As Halloween season fast approaches, the paranormal TV genre — nearly left for dead in recent years, after dominating reality programming more than a decade ago — is rising from the industry graveyard.

Taking a page from the popular true-crime genre, supernatural reality shows have been repositioned from a genre that sought to frighten viewers with sightings of evil apparitions, to one focused on the stories behind the ghosts as well as those who claim to see them. The new focus draws both men and women viewers who like good storytelling alongside their thrills, network executives said.

“When networks were doing paranormal shows back in 2010, it was done a different way — it was more of going into a haunted house with a flashlight,” Travel Channel general manager Matt Butler said. “Today, we are trying to steer the creative to be story-driven because people want to hear great stories.”

“Every category goes through phases and gets to a point where there is oversaturation, but there continues to be interest, and not surprisingly it finds its way back,” media consultant Bill Carroll said. “The audience misses what they’ve become accustomed to, in terms of being able to watch in essence things that go bump in the night.”

Paranormal TV programming was one of the more successful subcategories of the reality series genre during the mid to late 2000s. Led by shows such as Syfy’s Ghost Hunters (where it ran from 2004 to 2016) and Destination Truth, Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures, Discovery Channel’s A Haunting and Bio’s Psychic Investigators, the genre exploded with scary tales of house hauntings and psychic mediums conjuring up ghosts and other non-living creatures. By 2010, there were more than 25 paranormal- themed shows on various cable networks.

Grant Wilson, co-creator of Ghost Hunters — considered the granddaddy of the genre, and revived by A&E last month — said in the late 2000s that the paranormal- themed shows showcased on-screen were relatively new and different from traditional reality fare.

Death by Unoriginality

By the mid 2010s, though, according to industry observers, the genre fizzled due to oversaturation and a lack of ingenuity. By 2017, cable networks were running less than half as many paranormal shows as were offered seven years prior, even as the genre thrived with theatrical film franchises such as The Conjuring and Paranormal Activity.

“I think there was this eruption of shows and ideas, and [other producers] saw that Ghost Hunters was a hit — the formula worked and was repeatable,” Wilson said. “There were a bunch of people who tried their hand at it and there were different techniques, but then it became too saturated and the shows weren’t succeeding.”

RELATED: 'Ghost Hunters' Grant Wilson Hoping to Scare Up New Generation of Viewers 

A&E was one of the networks that walked away from the genre in the mid 2010s after being one of its biggest supporters a decade earlier, with such shows as Celebrity Ghost Stories, Psychic Kids and Paranormal State. A&E senior vice president of development and programming Amy Savitsky said the network in 2019 has re-embraced the genre by launching a Wednesday- night slate of original, paranormal-themed shows.

“A lot of genres go through phases, and this was a genre back in the day where we had some really great successes — we had a whole slate of programming that we found our viewers were attracted to,” she said. “Today, there seems to be a burgeoning sense that people are willing to again explore the possibility of the supernatural and what might exist as more people are declaring themselves spiritual but not religious and thinking about what’s possible. We think it’s the right time to bring it back.”

While family-friendly advertisers may not be able to stomach the thrills and chills generated from paranormal programming, Billie Gold, vice president, director of TV/video activation research at media agency Dentsu Aegis, said there are plenty of companies that would advertise in genre-themed shows as the public becomes more fascinated with the facts behind the reported hauntings.

“They aren’t huge ratings-grabbers, but do well and have a slightly lower median age than typical drama fare,” she said. “There are enough advertisers that will opt in search of younger audiences on networks that have a higher median age. With technology more advanced and more experts looking into these topics, viewers are looking for plausible explanations for things they cannot explain. Viewers are seeking ‘truth’ and want to know facts.”

Indeed, a 2018 Chapman University survey of American fears reported 57.7% of people believe that places can be haunted by spirits, up from 46.6% in 2016.

Travel Channel’s Butler said the acceptance of true-life paranormal experiences has grown among viewers, leading to a renewed interest in the genre.

“There are a lot of people who believe in the paranormal, and when people have experiences it’s hard for them to talk about it for fear that people will think they are crazy,” he said. “We see our programming as allowing people to get together as a group and to see other people share their stories. I think our viewers respect and respond to that.”

