The Roku Channel's fantasy series The Spiderwick Chronicles and former late night host Conan O'Brien's return to the small screen leads the list of original shows premiering this week.

The Spiderwick Chronicles, based on the children's book series of the same name by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, debuts April 19 and follows the Grace Family, whose move into their family's ancestral home unveils hidden mysteries as well as a secret, fantastical world around them, according to Roku. The eight-part series stars Christian Slater, Joy Bryant, Noah Cottrell, Lyon Daniels and Mychala Lee. 

Max's Conan O'Brien Must Go reality series stars the former Conan late-night show as he travels to remote places to visit people who have appeared on his based on his Conan Without Borders travel specials and his Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast. All four episodes of the series debut on April 18.  

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of April 15-21. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised.

April 15, The Stranger (movie), Hulu

April 16, An American Bombing: The Road to April 19 (documentary), HBO

April 17, Under the Bridge (drama), Hulu

April 18, Dinner With Parents (comedy), Amazon Freevee

April 18, The Upshaws (returning series), Netflix

April 19, The Barnes Bunch (documentary series), WE tv

April 19, Jane (returning series), Apple TV plus

April 19, The Never Ever Mets (reality series), OWN

April 21, The Jinx-Part Two (documentary series), HBO 

April 21, Secrets of the Octopus (documentary), Nat Geo

Veteran actress Tia Mowry will be the subject of a new original docuseries set to debut on WE tv.

The series, Tia Mowry: My Next Act, will offer unprecedented access to the behind-the-scenes ongoings of the recently divorced star, according to the network. The series will chronicle the former Sister, Sister co-star as she navigates her newly single status, motherhood while experiencing what life is like on her own both personally and professionally, said network officials.

Mowry, who most recently starred in Netflix’s Family Reunion, also appeared in the 2011 docuseries Tia & Tamera along with her twin sister. 

“It’s been a joy watching Tia's career progress since staring on beloved series 'Sister, Sister, to culture classic The Game and films such as Baggage Claim, proving she is the epitome of a true force within the industry," WE tv and ALLBLK head of content Brett Dismuke said in a statement. “We are thrilled Tia trusted WE tv to share her unfiltered journey, giving viewers deeply personal and unapologetic access as she enters her next chapter.” 

Tia Mowry: My Next Act is executive produced by Tia Mowry, Adam Griffin, Erin Richards, Dionne Harmon, Madison Merritt, Elaine Metaxas and Jesse Collins.

AMC in 2025 will usher in a third season of anthology series The Terror, while WE TV will revisit the musical Braxton family in a new reality series, AMC Networks announced during its Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour session Tuesday.

The six-episode Terror: Devil in Silver will debut in 2025 and is based on the Victor LaValle novel of the same name. The series evolves around a working-class moving man, who through a combination of bad luck and a bad temper, finds himself wrongfully committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital. 

The Terror: Devil in Silver follows the first two series in the franchise, The Terror (2018) and The Terror: Infamy (2019).

Also Read: More Coverage from the TCA Winter Press Tour

“The Terror anthology series has already delivered to fans two unforgettable seasons of storytelling that blend real-world events and characters with a terrifying and mysterious supernatural element,” AMC Studios president of entertainment Dan McDermott said in a statement. The Devil in Silver offers a perfect opportunity for a new installment of this popular and critically acclaimed anthology.”

WE tv’s The Braxtons will continue to follow the lives of the family members including matriarch Ms. Evelyn and daughters Toni, Towanda, Trina and Tamar. The series is a follow-up to WE tv’s Braxton Family Values series, which ran from 2011 to 2020. 

“It is not overstating things to say this is one of the most significant developments in the history of WE tv and a moment the fans have been waiting for since the final episode of Braxton Family Values aired on December 17, 2020,” WE tv and ALLBLK head of content Brett Dismuke said. “The Braxtons are one of the founding families of reality television and WE tv viewers were along for the ride through every moment of their original pioneering series, which spanned148 unforgettable episodes. We are thrilled to welcome them back and once again be able to share these dynamic relationships and all the highs, lows, triumphs, setbacks and the drama that falls inbetween.”

In other announcements, AMC will launch the second season of drama series Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire on May 12. David Costabile will guest star as part of a cast that features Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles and Sam Reid. Additionally, the network is actively developing a potential third series in the franchise based on “The Talamasca,” a fictional secret society devoted to vampire-hunting featured in several of Rice’s novels. 

ALLBLK this summer will launch Deb’s House, an unscripted series that follows famed music mogul Deb Antney as she embarks on a nationwide hunt for rap’s next female superstar MC. 

And U.K.-focused streamer Acorn TV will launch Ellis, a three-part detective series from the U.K.’s Channel 5, starring Sharon D. Clarke as DCI Ellis, a detective who is parachuted into failing investigations. 

S.W.A.T., the Sony Pictures Television-produced drama that has aired on CBS for six seasons, will make its cable debut on WE tv on Sunday, November 12.

The basic-cable network has licensed all seven seasons of the show — with the shortened and final seventh season due to air on CBS later in 2023 or in 2024 — in a nonexclusive deal with AMC Networks, which owns WEtv.

“S.W.A.T. is one of those high-octane procedurals that continues to captivate audiences and grow its viewership,” SPT senior VP, U.S. distribution Monica Veiga said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to partner with AMC Networks to bring this fan-favorite to their viewers.” 

Inspired by the classic television series and the follow-up feature film, S.W.A.T. stars Shemar Moore as Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, a former Marine and locally born and raised S.W.A.T. sergeant, who is tasked with running a specialized tactical unit in Los Angeles. 

S.W.A.T. also airs on CBS, in syndication and is available to stream on Netflix and Hulu. The sixth season, which premiered in 2022 on CBS, averaged 6.76 million viewers per episode, according to Nielsen, a 6 percent increase from the previous season. The first five seasons of S.W.A.T. spent several weeks on Netflix’s Top 10 list as well as on Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 list, according to SPT.

S.W.A.T. is produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with CBS Studios. The series was developed by Aaron Rahsaan Thomas and Shawn Ryan.

