TLC in August will debut the latest spinoff from its 90 Day Fiancé reality series franchise, 90 Day: The Last Resort.

The series will follow five couples from 90 Day Fiancé who will travel to a couples retreat in a final attempt to salvage their relationships, according to TLC. The couples will actively navigate issues with trust, sex, jealousy, anger, and intimacy. At the end of the retreat, each couple must decide if they will stay together or move on separately, said the network. 

Also: From 'MILF Manor' to '90 Day Fiancé,' It's All Reality for TLC

In addition to the series, TLC will launch a weekly companion podcast called 90 Day: The Last Resort Sessions that will feature therapists who will break down relationship issues and discuss big moments in each episode. 

90 Day: The Last Resort joins prior 90 Day Fiancé spinoffs including 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?, 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, 90 Day: Single Life and 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way. 

Lifetime will continue its Seven Deadly Sins movie anthology franchise Saturday (April 8) with its latest film, Pride.

The film, produced by Bishop T.D. Jakes, stars Grammy-winning R&B singer Stephanie Mills as an aging bakery owner and reality TV star whose pride and past secrets threaten the enormous success she has achieved, according to Lifetime. 

Along with Mills, Pride: A Seven Deadly Sins Story stars Thomas Miles, Erica Atkins and Keeya King.  

Pride is the fifth movie of Lifetime's Seven Deadly Sins franchise – inspired by novels from author Victoria Christopher Murray – following Lust, Envy, Wrath and Greed. Thus far the franchise has attracted nearly 7 million viewers since its launch in 2022, according to the network.

“From a performance perspective the Seven Deadly Sins franchise has been extremely successful, and Pride is a continuation of the anthology,” Jakes told Multichannel News. “The Seven Deadly Sins concept fits very well with the network – they do not shy away from complicated, dramatic stories. It really fits their brand and our brand as well.” 

For Mills, best known in an acting role for her performance as Dorothy in 1970s Broadway musical The Wiz, the movie and the Seven Deadly Sins franchise offers value-themed content not regularly seen on the small screen. “We live in a content, fast food world and not a substance world, especially with social media ... so I hope that Pride captivates the audience,” she said.  

Pride co-executive producer Shaun Robinson added that the series reflects an opportunity to create content that not only entertains but also carries a message for viewers. Robinson, who also hosts TLC's reality series 90-Day Fiancé, added she hopes to finish the franchise with the final two sins, gluttony and sloth.

“When you put movies together like this you first want them to be entertaining, but also with the films being tied to the morality tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, at the end of the movie we would like people to be able to really think about and examine the effects of certain behavior,” she said. 

Jakes, who has also produced such theatrical films as Jumping The Broom, Sparkle and A Dog’s Way Home, also said he hopes to continue to work with Lifetime to produce content that showcases Black characters and storylines. 

“There is a great affinity in the Black community to produce content where we can tell our own stories and narratives, and we’re grateful that Lifetime has created the platform to allow African-American actors and producers to have a stage to share our talents not only for the Black community but with the rest of the world,” he said. 

Fresh off its third straight year as cable’s highest-rated entertainment network without sports in primetime among adult women, TLC will open the first quarter of 2023 with more than 155 hours of new programming targeted to its core female demo.

New shows include the January 15 premiere of MILF Manor, which follows the love lives of women in their 40s, 50s and 60s, as well as returning shows such as 1000-Lb. Sisters, I Am Jazz and Say Yes to the Dress.

Discovery Networks & TLC president Howard Lee spoke with Multichannel News about the ratings success of the Warner Bros. Discovery owned-network, as well as its continued appeal to female viewers. Lee, who recently added oversight of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel to his duties, also talked about the future of reality television in this interview, an edited version of which appears below.

MCN: Why has TLC continued to remain successful and relevant in an ever-changing cable television marketplace?

