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Ashton Kutcher and 'Punk'd' end with a bang

By Stone Martindale Mar 27, 2007, 20:29 GMT

Ashton Kutcher -© Glenn Harris / Photorazzi

"Punk'd" with Ashton Kutcher is exiting the MTV lineup with a bang.

MTV said Monday that the upcoming season will be the last for the show from co-creator/executive producers Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg.

MTV is planning to debut the entire final 8 episode season back-to-back in a "Sneak Peek Marathon" starting at 1 p.m. April 7.

The series then premieres at 9 p.m. April 10 as part of a new Tuesday night block that also will include "Scarred" at 9:30 p.m., "Real World/Road Rules Inferno" at 10 p.m. and "Living Lahaina" at 10:30 p.m.

"We decided to make an event out of it," said Brian Graden, president of entertainment at MTV Networks Music Group and president of Logo. "We're looking to experiment with many alternate programming and premiere models as a way for things to take hold in an age of technology."

MTV2 announced it was planning to release the entire upcoming season of "The Andy Milonakis Show" on Apple's iTunes a month before its first episode premieres on-air.

The MTV Tuesday night block is themed around "boys being naughty."

The announcement was met with some disbelief that it was a ploy to lower the guard of celebrity targets.  MTV's Graden said Monday that the show is officially finished this time but that there might be future collaborations with Kutcher on other projects.

Allegedly Kutcher is scheduled to host a special "Punk'd Awards" honoring all eight seasons at 9 p.m. June 5.

MTV reports the unsuspecting celebrities who are getting "Punk'd" this season include Hilary Swank, Magic Johnson, Evangeline Lilly, Nelly Furtado and Hayden Panettiere.