AMC Networks said it is developing a potential third series in its expanding Anne Rice Immortal universe featuring stories of vampires and witches.

The new series, with John Lee Hancock attached as showrunner and writer, could join Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches on AMC Network and AMC Plus.

AMC made the announcement during its upfront presentation to advertisers Tueday evening.

Also Read: Upfront: AMC Networks Unveils Audience Targeting Platform

The two Anne Rice series were among the top new premieres on AMC Plus and among the top 10 cable dramas for the 2022-23 tv season.

The new show is set in the world of the Talamasca, a secretive outfit featured in a number of Rice novels.

“The enthusiastic critical and fan reception to Interview and Mayfair is a great sign of what is yet to come in this immersive universe based on the works of Anne Rice,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “We’re excited to be in active development of the next installment in this growing franchise, written and to be showrun by the incomparable John Lee Hancock. The Talamasca is one of the most intriguing elements of Rice’s works and a connective thread through so many of her stories, the standalone and crossover potential for this third series is immense.”  

Also Read: AMC Networks Plans To Launch Ad-Supported Version of AMC Plus

McMermott also announced two new series coming to WE tv.

Toya & Reginae is an expansion of WE tv’s Growing Up Hip Hop franchise. The series features the ex-wife and daughter of hip hop star Lil Wayne. Both Toya Johnson-Rushing and Reginae Carter have appeared on Growing Up Hip Hop.

WE tv will also be adding Bev is Boss, based on the life of music manager Deb Antney, who broke performers including Gucci Mane, French Montana and Nicki Minaj. Antney is also the mother of rapper Waka Flocka Flame.

Lauren Gellert, executive VP of development and original programming for WE tv, is leaving this month to pursue new opportunities, parent company AMC Networks said.

AMC Networks said Gellert was responsible for bringing reality series including Marriage Boot Camp, Growing Up Hip Hop and Love After Lockup to WE tv.

No successor has yet been named.

In 2020, AMC put WE tv and streaming service ALLBLK are under centralized leadership headed by general manager Brett Dismuke.

“Lauren has been the driving force behind WE tv’s original programming during a period of unquestioned growth, success and impact, even as viewing habits changed,” Dismuke said. “The network’s ability over the last decade to not only make shows, but to build reality franchises that spanned multiple successful series has been remarkable, and that is a credit to Lauren and her team. We wish her nothing but the best.”

Gellert joined AMC Networks in 2012 from Ion Media Networks, where she was responsible for unscripted series. Before that she was with RDF/Zodiak, TruTV, Court TV and VH1.

“I’m so grateful for my time at this company, for the shows we were able to bring into the homes of millions of viewers,“ Gellert said. I’ve loved every minute of the experience and feel incredibly blessed to have been able to work with our talent, our incredible production partners and our internal team to drive the business and brand forward. Our sweet spot at WE tv has always been putting real and relatable people up on screen, and that’s why the network has been able to have such an impact in the hearts and minds of our fans, across so many shows and reality franchises.”

WE tv will launch the sophomore season of its reality series Love During Lockup on October 21, according to a new series trailer.

The series, a spinoff of the network's Love After Lockup franchise, follows the exploits of people who decide to pursue relationships with prison inmates, according to network officials. Season two follows four new couples, an eager bachelor, and a returning singleton who can’t resist the lure of paramours in the clink, the network added.

Love During Lockup is produced by Sharp Entertainment and is executive produced by Matt Sharp, Dan Adler, Alan Madison and Sophie Mallam.  

WE tv has dropped a new trailer for the third season of its reality series Waka & Tammy: What the Flocka, which debuts Aug. 18 on the network.

The new season of the series finds hip hop power couple Waka Flocka and Tammy Rivera dealing with their recent divorce as they navigate through co-parenting and new life changes, according to the network.

Waka & Tammy: What The Flocka is executive produced by Tammy Rivera-Malphurs, Jauquin Malphurs, Datari Turner and Debra Antney. ■

Season two of Brat Loves Judy premieres on WE tv June 9. Brat-A-Tat and Big Booty Judy, also known as Da Brat and Jesseca Dupart, plan their dream wedding, but the rush towards the big day elicits a few unresolved relationship issues. “The power couple faces major hurdles from having a baby to exploding their careers, as they navigate married life,” said WE tv. 

Rapper Brat and hair products entrepreneur Judy married in February. 

This season, Judy returns to her New Orleans hometown, where Brat and Judy started their “love journey,” in WE’s words. Brat plans Judy’s surprise 40th birthday party. An unexpected announcement hits social media and shakes up the family, and Brat’s sibling LisaRaye doesn’t hold back in sharing her input. 

Episodes stream the Monday after premiere on ALLBLK. 

WE tv and ALLBLK are part of AMC Networks. ■ 

AMC will debut the third season of its docuseres Life After Lockup on Aug. 27, the network said Wednesday.

The 10-episode series, a spinoff of the network's Love After Lockup series, follows 10 former inmates and their significant others from Love After Lockup as they navigate through through their journey to survive the real world together, according to network officials. 

Life After Lockup is produced by Sharp Entertainment, with Matt Sharp, Dan Adler, Alan Madison and Sophie Mallam serving as executive producers. 

Read Also: We tv Drums Up 'Brat Loves Judy' Series 

WE tv will follow the lives of Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta star Da Brat and girlfriend Jesseca Dupart as part of a new docuseries Brat Loves Judy, the network announced Monday.

The eight-episode docuseries will debut Aug. 5 and will bring audiences into the world the veteran hip-hop artist and former Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta star Da Brat and Kaleidoscope Hair Products CEO Dupart, according to WE tv. 

“WE tv has long solidified itself as a home for authentic stories and relatable relationships, and we’re thrilled to add Brat and Judy’s larger-than-life love story to our Thursday night originals,” said Lauren Gellert, EVP of Development and Original Programming for WE tv in a statement. “These two powerful and successful women are sharing their brand-new relationship with audiences for the first time ever, bravely inviting viewers to experience all their emotional ‘firsts’ alongside them.”

Read Also: Summer 2021 TV Premiere Dates 

 WE TV will launch the sixth season of its reality series Growing Up Hip Hop on May 13, the network said Friday.

The new season of the series, which follows the lives of the children of hip-hop celebrities, will feature newcomers Uncle Luke and his daughter Cree as well as music producer Stevie J and his daughter Savannah and son Stevie Jr., according to the network. 

Growing Up Hip Hop is produced by Entertainment One and Datari Turner Productions. 

 WE tv has acquired two original reality series from subscription streaming service Zeus Network.

The network will air the first season of millennial-targeted Zeus’ 13-episode series The Real Blac Chyna, which follows the life of entrepreneur, model and reality star Blac Chyna, as well as Joseline’s Cabaret, which follows Love & Hip Hop Atlanta star Joseline Hernandez as she creates a sensual cabaret in her hometown of Miami, said the network. 

The deal marks the first time that both series will air on linear tv since their premiere on Zeus.

“WE tv is focused on telling real stories about real people and real relationships, which makes the addition of ‘The Real Blac Chyna’ an obvious fit for our network,” said Lauren Gellert, executive vice president of Development and original programming for WE tv in a statement. “We’re thrilled to partner with Zeus and bring Blac Chyna’s and Joseline’s compelling, larger-than-life stories to our audiences for the first time ever on linear tv.” 

Added Zeus founder and CEO Lemuel Plummer: “Both shows were critical hits when they premiered on the Zeus network and have had tremendous success with our audience. We’re thrilled to license these compelling properties to WE tv. We are confident this partnership will bring new audiences to our networks.”

Also Read: AMC Puts WE tv, UMC Under GM Brett Dismuke

AMC Networks said that Marc Juris, president and general manager of WE tv, will be leaving the company at the end of the year.

No replacement has been named.

The move comes amid cord-cutting and lower ad demand because of the pandemic-powered recession. Both forces have cut into the revenues of traditional cable networks, leading to management streamlining and headcount reductions at traditional media companies.

At AMC, Sarah Barnett, stepped down from her position as president of the AMC Networks Entertainment Group in July. Her responsibilities were assumed by AMC Networks COO Ed Carroll.

Before becoming president of WE tv, Juris had been at Turner as it converted Court TV into truTV and at Fuse Network, which rebranded from MuchMusicUSA. He’d been at AMC Networks earlier in his career as senior VP of original programming and general manager of AMC as it transitioned from being commercial free to ad supported.

“We first worked with Marc many years ago, when he was running original programming for an early version of AMC and then became the general manager who took the network from ad-free to ad-supported, a move that fueled much of the growth and distinction that was to follow,” said AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan. “His keen eye for brands and for compelling content have been demonstrated here and elsewhere. He’s recognized as a leader in our industry and for good reason. We wish him nothing but the best as he departs to find his next opportunity.”

Carroll noted that Juris developed franchises like Marriage Boot Camp, Growing Up Hip Hop and Love After Lockup at WE tv. 

“He extended WE tv’s Thursday night leadership position on cable to Friday nights as well and leaves the network in a strong competitive position. He is an enormously talented and imaginative developer of brands and content and we will miss him.”

“My years at AMC Networks have been among the most rewarding and fulfilling of my entire career. This is a company that has always had an outsized impact by taking chances and having the confidence to make big moves and that has become part of my professional DNA,” Juris said. “I’m thankful for our talented team and very proud of the shows we’ve made and the relationships we have forged with viewers. Our industry is in the midst of profound change and transformation, but the elements that make a good story are universal. I believe in the power of storytelling and look forward to writing the next few chapters of my own, wherever that takes me.”

AMC Networks said Wednesday that it has expanded its streaming video offerings, launching AMC Plus and WE tv Plus, two commercial-free SVOD products initially available to Comcast Xfinity cable and Xfinity Flex broadband subscribers.

AMC Plus will cost $4.99 per month and includes original series from the AMC channel and sister networks like Sundance TV and IFC, ad-free with early premieres on demand, along with streaming services Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited. AMC Plus also includes a commercial-free premium linear network available on Xfinity’s electronic program guide. 

For Xfinity and Xfinity Flex customers, AMC Plus will replace AMC Premiere, the commercial-free, on-demand service AMC Networks launched to Comcast customers in 2017. 

AMC Networks is offering the new streaming bundles to other pay TV providers as well -- Comcast is just the first of hopefully many to sign on. The programmer said it will continue to support AMC Premiere customers who either subscribe to the service through other distributors, like YouTube TV, or who have signed up for it on their own and authenticate through their current TV provider.

In addition to offering ad-free current seasons of hits like Killing Eve, NOS4A2 and The Walking Dead, AMC Plus will include bonus footage, sneak peeks of future episodes and exclusive behind-the-scenes features.

WE tv Plus includes programming from AMC Networks’ reality channel We tv and UMC (formerly the Urban Movie Channel), and also is priced at $4.99 per month.

According to AMC Networks, both streaming bundles will be available to Comcast customers over the internet and on demand on its X1 and Xfinity Flex platforms, are searchable with the Xfinity voice remote and across a range of devices in and out of the home via Xfinity Stream. Separately, AMC Networks said Xfinity continues to carry Acorn TV, its premium service focused on British and international television.

“We have a long and fruitful history of partnering with Comcast to serve viewers and fans of our content, and these new bundles epitomize our history of innovation and ability to work collaboratively to embrace the new ways in which viewers are consuming content today,” said AMC Networks president of distribution and development Josh Reader in a press release. “Comcast has always been a valued partner, particularly in the launch of AMC Premiere, a pioneering ad-free service. With these AMC+ and WE tv+ bundles, we build on that partnership in service of our fans on both the innovative Xfinity X1 and Flex platforms. We’re confident that Xfinity customers will appreciate the value, convenience and quality of these new offerings.”

WE tv in March will follow the lives of hip hop stars Waka Flocka and his wife Tammy Rivera in a new reality series Waka & Tammy: What The Flocka.

The six-art series, debuting March 12, follows Waka Flocka Flame and Tammy as they navigate their renewed commitment to their relationship after their emotional roller-coaster on WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition, according to network officials. 

The series will chronicle the couple's challenges of married life, from home renovation, juggling Tammy’s music career and  parenting their teenage daughter Charlie, said WE tv.  

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.”

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.”

We tv will develop a spinoff series from its reality series Love After Lockup, the network announced Tuesday.

The eight-episode spinoff series, Love After Lockup: Life After Lockup, follows five couples featured on the original series – Clint and Tracie; Marcelino and Brittany; Megan, Michael, and Sarah; Scott and Lizzie; and Andrea and Lamar – as they build their post-prison relationships and lives, according to network officials.

Love After Lockup, which chronicles couples making the complicated transition to love on the ‘outside’ when one partner is released from prison, has been a ratings hit for the network, fueling double-digit ratings growth for the network in the first quarter of 2019 across several demos in Nielsen Live + 3 ratings, said We tv. The network recently extended the second season of the series by 10 episodes.

“There was an outpouring of interest from fans who were eager to keep following these unforgettable couples, making it an easy decision to expand this burgeoning franchise with an all-new series,” said Marc Juris, president of WE tv in a statement. "Love After Lockup was a legitimate reality sensation, and Love After Lockup: Life After Lockup will be a must-watch for the show’s passionate fans.”

AMC has green-lighted a third series in its The Walking Dead universe and is promising advertisers high-rated zombie dramas that will run from the Super Bowl through Thanksgiving.

At its upfront event Monday morning (April 8), AMC Networks also is expected to announce an expansion of its new “The Best Christmas Ever” franchise, which will spill over from AMC to its four other networks — BBC America, SundanceTV, IFC and WE tv — in 2019.

BBC America is reinforcing its status as the exclusive first-window linear home of high-profile BBC nature programming. Discovery has acquired streaming video rights to BBC nature shows and announced plans to start a new direct-to-consumer streaming service. Not to be outdone, BBC America announced Project Awe, which turns the channel on Saturdays for 24 hours into a micro-net dedicated to BBC nature programming including the Planet Earth collection. Project Awe is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter with more than 2,000 hours of programming available.

IFC also said it renewed Documentary Now! for a fourth season.

Shows With Buzz

At its upfront, AMC is aiming to remind advertisers that its networks still offer the kind of buzzy, high-quality programming that brands want to be associated with — something that is getting to be in shorter supply as more original shows shift to streaming services.

The new Walking Dead show is unnamed and few details are available. Sarah Barnett, president of the entertainment networks group for AMC Networks, said the series is being co-created by Scott Gimple, chief content officer for The Walking Dead universe, and Matt Negrete, a longtime Walking Dead writer. Negrete will be the showrunner.

The series will focus on a pair of young women who are coming of age amidst the zombie apocalypse that has turned the world upside down. Barnett said female characters have proved popular as the cast for The Walking Dead has turned over.

Production of 10 episodes of the show will begin this summer in Virginia, with the premiere on AMC expected in 2020.

“On the heels of an incredible ninth season of The Walking Dead and as we approach an anticipated new season of Fear this summer, this is an exciting moment for the Dead franchise, which continues to thrive in a highly competitive environment,” Barnett said. “We are thankful to be working with some of the best creatives in the business to expand this Universe in new and exciting ways for our fans.”

The new zombie program follows the phenomenon of The Walking Dead. Having just completed its ninth season, ratings have been falling for The Walking Dead, but the show remains the most-watched scripted program on cable and second to only NBC’s This is Us in all of TV.

The second zombie show, Fear the Walking Dead, will start its fifth season in June.

With its huge, loyal and engaged audience, The Walking Dead commands premium pricing for AMC. When the show is on the air, AMC generates strong ad sales; in between seasons, revenue drops. Advertisers use the high-rated franchise to launch products and open movies. With the third show available, AMC will be able to meet that demand nearly year-round.

When The Walking Dead wraps up in November, AMC’s Best Christmas Ever stunt will kick in.

Holiday themed programming will air wall to wall on AMC, and the company’s other networks will also present seasonal movies and specials.

Stunting for the Holidays

AMC hopped on the trend of running holiday-themed programming during Christmas season, which has been very successful for Hallmark Channel and Freeform.

In 2018, Best Christmas Ever boosted AMC’s primetime audience among adults 25 to 54 by 86% compared to the previous December. Total-day ratings were up 34%. In addition to generating good ratings, advertisers like being able to put their holiday messages in holiday themed shows.

This year, Best Christmas Ever will begin on Nov. 25 and run through Dec. 25. It will feature films including Elf, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express and classic specials like The Year Without a Santa Claus, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year and ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.

“Best Christmas Ever was a huge success for AMC. It brought something special to fans of holiday programming and to our advertising partners looking for a safe and family-friendly place to deliver brand and buying messages in December,” Tom Halleen, executive vice president of programming strategy, acquisitions and scheduling for AMC Networks, said.

WE tv said it is extending the second season of reality show Love After Lockup by 10 episodes, to 24. The season's seventh episode doubled the number of total viewers (Live+3), to 1.3 million, from the season two premiere, per the network. And in adults 25-54, the count was 762,000, up 88% from the first episode.

The series follows relationships in which one half of the couple is behind bars, tracking the emotional journey of a prison release and life together after months or years of correspondence, supervised visits and highly structured interactions and expectations, according to the AMC Networks-owned channel. The extra episodes, landing this spring, will introduce new couples making the complicated transition to love on the "outside’ when a partner one has only ever known behind bars is released from prison, the network said.

“We could not be more thrilled with the organic growth that Love After Lockup continues to deliver, week after week, as more viewers find and connect with the real stories in the show,” said Marc Juris, WE tv president, in a release. “We knew we had a compelling concept with this series, and to see viewers respond like this is beyond gratifying. This is a challenging show to produce, but the results that wind up on screen are worth it and we are excited to extend this second season with another 10 episodes of unforgettable stories, characters and real-life drama.”

The series is produced by Sharp Entertainment. Executive producers are Matt Sharp and Dan Adler. Lauren P. Gellert, Kate Farrell and David Stefanou are executive producers for WE tv.

WE tv will walk down the aisle for a new season of docu-series Bridezillas, the network said Wednesday.

The series, which ran on WE tv for 10 seasons from 2004 to 2013 before being revived earlier this year, will return for a 10-episode new season in 2019, according to network officials.

“After a successful reboot of this pop culture phenomenon, we have found that being a bride, and more importantly a ‘Bridezilla,’ never goes out of style ... we have been thrilled with the glowing reception from longtime fans as well as new fans of the show,” said Marc Juris, president of WE tv in a statement. “Bridezillas came roaring back with a whole new layer of drama thanks to the ubiquity of social media, making the show more relevant than ever, and we’re excited to see what outrageousness unfolds during this upcoming season.”

Bridezillas is executive produced by Laura Halperin, Lauren P. Gellert, Kate Farrell, Angela Molloy and Nicky Davies Williams.

In New York’s Times Square last month, WE tv drummed up support for the March 2 launch of a series by opening a pop-up “Museum of Natural Hysteria,” replete with a scream booth, a Rage-O-Meter Punching Bag, cranial massage chairs and a rogues’ photo gallery of viral brides to be, including an infamous one in 2012 who was left at the altar. (Google it.)

Few shows might be deemed worthy of such an oversized promotional presentation, but the cable network deemed the return of its series Bridezillasafter a five-year hiatus to be one of them. The AMC Networks outlet is resurrecting the reality show for fans who want to watch, again, as women lose their grip prior to their nuptials, as well as a new generation that wants to know what the fuss was about.

WE tv is one of several cable channels resurrecting TV franchises previously thought buried in the graveyard of cancelled shows. While the broadcast networks are generating headlines with reboots of such classic shows as Roseanne, Murphy Brown and Get Christie Love!, cable networks are also looking to mine ratings gold by resurrecting nostalgic programming.

Related: Broadcast ’Boots Bring Back Buzz

Heading Back to the Beach
Networks say bringing back popular series, from TLC’s Trading Spaces to MTV’s Jersey Shore, which comes back in April with the original cast, including JWOWW, Snooki and The Situation, in Jersey Shore Family Vacation — already green-lit by MTV for a second season — generates instant viewer recognition in a crowded and noisy environment.

“There’s so much television these days, and so much entertainment for people — you have to find a way to hook them quickly — and I think there’s a built-in interest and excitement around a [rebooted] series that provides a different way to tap that existing passion,” said Tom Ascheim, president of Freeform, which will reboot the 1990s Fox series Party of Five. “We definitely hope it makes it easier to promote and taps into an existing fan base, as well as attract people who haven’t spent so much time with the show or vaguely heard of it and want to see the new one.”

While TV programmers have long sought to relive the glory of classic shows through remakes and movie takeoffs, the trend has exploded over the past year as networks look to offer content with built-in audiences to counteract a Peak TV dynamic that featured more than 450 scripted television shows in 2017 and is expected to grow this year.

More than a dozen shows from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are scheduled to return to the air in 2018. Some will be completely new versions of the original, others will feature the shows’ original casts. They come in a variety of genres, including comedy (CBS’s Murphy Brown), drama (CBS’s Magnum P.I.), and unscripted fare (History’s In Search of …).

Even streaming services that haven’t been around very long are tapping into the past with reboots of classic shows like The Twilight Zone (CBS All Access), Lost in Spaceand Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Netflix).

WE tv executive vice president of development and original programming Lauren Gellert said social media has changed the dynamics of preparing for a wedding day, which has allowed the network to bring back popular series Bridezillas.

After a 10-season run, the series was benched, replaced in the lineup by Marriage Boot Camp.

With social sites such as Pinterest and Facebook becoming major platforms for brides to shop and showcase themselves, Gellert said the network saw an opportunity to reboot the franchise for a new generation.

“Bridezillas was obviously a fan favorite when we rested the show, but it certainly didn’t leave the zeitgeist and pop-culture lexicon of words often used in the press and by celebrities,” she said. “We thought it was a good time for a little nostalgia and to tap into some of our roots.”

Gellert said the show will draw former Bridezillas fans as well as social media-savvy millennials looking to connect with the franchise.

“There’s a new ‘better find me my selfie stick’ kind of bridezilla out there that thinks everything should just be fine if she orders flowers she saw on Pinterest,” Gellert said.

TLC will also look to shake the dust off of one of its most popular series, Trading Spaces, which returns with new episodes on April 7 after being off the air for a decade. The series, arguably the granddaddy of the home-renovation genre, premiered in 2000, but new episodes for the show have not aired since 2008.

TLC president Nancy Daniels, upped last week to chief brand officer, Discovery & Factual, at Discovery Communications, told TV critics in January that the series, which will bring back many of the show’s stars (including host Paige Davis) was a cornerstone show for TLC that fans had for years inquired about returning.

“From the moment we announced it, we knew it was the right time,” Daniels said during the Television Critics Association tour. “Just the interest, the excitement and the people coming out of the woodwork to tell you their favorite episodes and favorite stories … I’m thrilled and excited, and I just feel like it is the right time.”

Davis said the Trading Spaces brand remains popular with viewers despite the proliferation of home improvement shows that have aired since the series left the air. She added that the return of the show’s original crew as well as the addition of several new professionals will help the show’s appeal beyond its fan base.

“Trading Spaces will offer viewers the same thing it offered when it first came into the landscape — creativity, resourcefulness and approachability — and we created a catalyst for a new genre of television,” she said. “I’m not concerned that Trading Spaces will not break through the clutter; one of the benefits of all of that stuff being out there is that our viewing audience is much more educated, and they’ll appreciate what we have always offered.”

Reviving a popular show with its original cast isn’t a guarantee of ratings success. For reboots to work, the show has to remind people of the past but reflect today’s society and culture, Freeform’s Ascheim said. The Walt Disney Co.-owned network’s reboot of Party of Five, in which five brothers and sisters are forced to raise themselves after their parents die, changes the dynamics of the original by following the lives of five siblings after their parents are deported.

“The basic construct is the same, but this time updated to reflect the culture in which we live now,” Ascheim said. “It feels like it’s up to this moment in our world when it launches.”

Familiarity Breeds Success
The show’s familiarity, coupled with its ability to address some of today’s societal issues, could be a recipe for attracting young viewers who may or may not have streamed episodes from the original series on Hulu.

“Just in the same way that we often base a television series on a movie, book or some other pre-existing or intellectual property that people already have a relationship with, taking a familiar series makes viewers more likely to pay attention on the way toward making the show,” Ascheim said. “And then once it’s made they create a disposition and affection for it.”

WE tv’s Gellert said reboots appeal to viewers exhausted by the constant drumbeat of controversy and drama in the current breaking-news cycle and want comfort television, something safe and familiar. “I think there’s some innate goodness in Bridezillas, because there’s a lot of humor and it really is an over-the-top reaction to what is the biggest day of many of these women’s lives,” she said. “We see a wedding at the end and we feel good about that. We laughed with her — we thought she was insane — and yet we see that he is really marrying her, and how happy this crazy bride is. There’s humor, a lot of lightness and a celebratory moment, and I do think we need that in today’s fast-paced media environment.”

Ascheim doesn’t believe the reboot phenomena is in danger of running out of steam in the near future, adding that these reimagined shows can thrive side by side with the plethora of new, original scripted and reality shows.

“I don’t think we’re in danger of going overboard yet,” he said.

AMC Networks reported higher fourth-quarter earnings as benefits from the new tax law helped offset lower income and revenue at its U.S. cable networks.

Net income was $146 million, or $2.33 per share, up from $14 million, or 20 cents a share. The earnings included a $67.9 million benefit from the new corporate tax law. The programmer also gained $11 million by repatriating foreign earnings.

Related: AMC Networks Offers to Buy RLJ Entertainment for $60M

Revenue fell 0.4% to $727 million.

At AMC’s national networks, including AMC, WE tv, Sundance, IFC and BBC America, operating income was down 6.5% to $176 million.

Revenue fell 1.3% to $606 million at the national networks. Distribution revenue was up 6.8% but advertising revenue was down 9.9% to $269 million because of lower delivery of viewers.

Programming and other expenses were up, including a $38 million writeoff for programming assets.

"AMC Networks delivered record financial results in 2017, increasing net revenues and adjusted operating income for the seventh consecutive year since becoming a public company, and generating significant free cash flow that we are using to invest in key strategic initiatives and our networks," said CEO Josh Sapan.

Related: BritBox Crosses 250K Sub Mark

"Our recent distribution deals with the streaming services fuboTV and Philo make AMC Networks available on more virtual MVPDS than any other independent programmer, proving the value of our discrete brands and our desirable, high-quality content,” Sapan said.

“Our owned streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder are seeing healthy subscriber growth and their momentum, coupled with the growth of the other streaming services we have invested in, including Acorn TV, Urban Movie Channel, and the BBC and ITV's Britbox, highlights consumer demand for subscription streaming services with specialized content," he added. "As we continue to evolve and adapt in a world of changing viewer consumption habits, we believe AMC Networks occupies a position of unique strength and are confident that our size, our focus, and our portfolio of assets will enable us to continue to deliver strong financial results to our shareholders."

WE tv has renewed its reality/documentary series Love After Lockup for a second season, the network announced Friday (Feb. 9).

The series, which chronicles couples who have found love when one partner was behind bars, has grown its audience since its premiere across all major total viewer and adult women demos in Nielsen live+3 ratings, according to WE tv executives.

The 10-episode second season will debut in 2019, according to network officials.

“The success of Love After Lockup demonstrates that a great concept, executed well with characters and stories that resonate with viewers can still break through the clutter,” said Marc Juris, president of WE tv in a statement. “The organic growth we’re seeing from week-to-week has been extremely encouraging and validates the potential we saw for this series from the beginning. We are so pleased to be moving ahead with an expanded second season as we head to the dramatic season one finale of a show we hope will do ‘10 to life’ on WE tv.”

WE tv next month will launch the sixth and final season of its reality documentary series Mary Mary.

The series, which chronicles the lives of sisters Erica and Tina Campbell of the gospel music group Mary Mary, will debut its sixth season Sept. 28, said network officials.

The fifth season of Mary Mary reached 12.7 million total viewers and was the top cable program in its time slot among African-American Women 25-54, according to WE tv. 

Mary Mary is produced by Entertainment One and executive produced by the Campbell sisters along with Tara Long, John Morayniss, Mark Herwick, Lauren Gellert, Kate Farrell, Lauren Lazin, Laura Halperin, and Mitchell Solarek.

“It’s been a privilege to chronicle the lives of gospel superstars Erica and Tina Campbell, better known as Mary Mary – who are truly rocks stars who rock everything they do, from family life to their wildly successful music careers,” said Lauren Gellert, executive vice president, development & programming for WE tv. “Mary Mary is a big part of why WE tv is a #1 cable network for African-American adults and women on Thursday nights and we are proud to have been the television home to these inspirational women for six amazing seasons.”

We tv has partnered with African-American gossip website Bossip to create a new weekly series debuting in July.

The six-week series, Bossip on We tv, debuts July 6 and will feature breaking news, gossip and up to-the-minute exclusives from the entertainment world developed by the website’s writers and editors, said network officials.

“WE tv’s partnership with Bossip leverages the strength of two powerful brands across two different platforms – a top African American entertainment website and the number one cable network with African American women and adults on Thursday nights,” said Marc Juris, president of WE tv in a statement. “This show will serve to broaden Bossip’s reach and awareness while also driving WE tv’s live viewership with day and date content.”

We tv tonight (Feb. 24) launches a new reality series Mama June: From Not To Hot, which chronicles the weight loss journey of reality personality and former Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo star Mama June Shannon. WE tv president Marc Juris said her remarkable transformation – WE tv won’t reveal how Mama June looks now until the series finale – will draw attention and viewers to the series.

“We love shows with big characters and we felt that was a great story to follow,” he said. “It's unique and real which was important, it has a really strong arc, and I think it's incredibly relatable. Who doesn't want to transform, lose weight and get into shape? This is a very compelling story about changing your life and taking control.”

Juris is also counting on social media to build interest in the series, especially leading up the big reveal. He added social media will continue to enhance the appeal for unscripted content as viewers look to engage and discuss the real lives of people they see on television.  

“I often tell people life is not something you live anymore, it’s something you post,” Juris said. “Our stories do not end with an episode; it keeps going. So viewers can follow Mama June after the finale and see how her story unfolds. It provides a much greater level of engagement.”

Smithsonian Channel on Monday will debut its documentary The Obama Years: The Power Of Words, but the network says the show has already received positive reviews from audiences attending more than 13 pre-screenings of the documentary around the country.

While The Obama Years isn’t overtly politically-leaning – it examines several of Obama’s most famous speeches during his eight-year Presidency – executive producer Charles Poe said that the documentary has spurred a lot of discussion across its 11-city tour about not only Obama’s legacy but also what the country is facing with a new administration in place.

“It’s never happened in my experience but we had a standing ovation after the film, which you don’t usually see with documentaries,” Poe said of the Feb. 7 Washington DC screening at the National Museum of American History.

In Houston, local legislators actually proclaimed Feb. 16 “Obama Years Day” in recognition of the documentary’s screening at the city’s Museum of Natural Science, according to Poe.

“I think it’s natural for there to be a little bit of nostalgia looking backward as a new President starts off,” added Poe. “[Obama] has been a daily part of our lives for the last eight years and to some degree in at least half the country, there’s an interest in reliving how we got here.”

To celebrate Black History Month, We tv is running a series of public service announcements (PSAs) featuring 10 African American members of Congress talking about who has inspired them most.

The PSAs will air on the network and be available on a microsite at WEtv.com. The site also features a photo gallery and alist of Black History Month events around the country.

The PSAs feature Senator Tim Scott and Representatives Alma Adams, Joyce Beatty, G.K. Butterfield, Yvette Clarke, Marcia Fudge, Robin Kelly, and Cedric Richmond. Also weighing in are Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. John Lewis.

NEW YORK — What’s the hardest role for an actor? A reality TV star, says Sissi Fleitas, cast member for WE tv’s docuseries My Life Is a Telenovela, about actors vying for roles in the Telemundo Spanish- language scripted drama Eva La Trailera (Eva the Truck Driver).

Fleitas and other cast members on the WE tv program spoke at the Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable Hispanic Television Summit on Oct. 20 about My Life Is a Telenovela, based in Miami, Fla., a.k.a. Latino Hollywood. Fleitas said she’s had an amazing but challenging experience taping the reality series while competing for a role on Eva La Trailera.

Though, to hear from other cast members, producing a telenovela is a huge grind, often requiring actors to film three, 30-minute episodes virtually every day for a minimum 120-episode season.

“It’s extremely hard — it’s a lot of, lot of work,” said Enrique Sapene, a Venezuelan-born actor who plays a villainous character (Ramon Estevez) in Eva La Trailera. “But we love it and we enjoy ourselves.”

(It’s also not as lucrative as fans might expect: As The New York Times reported on Oct. 21, many actors on telenovelas produced for NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo in Miami are not paid union scale, something SAG-AFTRA is trying to change by urging Telemundo to come to an agreement. Telemundo told The Times it’s committed to keeping employees’ salaries and working conditions competitive and noted its created hundreds of jobs in Miami.)

Series actress Maria Portillo, who goes by Raquenel, said the WE series gives viewers an important look at the lives of Latino actors even as the presidential campaign has magnified inaccurate, negative stereotypes of Hispanics.

“I don’t call My Life Is a Telenovela a regular reality show. To me, it’s a very good and amazing experience,” Portillo (Rebeca Marin in Eva La Trailera) said. “We as Latino talent are showing to the audience how the behind the scenes is at a telenovela — for example, the joys of shooting and shooting and shooting.

“This is exactly the right moment,” Portillo added, “because we are in a political moment and we as Latinos want to show the people we are talented people and we came to this country to work and to be better and to help this country be much better than the way it is. And not just to be, like, assaulting people, and we are not criminals,” she added, to applause.

“Very timely,” panel moderator Dade Hayes, editor of Broadcasting & Cable, noted.

An audience member at the session at The Grand Hyatt, who said he’d recently watched the show (which premiered on Oct. 7), asked what sounded like an existential question about reality TV: “Do you guys come up with the script or is there a script writer who comes up with it?”

“It’s a reality show, there’s no script in our show,” replied Fleitas, a Cuban-born model and actress who was a longtime host on Univision’s Sabado Gigante. “We just go with the flow. This is our real life, shot in our real environment, after we are done with hours and hours of shooting telenovelas and movies, doing casting, preparing ourselves for our lives as actors.” For her, that includes home life with her mother, her grandmother and her three pets.

“In my opinion, reality TV — and I have done two reality shows already — is the hardest of entertainment. It’s harder than doing a theater play. Because in a theater you have a script, you know your entrance, you know your exit, you know your dialogue as an actor. Here, you know nothing. … Here, it’s the real thing, and that to me has a lot of merit and it’s very difficult. It’s the most difficult format I have ever done in my life.”

My Life Is a Telenovela airs Fridays at 10 p.m. on WE tv.

Friday nights are getting a little sudsier, thanks to AMC Networks’ female-targeted WE tv.

Starting Friday, Oct. 7, at 10 p.m. ET, WE tv will air the eight-episode My Life Is a Telenovela, a “docu-reality” series that turns the camera on the drama transpiring between the actors on a fledgling Telemundo soap opera when they’re not reciting lines from the script.

Set in Miami, the series follows a group of “beautiful, talented and hard-working Hispanic actors” working in the hyper-competitive world of telenovelas. Hour-long episodes will run through December.

Stars include veteran actress Sissi Fleitas, a former model and presenter on the now-concluded Univision Saturday-night staple Sábado Gigante. Fleitas has also been featured on the cover of Playboy magazine in Latin America.

Also featured on the series are Telemundo telenovela actress Maria ‘Raquenel’ Portillo, who first gained fame as “the Mexican Madonna;” Venezuelan actor Enrique Sapene [Borderline; Hacienda Heights]; Mexican actor Gustavo Pedraza [Eva La Trailera; El Talisman]; former Sábado Gigante co-host Alina Robert; and Liliana Rodríguez Morillo, the outspoken and temperamental daughter of José Luis Rodriguez “El Puma.”

