'Wack Pack' TV show request is denied by Fort Scott city officials

Fort Scott, Kan. -- An entertainment company's plan to film a televised reality program in Fort Scott may have encountered a glitch along the way.

In Demand Networks recently announced its plan for a 15-person production crew to film episodes of a new TV show called "Wack Pack at the Christy's," a program that is offered through digital cable by Howard TV On Demand, a service named after noted radio personality Howard Stern. Howard TV is an affiliate of In Demand Networks.

However, some Fort Scott city officials have said that they do not support the company's decision to film in Fort Scott because of the lack of information that In Demand officials have provided concerning the filming of the program, and because of the questionable and often controversial material associated with Stern's programming.

"We've denied them access to city property," Fort Scott City Clerk Diane Clay said Friday. "They (In Demand) won't tell us what they're going to do and they're just being very vague."

When contacted afterward, Howard TV Production Assistant Ted Sommer said he was limited in the amount of information he could provide, and only confirmed that the network was, in fact, planning to film a TV show in Fort Scott, a plan that could change.

"It could be canceled tomorrow," Sommer said. "Yeah, I can tell you we are trying to do something in Fort Scott. But that's the only thing I can say at this time."

According to a press release from Howard TV Senior Producer Keith Fenimore, which was reviewed by Fort Scott city officials, In Demand Networks asked the city for permission to film on city property, including the Fort Scott Trolley, Gunn Park, and Buck Run Community Center. That request was denied, Clay said.

Fenimore's written statement also said that In Demand Networks plans to film the series the week of Aug. 24-29 in Fort Scott. The concept of the show involves three people from different parts of the United States -- Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Oregon -- who will travel to the area to discover what life is like in Kansas.

"Our intention is to capture the beauty and novel lifestyle of Fort Scott and by extension, Kansas itself," Fenimore said in the statement.

While in Fort Scott, cast members of the reality show will participate in a variety of different activities including farm work, square dancing, and camping. The cast also plans to tour unique Fort Scott historic sites.

The show will be centered around the farm lifestyle of local residents Tom and Pat Christy, the parents of former Fort Scott native Richard Christy, who now works as an on-air personality and writer for Stern's radio show.

The Wack Pack also plan to help out the Christy's in their barn, plowing their fields, preparing meals and working with the numerous farm animals on the compound. They also plan to join Richard and his father on a hunting and fishing trip, among other activities, according to www.howard.tv.

When contacted Friday, Tom Christy said he granted In Demand Networks permission to film the program on his property after company officials contacted him about the request some time ago.

Richard Christy is a 1992 graduate of Uniontown High School who grew up in Bourbon County before eventually taking his talents to Stern's show.

The Wack Pack is an assortment of regular guests of Stern's radio show who tend to be unusual in some way, such as blatantly racist, mentally disabled, sexually deviant, or having a comical voice or appearance, according to a www.wikipedia.org article about the group. Wack Pack members are often pariahs or outcasts from mainstream society, the article said.