This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Talk about bad timing. PBS is about to debut a new series, "Market Warriors," when narrator Fred Willard got himself arrested.
Willard was arrested for indecency in an adult theater. And, though he denies the charges, PBS quickly decided to cut him loose because of the "unfortunate circumstances," according to PBS president Paula Kerger.
"When the situation became known, we realized that we actually needed to move fast because we're taping now," she said. "It's a new series, and our concern really is that his circumstance would become a distraction."
Hard to argue with that reasoning.
So Willard was quickly replaced by Mark Walberg, the host of "Antiques Roadshow."
"'Market Warriors' was intended as sort of a series to run in parallel with 'Antiques Roadshow,' and we asked Mark to do both," Kerger said. "It actually links the two shows together."
"Marketplace Warriors" follows professional antiquers as the compete to find the best bargains.