PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (September 2012) – Pigeon Forge is getting a lot of love from three major broadcast networks.
ABC and NBC have put Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in the spotlight in recent weeks, and CBS will keep the string alive during the upcoming television season.
ABC ‘s “Good Morning America” featured Dollywood’s new-design Wild Eagle roller coaster in a summer series of segments about thrill rides. Actor Cameron Mathison visited the popular theme park for a first-hand look and ride.
At $20 million, Wild Eagle is Dollywood’s biggest capital investment. It was the first winged coaster in the U.S., meaning that the passenger seats are on “wings” that stretch out from the coaster’s track rather than riding on top of it.
Over at NBC, a clogger from the Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge is part of a dance team that emerged from 75,000 auditioning acts to make it into the final rounds of “America’s Got Talent.”
Drake Elkin, who dances as part of the McCoy family, is part of an all-male clogging team called All That.
At CBS, a Pigeon Forge couple is about to compete on “The Amazing Race,” an around-the-world adventure that has won the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Reality-Competition Program” eight of the last nine years.
Rob Scheer, president of the company that owns the Great Smoky Mountain Lumberjack Feud, and his wife, Sheila, are one of 11 two-member teams. Scheer is a champion timber sports athlete. The series begins Sept. 30.