Travel Channel now devotes about 30% of its programming lineup to paranormal-themed shows, including such new series as Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests and Portals to Hell, as well as classic titles like Ghost Adventures, now in its 21st season, and The Dead Files, currently in its 11th season. The network has also imported new shows from other Discovery-owned networks like TLC’s Kindred Spirits.

In October, the network will premiere an episode from one of its paranormal shows every night of the month, according to Butler.

Headlining its “Ghostober” lineup is Ghost Nation, debuting Oct. 11 and starring former Ghost Hunters host Jason Hawes, and the Oct. 4 premiere of Haunted Salem: Live, a four-hour live ghost investigation in Salem, Massachusetts, which sends a team of the network’s biggest paranormal stars to investigate ghostly activity at three historic locations tied to the infamous Salem witch trials, said the network.

Butler likens the resurgence of paranormal content to that of the true-crime genre, in which networks like ID, HBO, Netflix and Oxygen shifted the category’s focus from the gory, salacious aspects of cold-blooded crimes to more of a storytelling platform that digs deeper into the incidents.

“One of the big things about the true-crime dramas is that they lean on story, and I think in today’s world, with so many [viewing] options, if you can catch an audience with a good story they will come back for more,” he said.

Added A&E’s Savitsky: “A lot of people are addicted to crime shows which are similarly trying to solve a mystery. All of our shows are rooted in a call for help … the storyline is always somebody is afraid or somebody can’t figure out a mystery that’s happening at home or in a building that they manage, so they are asking for help to solve a mystery that’s scaring them.”

Last month, A&E reintroduced paranormal programming to its audience by launching a primetime lineup of such shows, led by the Ghost Hunters reboot. The Aug. 21 A&E debut of the series, which ran on Syfy from 2004 to 2016, drew 574,000 adults 25-54 in Nielsen live-plus-3 viewing, with the second episode delivering 555,000 viewers in the demo, the network said.

“We always felt that Ghost Hunters is the OG [original gangster] of paranormal shows,” Savitsky said. “It’s the show that launched a genre and interest in paranormal investigation. When thinking about how to relaunch paranormal, it was the obvious choice to launch with Ghost Hunters.”

Wilson of Ghost Hunters said he resurrected the show to take advantage of viewers’ current heightened interest in the supernatural, adding that the new version comes at the subject from a different point of view than the original iteration.

“What we’ve done is focus less on, is it there? — that’s still part of the show — but more about, what does it all mean?” Wilson said. “A lot of people see an entity or hear a voice and then stop, but that’s where we are going to start. We’ll look at it and try to figure out what it is or who it is, what does it mean and how can we help.”

Other paranormal shows have taken similar steps to focus on the human side of the ghost story. Dalen Spratt, Juwan Mass and Marcus Harvey, the stars of Travel Channel’s Ghost Brothers, said their new show — Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests, which launched in July — spends more time on the stories of those who believe they’re being haunted than on the hunt for actual ghosts.

The longtime friends whose initial Ghost Brothers series ran for two seasons (2016-17) on Destination America and TLC, said their new show actually helps individuals and families who believe their homes to be haunted by spending a weekend with them ghost-hunting, as well as researching the house and the victims’ town before providing recommendations on how to proceed. Those tips can range from introducing clients to a medium to further contact the spirit to recommending they vacate the premises altogether.

“This show is a little different from our last show, which was basically three black guys being thrown into some of the most haunted locations to see what happens,” Spratt said. “With our new series, we look at the full story and there is eventually a [resolution]. Families actually reach out to us and let us know that their houses are haunted and they are seeking some type of validation and help, and we try to provide that to them.”

No Fears of Ghost Fatigue

A&E’s Savitsky said that she’s not worried about the genre suffering the same fate as a decade ago and that it will thrive as viewers turns to paranormal programming for thrills and captivating stories. “I have no concerns because each show has a different way in — that’s one of the differences we’re seeing this time around,” she said. “We’re very diligent on how we execute our shows to make sure they are different. But for me, the genre never went away.”

Added Carroll: “I think, ultimately, the audiences will tell you whether this is the right time for the genre to be successful. Obviously, the people putting together these shows believe it’s the right time to bring back the genre, but in the end it’s the audience that will let us know.”

Tattoo-themed shows — once considered a stepchild of the reality TV genre — are now viewed as mainstream for young viewers, many of whom are sporting ink themselves.

Shows like VH1’s Black Ink Crew, A&E’s recently launched Heroes Ink and Paramount Network’s Ink Master are drawing up sizable audiences with character-driven stories of tatted-up people — from celebrities to law-enforcement officials — as well as the unique professionals who wield the ink and needle..

“At one time, the perception of someone getting a tattoo was that they were low-class,” said Marc Berman, editor of TV industry website Programming Insider. “It’s not like that anymore. It’s very up-and-coming and prevalent in today’s society, particularly if you’re young.”

The genre has come along way since such shows as Tattoo Girls, Bad Ink and Tattoo Rescue permeated cable-network lineups with often wild and outlandish stories and images of tattoo parlors and the characters that frequented them, network executives said.

“When unscripted cable emerged some 20 years ago, tattoos were still considered somewhat taboo and more associated with outlaws and fringe culture,” said Dan Cesareo, founder of Big Fish Entertainment, which produces VH1’s Black Ink Crew and MTV’s How Far Is Tattoo Far?

“Today that has changed dramatically — tattoos are mainstream, fashionable and have become iconic, in a way,” Cesareo said.

Ink Is Spreading

Indeed, four out of 10 people age 18-69 have at least one tattoo, according to a 2017 Statista survey, up from 21% five years prior.

“Years ago, tattoos were niche and few people had them, and now everybody’s grandmother is getting an anchor on their arm,” said Glenda Hersh, co-CEO and co-president of production company Truly Original, creators of tattoo competition show Ink Master. “It’s become much more common, relevant and connected to pop culture, art and fashion. I think that as that grows, so does interest in tattoo shows.”

Ink Master, which launched its 12th season this month, features tattoo artists competing in various challenges to assess their tattoo and related artistic skills. The franchise is so popular — season 11 finished as the most-watched reality series on ad-supported cable among men 18-49 and as a top 10 reality series among adults 18-49 — that Truly Original and Paramount Network have already green-lighted a 13th season.

Launch plans are also set for a spinoff series, Ink Master: Grudge Match, to premiere this fall on Paramount Network, as well as an Ink Master YouTube channel.

Ink Master has thrived through the years because of the appeal of its stars and their unique talents, Hersh said. “They’re colorful, they’re creative, they come from different backgrounds and are fun to watch,” she said. “Also, a lot of people watch for the game-play strategy. It’s not all about the art but also how you play the Ink Master game, what alliances you form as well as the rivalries.”

Also driving the appeal of tattoo shows is the intersection of art and celebrity. A significant number of celebrities and athletes, both men and women, are wearing tattoos, making the body art a fashion statement and part of the pop-culture scene.

Shows like VH1’s Black Ink Crew — and spinoff Black Ink Crew Chicago — have featured celebrities getting inked in the showcased African-American owned tattoo shops, including rap artists Jadakis and Nicki Minaj, as well as NBA star DeMarcus Cousins.

“[The stars] are not just coming in to make an appearance — they are getting something permanently etched onto their skin, which is obviously a much more significant commitment,” Cesareo said. “That helps draw in the younger, more elusive demographic of viewers that all these cable networks are fighting to get to show up and watch their content.”

With Black Ink Crew not only driving the highest African-American viewership of any show on VH1 but also one of the highest male viewership numbers on the predominantly female-skewing network, Cesareo said Big Fish is developing another spinoff of the series, but would not reveal further details.

From Stars to First Responders

Rather than celebrities, A&E explores law-enforcement officials’ affinity for tattoos in Hero Ink. The series, which launched on June 6, follows the work done at Prison Break Tattoos, a Houston parlor that specializes in creating meaningful tattoos for first responders.

Elaine Frontain Bryant, executive vice president and head of programming for A&E Network, said the tattoos created in the series serve as the entry point for these professionals to tell their own personal stories.

Through the first two telecasts — including reruns — A&E said Hero Ink has reached nearly 8 million viewers since its debut on a Nielsen live-plus-3 basis.

“I’m interested in the artistry, but I’m also interested in why people choose a particular image that’s going to stay with them for the rest of their lives,” she said. “Usually there’s a story and a reason behind the tattoo. It’s a great way to get to know people better and see some great art at the end of it.”

Added Berman: “It’s no longer just about getting a tattoo, but it’s about the people coming in and telling their backstories. Shows that work in the reality genre are those that showcase people that we can relate to or those that we want to be, and right now people are relating to these tattoo places.”

VH1 vice president of original programming Daniel Rogge said the Black Ink Crew franchise has not shied away from showcasing the authentic trials and tribulations of its unpredictable and complicated stars. He pointed to a situation from last season’s Black Ink Chicago, in which a featured cast member temporarily left the 9Mag Ink Tattoo Shop after revealing he was dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts.

“We used his story as a pro-social opportunity to provide resources for people who may be experiencing the same thing,” he said. “On the one hand, the show focuses on the entrepreneurs who are trying to run a successful business, but then there’s also a mother working to raise a family, and there are others dealing with friends, family and personal issues. It has a core of relatability to situations that viewers can see themselves in.”

As the tattoo industry moves further into the mainstream, network executives say shows that profile the people that create and receive tattoos will continue to prosper.

“There is a mainstreaming of [tattoos] that is a good thing,” said VH1’s Rogge, adding that he is a client of the 9Mag shop himself, having had one of the show’s artists tattoo his child’s name onto his arm.

Added Big Fish’s Cesareo: “If you were to pull out the staples of unscripted programming that will never go away, tattoos will always be one of those staples.”

WE tv has renewed its freshman reality series Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition, the network announced Tuesday.

The series will return for a 10-episode sophomore campaign in 2020. The first season of the show -- a spinoff of WE’s Marriage Boot Camp franchise -- averaged 1.3 million viewers through its run -- the highest-rated season in franchise history, according to the network.

The series features famous couples from hip hop’s elite as they undergo counseling to ultimately decide whether their relationship is worth saving or whether it’s time to part ways forever. The couples for season two will be announced at a later date, according to the network.

“We are thrilled that Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition struck a chord with both longtime fans and new Thursday night viewers to make this newest extension a wild success,” said Marc Juris, president of WE tv in a statement. “With our strategic expansion of the Marriage Boot Camp universe, we’ve tapped into a completely new and enthusiastic audience for this longstanding franchise.”

Bravo in October will premiere a new limited reality series Welcome to Waverly, the network announced Wednesday.

The four-part event series, which will run on consecutive nights beginning on Oct. 22, pairs a diverse group of seven professionals from major metropolitan areas alongside a local counterpart living in Waverly, Kansas -- where 99% of the residents are white -- to explore how people from different backgrounds and regions interact with one another, according to the network.

Welcome to Waverly is produced by Our House Media with Simon Lloyd, Matt Hanna, Joe Houlihan, Paul Storck and Jen Morton serving as executive producers, according to the network. 

MGM Worldwide Television has promoted Mark Burnett to chairman, and the long-time television executive has agreed to extend his employment deal with the company to 2022.

Burnett, who made his name first as a producer of reality hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, has been president of MGM Worldwide TV since 2015, when his production company One Three Media was acquired the movie and television studio.

“Mark is a one-of-a-kind creative individual with an incredible eye for talent and content and a long track record of success,” said Kevin Ulrich, CEO of Anchorage Capital Group and chairman of MGM’s board of directors in a statement. “We are confident that under Mark’s leadership, MGM Television’s best days are ahead.”

Burnett has added a huge number of scripted and reality series to the MGM slate over the years. Earlier this week premium channel Epix – owned by MGM – added his boxing reality series The Contender to its lineup. 

“In the past four years at MGM we have renewed all our television franchises and have added a lot of new hits,” Burnett said in a statement. “This is the most fun I have had in my career and I know we will continue to build on these successes. I believe so strongly in the future of MGM and the team that surrounds me and it was important for me to extend my involvement well into the future.”

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Programmers at Discovery Channel, History and Animal Planet undoubtedly agree: Viewers were enthralled by “off-the-grid” docuseries this summer, according to a Ratings Intelligence analysis of Nielsen data.

Discovery’s Naked and Afraid XL finished as one of the 10 highest-rated primetime cable series of the third quarter, and was the second-highest-rated cable series to premiere during Q3. (AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead was No. 1).

Not only did XL out-perform the original Naked and Afraid this summer in the key demos and in average total viewers, but it also out-performed fellow Discovery series and cable powerhouse Alaskan Bush People. Naked and Afraid XL was the network’s highest-rated series of the summer. Needless to say, Discovery has a hit among both men and women.

Four of the 25 most-watched cable series of the quarter fell into the “off-the-grid” category: Naked and Afraid, Naked and Afraid XL, and History’s duo of Mountain Men and new hit series Alone.

The Last Alaskans averaged more than 1.5 million viewers on a live-plus-3-day basis in its rookie season on Animal Planet. That’s the highest total viewer average of any Animal Planet series this year.

Based on ratings hauled in by these “off-the-grid” series, expect this genre to stick around for a while.

Marriage counselors Jim and Elizabeth Carroll have one of the toughest jobs on reality television – examining and ultimately fixing the troubled relationships of married and almost married reality TV stars.

The Carrolls have adapted their signature Marriage Boot Camp counseling seminars to television through WE tv’s successful series "Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars." The show will launch its third season tonight (May 29) and the Carrolls had their hands full counseling such celebrities as Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett from reality series "Kendra On Top" and Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd from "Big Brother" and "The Amazing Race" fame.

I recently spoke to Elizabeth Carroll about the show’s upcoming season as well as the overall portrayal of marriage on television and what effect the "Marriage Boot Camp" franchise has had on her own marriage in a wide-ranging interview, an edited version of which appears below.

R. Thomas Umstead: Are the current slate of marriage-themed reality shows shining a more positive or negative light on the institution of marriage?

Elizabeth Carroll: It’s more negative than positive, but it’s not just these reality shows. It’s really all over the media – all these negative messages about marriage and how it’s cool to have an affair and it’s OK to do this and that outside of the marriage – we’re getting bombarded with these messages in the media. The very point of Marriage Bootcamp is to counter some of the negativity toward marriages and bring it back to the positive, life-giving institution that it is and should be. Everybody’s heart melts when they see a rock solid couple who is committed to one another, but it’s so rare.

RTU: So why aren’t we seeing more of that positive marriage image on television?

EC: I think it’s reflective of the greater culture. Look at the state of marriage right now – it’s a disaster, and so something has to be done. Jim and I have been waving the banner of showing people the healing and all of the elements that make up the positive side of the marriage process. The problem is that some of it is not very visually interesting – TV is a very hard medium because you have to translate very subtle, quiet things into something visual.

RTU: What should viewers expect from the upcoming season of Marriage Boot Camp?

EC: You can expect some things to be very different because we had to deal with some real time warfare that we hadn’t done before. We had helicopters flying over the house trying to capture what was happening with Hank and Kendra, as well as stuff as marriage counselors we’re not prepared to deal with, but you do what you have to do. There was more toxic drama than in previous seasons, which put a ton of stress on me and Jim.

RTU: As marriage counselors, how does your participation in the television reality series affect your relationship with your husband?

EC: Marriage Bootcamp is a group, and groups learn from each other -- the group dynamic illustrates a lot of their life challenges. So Jim and I become part of the group and we get poked like everyone else and we have our weak places illuminated. During the last season Jim and I found out that there were a couple of things in our relationship that were never challenged in our marriage, and last season challenged us in those areas. We had to grow and we had to learn and we had to modify how we did marriage.

RTU: Given your experience as counselors on the show, what would be the one thing that you believe negatively affects marriages the most?

EC: I would say the one thing that poisons marriages the most is a root of bitterness that comes with unforgiveness. Something happens, it gets put away or shoved under the rug. That starts to fester and the only solution is to take it head on and get to a place of forgiveness where you say I am not going to make you pay for this anymore. If they can’t make that choice then their marriage has very little chance of making it. That said, one of the things that they have to be able to do is communicate well in order to be able to talk about it, and we teach them how to communicate and then how to forgive.