Complete Coverage: TCA Winter Press Tour 2013
Pasadena, Calif. -- CNBC on Monday greenlit two more
primetime reality series, The Family
Business Project and The Big Fix,
the network said at the Television Critics' Association winter press tour.
The pick-ups join TreasureDetectives and The Car Chasers,
CNBC's first foray into the reality space, which both premiere Tuesday, March
5.
In each episode of The
Family Business Project, three family-owned companies will compete for a
$50,000 cash prize by making their case to a panel of judges, with the winner
being selected by a 100-person studio audience. The series is from Embassy Row
and executive producer Michael Davies.
The Big Fix, from
executive producer Charlie Ebersol and THE Company, features a fixer of
businesses investing his own money to help rebuild companies in trouble. CNBC
has ordered eight episodes.
While the network is focusing on Tuesday nights initially to
launch reality series, the long-term strategy is that the network will expand
the programming to other nights, said Jim Ackerman, CNBC's senior VP of
primetime alternative programming.
"I think we've turned a page, this is our future," he said. "You
just need one and it can change the profile of a channel. This is a big-time
commitment in terms of the programming dollars and the marketing and the time
we're going to get."
