will be off to for their second trip. Better Late Than Never is based on another original series called Grandpa Over Flowers which airs in both China and South Korea. Of course, that series doesn’t have Captain Kirk or the Fonze.
[Featured Image by Paul Drinkwater/NBC]
