Neil Patrick Harris is promising broadcast TV viewers the “Best Time Ever” this fall, so no pressure there.
“You’ll get to see a bunch of cool sh-t, and it’ll be live,” Harris teased on Thursday, adding that he hopes the NBC show will be “game changing” in the reality TV genre.
“We’re in a world where we’re not sure what’s real and what’s not,” he said, regarding unscripted fare in general.
Harris and Siobhan Greene — the latter who helped create the British show that NBC’s version is based on — tried their best to explain the diverse format to American journalists at “Best Time Ever’s” Television Critics Association Summer press tour. Harris explained that he’s kind of a host, but also maybe just a bit of a ringleader.
“I’m not the host of this show to perform for the audience,” he told reporters in the Beverly Hilton ballroom. “I’m the host to show you the cool things that we’ve done.”
Additionally, Harris leaked a few names that will guest on the inaugural American season: Ricky Martin is set to perform “Livin’ La Vida Loca” during a celebrity singalong contest segment. Reese Witherspoon will also take part in another event.
Harris has signed on for just the one run, but would be open to more should the show become the big hit that Greene is convinced it will be. If there is another run, the busy actor specified that he’d prefer it to continue on as an early fall event series.
“Best Time Ever” runs eight weeks in a row, beginning Sep. 15 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
Harris’ fellow executive producer Greene promised that after that run, we’ll all “be gagging for more.”