Howard Lee: I think that who you see on the TLC brand is who you see in America. The magic of TLC is that the stories that we witness on our air are parallel to our own lives. It’s as if these folks on the screen become part of us, and we don’t take that lightly. When we decide to bring back a show over one or over many seasons, we really nourish it and make sure that there’s something to tell. If there isn’t, we don’t do it. We want to stay as real as we can about what is going on in that person’s life, and the fact that they decided to be very candid and honest and share that story with everybody at home is crucial to the overall success of the show. I think that’s the most important part of what makes a lot of our programming successful. Everybody on our air has a story that they want to confide to our viewers and they don’t shy away from letting us know their journeys, and it’s really amazing. 

MCN: TLC has a significant amount of original content launching in the first quarter, a time when many networks are cutting back on both scripted and reality programming. How are you able to sustain such rapid delivery of original content? 

HL: Well, it’s never easy. Anybody who makes any nonfiction programming knows that it takes a long lead time to create a show, then it takes quite a while to have it come back on air for new seasons. We really take pride in the fact that we’re telling the proper story and that it’s honest. I do believe that because so much of our programming is serialized, continuous and not self-contained, it hooks people in from week to week and they have to come back until we get to the finales of all of our programs. Even after a season’s over, they always ask when the show is coming back. Our viewers are truly the ones who dictate everything. 

MCN: You’ve been successful in spinning off franchises like 90 Day Fiancé. How do you know when a show has spinoff potential? 

HL: Well, we would never spin off a show unless there was a clamor for more of that show’s story. The obvious example of that is the tried and true 90 Day Fiancé, which started 10 years ago. We are very careful about monitoring the appetite for the franchise and making sure we're doing the proper spinoffs. We are also very careful about ensuring that we protect this franchise and not just doing it for the sake of doing it. It's important that we have a story always at the end of the day to tell — if there’s not a story to tell, then we wouldn’t do it. 

MCN: What are some of the new shows coming down the pike for TLC in the first quarter? 

HL: We recently announced MILF Manor that we’re having a lot of fun with. The show continues to evolve what we develop in the love and relationship space. We know that older women can fall in love age-wise with anybody they choose to, even if [their partners] are younger. Love, I think, is a very enduring storyline that crosses cultures and customs and never gets old. That’s the reason why so many people try to tap into that genre and that space, but I'm really excited about it at TLC because I feel like we are going at it a different way. We also have a spinoff of Sister Wives called Seeking Brother Husband.

MCN: How do you see the reality marketplace evolving, particularly as more streaming services are getting into the business?

HL: There is a lot out there in the nonfiction world to choose from. We often ask ourselves, how do we cut through the clutter and make sure that we make, produce and create content that is impactful and memorable? I think that content has to have a clear premise. Once we do that, it’s amazing how many riveting storylines and hooks you can find that continuously make you want to watch the drama, the relationships and the storytelling. Sometimes we don't know if it'll work or not, but we've been very fortunate that a lot of it does. ■ 

B&C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing the top five TV promos ranked by ad impressions. Our data covers the 7-day period through May 16.

On the strength of nearly 354 million TV ad impressions, an MTV promo for the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards tops our chart for the second week in a row.

Hallmark Channel is right behind it in second place, hyping the “spellbinding new season” of fantasy comedy-drama Good Witch. Laughter also gets some love in fourth place, where Nickelodeon promotes a variety of its comedies including Drama Club and Side Hustle.

Rounding out the list are promos for reality fare: TLC takes third for 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? and HGTV grabs fifth for Home Town Takeover. 

Notably, the 90 Day Fiancé spot has this week’s highest iSpot Attention Index (123), meaning viewers were on average highly likely to watch it all the way through (vs. interrupting it by changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards, MTV

Impressions: 353,765,028

Interruption Rate: 3.01%

Attention Index: 105 (5% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 95%, Local 4%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $1,709,557

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $393,072

2) Good Witch, Hallmark Channel

Impressions: 212,053,918

Interruption Rate: 6.13%

Attention Index: 102 (2% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 98%, Local 2%, VOD/OTT 0%

In-network Value: $1,225,588

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $161,013

3) 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?, TLC

Impressions: 158,010,558

Interruption Rate: 1.32%

Attention Index: 123 (23% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 99%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $706,567

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

4) Various shows, Nickelodeon

Impressions: 136,857,409

Interruption Rate: 2.71%

Attention Index: 112 (12% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 99%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $877,234

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

5) Home Town Takeover, HGTV

Impressions: 135,412,462

Interruption Rate: 1.54%

Attention Index: 110 (10% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 97%, Local 2%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $713,562

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $2,956

*Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands*

Impressions - The total impressions within all US households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD+OTT, and Local.

Attention Score - Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index - Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Imp. Types - Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-network Value - Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-network Spend - The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live - A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local - A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD - This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load)

OTT - On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast).

TLC finished May tied with sister Discovery network HGTV as basic cable’s most-watched entertainment service, averaging more than 1.2 million viewers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Under senior VP of production and development Alon Orstein, TLC has developed a lineup of resonant relationship and personality-themed shows, including 90-Day Fiancé; Little People, Big World; Sister Wives and Dr. Pimple Popper. The 20-year Discovery veteran took time out from working (from home) to speak with senior content producer, programming R. Thomas Umstead about the network’s success.

How have you been dealing with the pandemic? It’s been a lot of transitioning to this home environment and connecting with colleagues on Zoom. I have two young kids at home, so probably the most challenging thing for me has been managing full-time parenting while TLC has remained as busy as ever. But we have a really good working machine here at TLC and we have a good system to keep the trains moving and adapt.

What’s the formula behind TLC’s strength on the ratings front? The network has actually had 12 consecutive months of upward growth, so we’re really building momentum and continuing an upward trend that started a while back. We’ve seen success with both of our 90-Day Fiancé series and everything from Sister Wives and Little People, Big World. In regards to the whole world of quarantine, we were able to quickly pivot and look for ways to continue to produce compelling television even under these unprecedented circumstances. We were able to develop shows like 90-Day Fiancé: Self Quarantine in a few weeks and get it on the air. We also did a show called Find Love Live, which we were really excited about, which also was shot remotely.

Why has the 90-Day Fiancé franchise become so popular on the network and on social media? The [franchise] is about people finding the one. These are stories about real relationships. These aren’t situations where people have been thrust together for the purpose of the television show, but rather these are people who found each other and we are following that journey. There is something that is very special about being that fly on the wall, as you see the relationship come to fruition, and to really see the ebb and flow of that. Also, it’s one of the most diverse shows possibly in the history of television.

What can we expect from TLC over the next six months? We have a new season of 90-Day Fiancé: The Other Way, in which an American is leaving everything behind to take a chance on love in a foreign country. It’s a flip-flop of 90-Day Fiancé proper. We also have Happily Ever After, which was our very first spinoff of 90-Day Fiancé. Most of this stuff we had in the can prior to the pandemic. We also have Smothered on the air right now, and we also have Outdaughtered coming back, which is our story about the Busby family and their quintuplets.

How do you see the TV industry rebounding from the pandemic? I think it’s going to be case by case, network by network and maybe even show by show. There’s still a lot of uncertainty in an environment like this — this is a first for all of us, but I think we are learning as we go and trying to do everything we can to make sure that we are continuing to put out good, compelling television. How the chips fall and the landscape plays out we’ll see, but I think we’re well-positioned. 

BONUS FIVE

What shows are on your DVR?Better Call Saul (just finished the last season during quarantine); The Rachel Maddow Show; Paw Patrol (for a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old).

Favorite show of all time? So hard: The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, the NCAA basketball tournament.

Favorite podcast?Fresh Air and really anything from NPR.

What books are on your nightstand?T.C. Boyle Stories; The Wine Avenger by Willie Gluckstern.

Favorite food destination of all time? Aiello’s Pizza in hometown Pittsburgh.

B90 Strikes Back!, a spinoff of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days, starts on TLC June 22. Couples will address the online commentary for each episode, as well as the opinions of the after-show 90 Day Fiance: Pillow Talk cast. “Clap-backs, side eye and some serious explaining ensues when this brand new, late-night ‘social commentary’ series takes flight."

