Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty will follow Flowers’ descendants and air on BBC America next year.
networks
America’s Top Dog: answers to questions about the A&E competition
America’s Top Dog is essentially a spin-off of A&E’s Live PD, which has popular police dogs, some of whom are now competing for $25,000.
Off the Grid Thursdays: Discovery Channel’s new block of homesteading reality TV
The Discovery Channel is launching a new night of themed reality TV, which includes Homestead Rescue season 6, Reclaimed, and Building Off the Grid.
A new Bachelor spin-off, Supermarket Sweep, and Millionaire are all coming to ABC
ABC announced a new music-themed Bachelor spin-off, The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart, plus its acquisition of Supermarket Sweep and a revival of Millionaire.
23% of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time categories were Disney ads
The Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament was thrilling—and full of corporate synergy, with categories for various Disney-owned properties, from American Idol to NatGeo.
The Repair Shop ‘will resurrect, revive, and rejuvenate treasured possessions,’ and my day
The Repair Shop—a BBC series that’s available via Netflix, and on which objects are restored—is charming, warm, and set in a barn. In other words, it’s perfect.
The Circle turns social media into reality TV: a review of Netflix’s U.S. version
Watching people text each other and judge the reactions is occasionally fascinating, sometimes boring, and frighteningly revealing about how we try to connect with each other.
The bizarre Buddy vs. Duff was Food Network’s top-rated show of 2019, so it’s coming back
Buddy vs. Duff, a competition between Duff Goldman and Buddy Valastro, was a disaster of a competition series, but more people watched that than anything else on Food Network all year. That’s insane.
Wrap Battle is an imperfect but welcome Christmas gift
The gift wrapping competition Wrap Battle is a lot of holiday fun despite some baffling judging and discordant choices.
College Behind Bars: a ‘more realistic’ look at prison life, and actual rehabilitation
An interview with College Behind Bars director Lynn Novick and producer Sarah Botstein about their four-part series, which goes into prisons to follow students in the Bard Prison Initiative.
History Channel is getting into the convention game, too, with HistoryCon
HistoryCon will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the network, and will include reality shows from Alone to Pawn Stars, but also actual historians.
Marvel’s Hero Project is Disney+’s celebration of amazing kids. And Marvel.
The Disney Plus reality series profiles truly incredible kids who are doing awesome work, and also does a lot of advertising for Marvel.
Almost all of ABC’s ‘summer fun & games’ reality shows are returning
Nearly all of ABC summer game shows and reality competitions and their hosts will return in the summer of 2020.
Back in the Game: fallen celebs get Alex Rodriguez as an accountability partner
On his new CNBC show, Alex Rodriguez isn’t as invested Marcus Lemonis is on The Profit, though it turns out Alex and Marcus were friends in high school (!).
Food Network Challenge is being revived
An early Food Network competition is returning, with its original host as a judge, and a Sharknado star as its new host.