Having achieved its "best year ever" in 2006 thanks to a heavy slate of reality shows, VH1 has announced plans to launch a third night of original programming later this summer that will be fueled by several new reality series.
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New shows currently in the works to help bolster the cable network's original programming lineup -- which will have varying late 2007/early 2008 premiere dates and be mixed with new seasons of VH1's existing reality series -- are The Salt 'N' Pepa Show; America's Most Smartest Model; Click!; Danny Bonaduce's Child Star; Free Radio; Lords of the Revolution; and Old Skool with Terry and Gita.
"Over the years, VH1 has been re-imagined for a generation that now consumes, comments on, reinterprets and reinvents our common music and pop culture touchstones," said Brian Graden, president of entertainment for MTV Networks Music Group. "VH1's latest slate taps into this collective fascination, allowing the conversation to be extended on television and beyond."
The Salt 'N' Pepa Show will follow the Grammy-award winning female rap duo as they attempt to reunite since calling it quits in 2002 after selling 12 million albums. However their lifestyles have since become complete opposites -- much like salt and pepper -- as Salt has turned to religion and lives the quiet life in Long Island, NY with her husband while Pepa is still a party girl. The 10-episode reality series is executive produced by Banks Tarver and Ken Druckerman for Left/Right Inc.
America's Most Smartest Model -- a mixture of America's Next Top Model and Beauty and the Geek -- is a 10-episode reality competition series that will follow seven male and seven female runway walkers who all think their the perfect combination of intellect and looks. With a $100,00 grand prize on the line for one of them, the "himbos" and "bimbos" will have to pass a series challenges designed to test both their brains and beauty. America's Most Smartest Model will be hosted by fashion expert Mary Alice Stephenson and comedian Ben Stein, and is executive produced by Cris Abrego of 51 Pictures and Mark Cronin of Mindless Entertainment.
Click!, a new eight-episode reality competition series from Top Model producer Ken Mok's 10x10 Entertainment, will have a similar format to Top Model but will instead focus on those behind the cameras. It will follow 10 amateurs vying for a job in the world of fashion photography as they live together in a downtown Los Angeles loft and compete in a series of challenges. Photographer Russell James will play Top Model's Tyra Banks role for Click!.
Former The Partridge Family child actor and Breaking Bonaduce star Danny Bonaduce will scour the country in-search of the next up-and-coming child actor with the potential to achieve stardom in Child Star, an eight-episode series produced by Bonaduce and his soon-to-be ex Gretchen, with JD Roth, Todd Nelson, and Adam Greener serving as executive producers for 3 Ball Productions.
Free Radio is a half-hour improvised comedy that will offer viewers a behind-the-scenes look at a struggling fictitious Los Angeles radio station. The eight-episode series will feature celebrity guests from the entertainment industry on a weekly basis and will be hosted by improv comedian Lance Krall. Free Radio is executive produced by Krall and Rory Rosegarten.
Old Skool with Terry and Gita will put a new spin on discussing pop culture topics, as 77-year-old former actress Terry Moore and 72-year-old ex-model Gita Hall explore what's hip in the 21st century in this seven-episode series executive produced by Jon Murray and Jeff Jenkins for Bunin/Murray Productions -- the same company behind MTV's The Real World -- as well as Grant Cramer for Moore/Cramer Productions.
Lords of the Revolution, a new seven-episode docu-reality series, profiles different people who challenged social, political and cultural institutions of the 1960s and 1970s in each one-hour episode. The series is executive produced by Michael Hirschorn, Brad Abramson and Shelly Tatro for VH1.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
