Upfront Central: Complete Coverage From B&C
A&E unveiled 2010-11 programming slate heavy on original
non-scripted series including an Intervention
spin-off and unscripted projects with Tony Danza, David Hasselhoff, Bob Saget
and Dee Snider.
Intervention In Depth:
One Man Rehab follows a team of "sober companions" as they counsel addicts
at risk of relapsing. A&E has ordered five hour-long episodes of the series
which is set to bow third quarter this year.
Strange Days with Bob
Saget has the comedian traveling the country to looking for various
subcultures - hardcore bikers, frat boys, Bigfoot believers -- on which to
riff. The network has ordered six hour-long episodes of Strange Days; it's targeted to premiere this year.
The untitled Hasselhoff project is set to bow fourth quarter
this year with ten half-hour episodes. It follows "The Hoff" as a single stage
dad to two daughters, both aspiring singers.
A&E has ordered seven half-hour episodes of Snider's Growing Up Twisted, a docu-soap about
the Twisted Sister front-man and his family; wife Suzette and four children. Twisted is set to bow third quarter this
year.
Teach: Tony Danza premieres later this
year and shadows the actor/talk show host/boxer/cookbook author as he embarks
on a new dream: to be a teacher. A&E has ordered seven one-hour episodes of
Teach, which will have Danza teaching
English at Northeast High School in Philadelphia.
A&E
is coming off a record ratings quarter, capping six consecutive years of growth
and has renewed a record 12 series including: Intervention; Obsessed; Hoarders; The First 48; Billy the Exterminator;
Criss Angel Mindfreak; Dog the Bounty Hunter; Gene Simmons Family Jewels;
Parking Wars; Manhunters and Paranormal
State.
Additionally, the network is in development on five new scripted
projects, including a multi-night television event from Emmy Award winners
Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. Coma is
a remake of the Michael Crichton film, which was based on the Robin Cook book, about
a doctor who discovers a conspiracy at her hospital when seemingly stable
patients begin to lapse into comas on the operation table.
Sister network BIO Channel, also coming off record growth in
fourth quarter 2009 and first quarter 2010, will bow several new series
including a new show with BIO star William Shatner and an I Survived... companion series.
Shatner's Aftermath
is a where-are-they-now with people who made headlines. Shatner will catch up
with people including Jessica Lynch, Mary Kay Letournea, Bernhard Goetz and Ted Kaczynski, a.k.a. The Unabomber,
who is serving a life sentence at the supermax prison in Florence, Colo.
Six one-hour episodes will bow in third quarter.
I Survived...Beyond and
Back examines the death experiences of people who have been resuscitated
after flat lining. BIO has ordered six hour-long episodes set to bow fourth
quarter this year.
Returning series include: Biography; Shatner's Raw Nerve; I Survived..., Celebrity Ghost Stories
and Mobsters.
Additionally BIO has ordered up multiple new specials
including The Inside Story of Jaws, Halloween and The Silence of the Lambs and a special commemorating the 80th
anniversary of Ray Charles' birth. The two-hour special about the legendary
singer, who died in 2004, will take an "uncensored" look at Charles' life.
