'Onion SportsDome' Comes to COMEDY CENTRAL® Premiering Tuesday, January 11 at 10:30 P.M. ET/PT

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sports are finally about to get the attention they deserve, courtesy of The Onion.  America's most trusted news source is teaming up with COMEDY CENTRAL to bring viewers the most intense televised sports news program in recorded human history. "Onion SportsDome," a 30-minute rundown of the finest in sports news, analysis, scores, highlights, rumor-mongering and petty personal attacks, premieres Tuesday, January 11 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on COMEDY CENTRAL, following the third season premiere of "Tosh.0."

"SportsDome" is the signature show of the Onion Sports Network, which has grown from a humble UHF channel purchased as a tax dodge and a way to profit from The Onion's vast footage library of women's beach volleyball, into the undisputed global sports leader it is today. "SportsDome" is now the number one destination for fans seeking game reports, insight from former players and theme music heavy on bell tones and bendy guitar riffs. With its total access to the inside of sports and pulse-pounding coverage, it has become impossible to be a sports fan without being a fan of the "Dome."

The show is co-anchored by Mark Shepard and Alex Reiser.  Reiser earned a seat at the "SportsDome" desk in 1995 after working his way up from the mailroom, showing the persistence needed to repeatedly knock on the office door of the VP of OSN programming and shout highlights from the night before at the top of his lungs. Mark Shepard has been with "SportsDome" since 2005, when he parlayed the suicide of a World Backgammon Championships commentator into his first on-air appearance, impressing producers enough to install him behind the storied "SportsDome" anchor desk.

Shepard and Reiser are joined by the venerable "Dome" crew, including Senior sports insider Reggie Greengrass, who needs nine BlackBerries to hold the phone numbers of all the athletes he knows; update anchor Melissa Wells, who holds more journalism degrees than the rest of her colleagues put together; "Wish Zone" host Jay Woodworth, who makes terminally-ill children's dreams come true as long as they are sports-related; analyst Doc Webb, who holds the SportsDome record for the number of athletes he's referred to as "overpaid garbage;" and investigative reporter Marc Howell, who mines sports' most tragic elements for awards and ratings gold.

OnionSportsNetwork.com is the creative collaboration between the two premiere comedy brands, COMEDY CENTRAL and The Onion, and the digital extension for "Onion SportsDome."  The ad-supported vertical expands on the popular Onion Sports franchise and the satirical network that surrounds it – the Onion Sports Network (OSN) – offering fans the opportunity to immerse themselves daily, and interact with, "Onion SportsDome" and the entire OSN world.  In addition to hosting all "SportsDome" clips, the site features regular topical sports editorials and columns, Web-only video exclusives, interactive features including user polls, quizzes and blogs, and direct integration with social networks, encouraging fan connectivity and community building around the "Onion SportsDome" on Facebook and Twitter.  OnionSportsNetwork.com also hosts Onion Sports archival content, meaning every single sports story, video and photo The Onion has ever produced, from "NFL Star Thanks Jesus After Successful Double Homicide" to "New York Marathon Winner Tests Positive For Performance-Enhancing Horse," are available in one place.

Julie Smith, Will Graham and Michele Armour are the executive producers of "Onion SportsDome."  Will Graham also serves as the show's director. Jack Kukoda is the co-executive producer and head writer. Lisa Leingang and Sam Grossman are the executives in charge of production for COMEDY CENTRAL.

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 98 million homes nationwide.  COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks.  COMEDY CENTRAL's Internet address is www.comedycentral.com.  For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs visit Press Central, COMEDY CENTRAL's press Web site, at www.comedycentral.com/press.

SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications