'Battle Of The Network Stars' Returns Tonight on ABC

MALIBU, CA — A team of actors who played lawyers on television will face cast members of a series set at the White House in the episode of "Battle of the Network Stars" airing at 9 p.m. Thursday evening on ABC.

The lawyers team consists of Corbin Bernsen ("L.A. Law"), Elisabeth Rohm ("Law & Order"), Matt McGorry ("How to Get Away With Murder"), Romi Dias ("Doubt") and Catherine Bell ("JAG.")

Joshua Malina, Mary McCormack and Marlee Matlin from the 1999-2006 critically acclaimed NBC drama "The West Wing" are on the White House team, along with LaMonica Garrett ("Designated Survivor") and Cornelius Smith Jr. ("Scandal.")

"It's just a hoot to even be asked to be on this show that I watched with such joy as a kid," Malina told City News Service, referring to the original, which ran as a series of specials on ABC from 1976-88, often airing twice a year.

Like the new version, the original was conducted at Pepperdine University.

Bernsen described himself as "a big fan" of the original and went to Pepperdine to watch it conducted.

Dias called participating on "Battle of the Network Stars" "both terrifying and exhilarating." She said she watched tapes of original "and I had this terrible fear that I was not live up to that kind of standard."

After she began competing, Dias learned "Battle of the Network Stars" is "about the spirit of just having a good time and letting your hair down."

City News Service

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