E! has announced that The Simple Life: 'Till Death Do Us Part, the fourth edition of the Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie reality comedy series that previously aired on Fox, will premiere Sunday, June 4 at 10PM ET/PT.
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Citing a full broadcasting schedule, Fox dropped The Simple Life 4 in October. Bunim-Murray Productions, the show's producers, immediately began shopping The Simple Life to other networks and in November The Simple Life: 'Till Death Do Us Part' to premiere on June 4">E! announced that it had picked up the broadcast rights to not only the show's fourth edition but also the syndication rights to the program's first three seasons.
According to Fox, its decision to drop the series was driven by a concern that since a full 2005-2006 schedule would prevent it from airing The Simple Life 4 before this summer, the show's premise -- a Wife Swap-like setup in which Paris and Nicole (whom had each recently become engaged in the months prior to the show's production) would attempt to learn to become "good wives" by serving as "surrogate mothers" for various families -- would seem "outdated" by Summer 2006. Sure enough, both of the girls' engagements proved fleeting, with Paris breaking off her engagement to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis in the days prior to Fox's decision to drop the series and Nicole ending her engagement to Adam "D.J. AM" Goldstein in December.
Although the girls had had a well-publicized falling out after The Simple Life 3 aired (with Paris going as far as to publicly proclaim that Kimberly Stewart would replace Nicole on the show) and were being forced, due to contractual obligations, into filming The Simple Life's fourth edition, neither the girls' feuding or Paris' decision to call off her engagement were reportedly responsible for Fox's decision to drop the series
Despite the fact that neither Paris or Nicole were still engaged when The Simple Life 4 began taping in March, the fourth edition ended up retaining its "surrogate mothers" concept. Unlike the show's first three editions, the girls -- who still aren't back on speaking terms -- will separately take turns living with each family, after which the families will decide which one did a better job.
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"[The footage will be] intercut so that they are fully in each episode," E! President and CEO Ted Harbert told The Hollywood Reporter. "No one is trying to cheat and suggest they shot together, but it makes it funnier because we are intercutting how each handles the same situation." According to Harbert, Paris and Nicole only shot one scene together.