Britney Spears' recently announced upcoming reality show still doesn't have a title, but it does now have a premiere date. UPN announced Wednesday that Britney and husband Kevin Federline's still-untitled reality show project will debut on Tuesday, May 17 at 9PM ET/PT with a special one-hour episode.
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As previously reported, the new six-episode UPN reality series will document the story of the couple's courtship, engagement and wedding. Given that all the events that the series will document have already occurred, the majority of the show will consist of home video footage already shot by the couple themselves and supplemented with commentaries and new follow-up footage. According to UPN Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff, the series will allow Britney and Kevin to "tell their love story their way."
"From the day that Kevin and I met, there have been constant rumors and inaccurate speculation about our lives together," Britney stated in last week's series announcement. "I feel that last year the tabloids ran my life and I am really excited about showing my fans what really happened rather than all the stories, which have been misconstrued by journalists in the past."
Of course, given that Britney just announced that she's pregnant with her first child, a fact that she had publicly (and adamantly) denied less than two weeks earlier, perhaps she's not someone who should be lecturing others regarding the release of "inaccurate" and "misconstrued" information.
After the show's special hour-long May 17 premiere, new half-hour episodes will air Tuesdays at 9PM ET/PT, with episodes of UPN's new The Bad Girl's Guide sitcom following it at 9:30PM ET/PT.
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While the project may sound like little more than a sanitized televised viewing of the couple's "best home videos moments" to many, Ostroff insists that's not the case. "I don't think there's anything sugarcoated about this," Ostroff told Daily Variety last week. "It's pretty raw and pretty real. I don't think [viewers] have ever been exposed to people being so honest and open about their lives." "Even if it were a fictitious story, it would be interesting. The fact that it's about one of the biggest stars out there makes it all the more fascinating."
As part of its deal to land the show, MTV Music Group (a Viacom corporate sibling) acquired exclusive "second window" rights to the series, meaning that MTV or VH1 (or maybe both) will be able to rerun the show's most recent episode several days after its UPN debut.
As of now, Britney and Kevin's reality show adventures are supposed to end with the UPN show's finale broadcast of their wedding. However, given MTV's previous broadcasts of reality shows featuring pregnant pop divas (Brandy: Special Delivery) and newly married pop divas (Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica), as well as last summer's reports that Britney and Kevin were "in talks" to take over the network's Newlyweds series, it is unclear whether the upcoming UPN reality series will ultimately represent Britney's sole brush with reality television (and as her pregnancy comments of the past two weeks have demonstrated, the public also can't put much confidence in any statements she might make on the matter.) Can a New Parents: Britney & Kevin series be far behind?)