“It’s always a party on social media during 90 Day franchise premieres with burning questions, plenty of shade thrown and the funniest GIFs we’ve ever seen,” said Howard Lee, president and general manager of TLC. “Our Before the 90 Days couples have been anxiously awaiting their chance to respond back to the social media universe, and now is their opportunity! We can’t wait for the party to continue on Monday nights.”

90 Day Fiance looks at couples in long-distance relationships with 90 days to decide if they’ll marry. 

B90 Strikes Back is produced by Industrial Media’s Sharp Entertainment for TLC.

Several cable reality shows are rewriting the vows and rules for reality TV marriage and relationship-themed shows, targeting a new generation of viewers who themselves aren’t necessarily confirming to traditional norms of love and long-term commitments.

Shows like TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé, Lifetime’s Married at First Sight, WE tv’s Love After Lockup and USA Network’s Temptation Island are drawing a substantial audience of young, mostly women viewers tuning in for escapist shows that often depict marriages and relationships in distressed and dire situations, while revealing some personal truths and issues that may exist in their own relationships.

“When the stakes are higher, you’re either rooting for or against somebody, but you’re invested in the outcome, so you tune in,” Linda Ong, chief culture officer at Civic Entertainment Group and a former Lifetime marketer, said. “People can use these high stakes to take the focus off the craziness of the real world and also make the idea of relationships a little more exciting than it may be for them.”

What’s clear is the genre is generating some big audience numbers for cable networks. One of the hottest relationship-themed franchises on cable today is TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé. Its seventh-season premiere on Nov. 3 drew 2 million viewers, second only to AMC’s The Walking Dead among all cable shows in primetime for the night.

RELATED: USA Unveils ‘Temptation Island’ Second-Season Trailer

The series, which follows couples who must get married within 90 days as part of a K-1 Visa application allowing the foreign fiancés of American citizens into the country, has also spawned five separate spinoff series. They include prequel Before the 90 Days, which averaged a series-record 3.3 million viewers for its third season earlier this year; and 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way, which averaged 2.6 million viewers this past summer — the network’s highest audience for a freshman series.

Following Real-Life Journeys

“We’re tracking people in real time,” TLC senior vice president of production and development Alon Orstein said. “It’s not manufactured relationships that have been put together for TV — these are people who have found each other already, and we are basically documenting their journey.”

Also documenting the trials and tribulations of uniquely-formed married couples is WE tv’s Love After Lockup, which follows the marriages and relationships of couples after one of the partners is released from prison. The series and its spinoff show Life After Lockup — which follows couples from the original show who are still together — average more than 1 million viewers for WE tv, half of whom are in the women 25-54 demo, according to the network.

The network has green-lit new seasons for both shows.

“We are inherently interested in love stories, and they can come in a variety of different, unexpected ways, and I think there is a relatable component to it,” WE tv president Marc Juris said. “It shows relationships at different stages with people at different points in their lives. These are authentic portrayals. [The couples] understand the pressure, the danger and the appeal — when you put that all together, it makes for a very compelling story.”

The success of these shows is also inherent in the changing norms of how society views and emphasizes long-term relationships. Ong said shows like 90 Day Fiancé and Married at First Sight — which portray individuals who agree to marry when they first meet — provide a high-stakes look at love and relationships that doesn’t necessarily exist in today’s culture, particularly among millennials. With less pressure on women to define themselves by marriage and with popular dating apps offering more choices for potential partners, the emphasis on finding and securing a lifelong mate is not as strong with millennials as with prior generations.

“We know millennials are delaying marriage and families, so there isn’t that much pressure to find that one person and live happily ever after,” Ong said. “What that means is when you’re watching a reality show about relationships and marriage, what’s really entertaining is to see how high the stakes are in those shows when the cultural perception of relationships in general is much lower.”

The cultural shift in the perception of long-term relationships has forced long-running reality shows like WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp to alter their definition of a committed relationship. The series, which last month aired its 100th episode, advises struggling couples with the input of a professional marriage counselor. Adam Freeman, president of creative and executive producer of Thinkfactory Media, which produces the Marriage Boot Camp franchise, said the show’s original premise of dealing strictly with married couples has evolved over the years to include other types of unions.

“When the show first started, we really had a very strong focus on married couples,” Freeman said of the series, which, in its 15th season, is the most-watched show in WE tv’s core demo of women 25-54. “As the show grew in popularity — and as the definition of marriage and relationships changed — we have now had all types of couples. But at the end of the day, it really comes down to committed relationships. Is it right for you?”

USA Network’s 2019 version of unscripted series Temptation Island has also bowed to the changing nature of relationships, particularly among younger viewers. The sophomore reality series, the original version of which aired on Fox from 2001-03, puts several married couples on an island alongside a group of singles to test their relationships.

“The basic premise of the show — which is, ‘are you with who you should be with?’ — hasn’t changed, but its relevance has increased,” series host Mark L. Walberg said. “Now, more than before, the temptation of whether there’s something better out there lies right on your smartphone when you look at Instagram and dating apps. All you see are the best version of filtered people out there, so the show is more relevant today than in the past.”

Unlike its first iteration, the advent of social media has helped drive the appeal of the show as viewers chat about the happenings on the island, Walberg said.

“Social media has a lot to do with the immediacy of whether viewers should watch,” he said. “If something happens on the show, the viewers immediately go to social media to talk about it.”

Exploring Social Issues

Also driving the appeal of shows like 90 Day Fiancé and Love After Lockup are underlying social issues like immigration and prison reform, according to Ong.

“90 Day Fiancé is essentially a story that in the background is about immigration, and Love After Lockup is about incarceration and the criminal justice system,” Ong said. “These are all things that are in the forefront of social issues today, but [the shows’] approach is not political. It’s a way of dealing with and understanding some very real issues in our society that most people don’t have a familiarity with. It’s still popcorn television, but the fact that its dealing with really important themes gives it a little more value for people.”

What the shows don’t always provide, according to some observers, is a healthy image of marriages and committed relationships. Marriage consultants Michelle and Dwain Daniels are concerned the genre often downplays the importance of long-term commitments by showcasing often quick fixes for couples, rather than focusing on the positives of working toward developing a long-lasting relationship.

“I don’t think the shows provide a positive image of marriage — yes, everyone goes through things and meets people differently, but the overall image of what marriage is supposed to be gets lost,” Michelle Daniels said.

RELATED: WE tv Breaks ‘Love After Lockup’ Spinoff

Added Dwain Daniels: “We’re in a society where a lot of things are instantaneous: people think there’s a quick fix for everything. But relationships take work. In some of these shows, if it doesn't work in X number of months the participants can walk away from it, and that’s not what a long-term relationship is about. At the same time, these shows are popular, and I don’t see these shows going away any time soon.”

Indeed, the beat goes on for the genre. OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network recently announced a new relationship series, #LoveGoals, in which a family and relationship therapist named Spirit advises five celebrity couples who are at a crossroads in their relationship.

“#Love Goals will be an exciting addition to the network’s Saturday-night lineup centered around love and marriage,” OWN president Tina Perry said. “Spirit’s healing approach to mending and strengthening relationships in this new weekly series will make for great television.”

Thinkfactory’s Freeman said the company has talked about further spinning off the Marriage Boot Camp series to potentially feature athletes and musicians, but only if it feels authentic to the producers and ultimately to viewers. “We’re never going to force it and do a spinoff of the show just for the sake of doing it,” he said. “It is a therapeutic show, so it has to be a segment of the population that could use our help.”

In the end, love and relationship stories are universal, TLC’s Orstein said, and there will always be an audience for content that deals authentically with the subject.

“Love is the oldest story ever told: boy meets girl, boy meets boy or girl meets girl. It’s at the core of all television and cinematic storytelling,” he said. “It’s so relatable to people — most everyone has been in a relationship — so it’s an area that, if anything, will continue to grow.”