In the premiere episode, several female cast members are vying for the same role in a telenovela being produced for NBCUniversal-owned telenovela, “resulting in jealousy, betrayal, backstabbing, rivalry and fireworks on both sides of the camera.”

My Life is a Telenovela is produced for WE tv by Matador, a New York- and Los Angeles-based production company founded in 2012 by longtime friends Jay Peterson and Todd Lubin. Since its launch, Matador has produced nearly two dozen TV series, including Spike’s Lip Sync Battle, GSN’s horror-themed competition series Hellevator, and History’s “comedic historical series” Great Minds. Matador is also responsible for HBO’s Emmy-nominated documentary Banksy Does New York, as well as sports and feature documentary specials, virtual reality content and digital programs across several networks.

My Life is a Telenovela is executive produced by Peterson and Lubin, alongside Jerry Carita and Megan Sanchez-Warner. Nathan Carpenter is co-executive producer, while executive producers for WE tv are Lauren P. Gellert and Suzanne Gladstone Murch.

The soapy series is not the only show Matador is producing for AMC Networks:Geeking Out, starring Kevin Smith and Greg Grunberg, is being produced for sister channel AMC.

For years, Hispanic television viewers have gotten to know telenovela actors primarily through the characters they've portrayed on TV.

Now, AMC Networks' WE tv is for the first time turning the cameras on the stars themselves — with an assist from Telemundo. My Life is a Telenovela, set in Miami and produced by Matador, will follow a group of "beautiful and fierce Latina actors working in this hyper-competitive world, which has captivated hundreds of millions of viewers."

WE tv has ordered eight hour-long episodes of the reality show, which is set to premiere later this year. As the series begins, several characters are vying for the same role on a Telemundo telenovela. WE tv hopes this will provide the fireworks necessary for compelling reality entertainment.

“WE tv is a network that was really built on diversity," WE tv president Marc Juris said. "It is bringing viewers personalities and programming that has historically been hard to find on the mainstream dial. This show continues that commitment to new faces and voices."

WE tv is a sibling of such networks as AMC, BBC America, IFC and SundanceTV and is available in more than 86 million U.S. homes. 

My Life Is a Novela is not the first star turn for telenovelas on U.S. English-language TV this year. NBC's Telenovela, which concluded its 11-episode run in February, featured superstars Jencarlos Canela and Eva Longoria in a fictional behind-the-scenes look at how a telenovela is produced.

WE tv will tap the popular telenovela genre with the development of new docu-series My Life Is a Telenovela, said network officials.

The series will follow the lives of several Latina actors and actresses working in the telenovela genre, according to network officials. Several of the characters within the show will be vying for role in a real life telenovela produced by Spanish-language network Telemundo.

“WE tv is a network that was really built on diversity, bringing viewers personalities and programming it has historically been hard to find on the mainstream dial, and this show continues that commitment to new faces and voices,” said Marc Juris, WE tv president in a statement. “We are so excited to bring this world and the passionate men and women who make these incredibly popular soap operas to our viewers, and proud of a strategic partnership with Telemundo that will bring a high level of credibility and authenticity to our show.”

WE tv said it has appointed Lauren Lazin to its original programming team as executive producer and promoted programming executive Kate Farrell (pictured) to vice president of original programming. Both report to Lauren Gellery, executive vice president of developmetn and original programming at the AMC Networks outlet. 

Lazin, a filmmaker with more than two decades as an executive producer of unscripted shows, earlier in her career was senior vice president of MTV News and Documentaries, where she oversaw MTV Cribs, True Life and My Super Sweet 16, WE tv said.  She was nominated for an Academy Award for directing Tupac: Resurrection and has spent the past several years working on projects at a variety of networks including Showtime, Bravo, The Style Network, A&E and Nickelodeon, including co-creating, directing and executive producing Newlyweds: The First Year for Bravo. She directed the GLAAD Award winning documentary feature for Showtime called L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin.

At WE tv, Farrell has executive produced the network’s series Mary Mary and Cutting It: in the ATL. She is also an executive producer on Kendra on Top and the forthcoming Driven To Love and Sisters In Law. She also supervised and executive produced the launch of David Tutera: CELEBrations, which is in its third season on WE tv. Earlier in her career, she was a freelance producer focused on live sports and has produced Olympics coverage for both CBS and NBC. She won four Emmy Awards for work as a producer and assistant director on NBC’s Olympic production team in 1996, 2000 and 2002.

Whether she’s at the Jersey Shore or having a Party Down South, reality show producer SallyAnn Salsano has her finger on the pulse of the reality TV viewer. As president of 495 Productions, Salsano has produced some of the most-watched and discussed reality series on cable in recent years, including MTV’s 2009 hit Jersey Shore, which for six seasons was the network’s most watched show and spawned several Salsano-produced spinoffs, including Snooki & JWOWW and The Show With Vinny. Most recently, Salsano has produced CMT’s most watched series ever, Party Down South, which last Thursday (Jan. 28) launched its fifth and final season. Salsano spoke about her thriving production company as well as the reality category at large with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead. An edited transcript of the interview follows.

MCN:This must be a bittersweet week for you with the launch of the final season of CMT’sParty Down South. Did you think the show would become the big hit that it did?

SallyAnn Salsano: I would say that I’m excited. It’s great to go out on top as the No. 1 show on the channel. On the flip side, I think the party is still going to go on. These kids have so much life left in them — this particular cast is just warming up.

MCN:You’ve carved out a niche in the reality genre with shows likeParty Down SouthandJersey Shore. What’s behind the appeal of these shows?

SAS: I think sometimes people underestimate how much people like to see other people in situations that they’re in. Sure, maybe these are heightened situations, but if you think back to any one of our lives, we’ve all done a lot of the stuff these people have done — just not on television.

I think the shows are really a modern-day after-school special. When I was a kid, I used to run home to watch those specials and say, “Oh no, Johnny broke up with his girlfriend because he cheated and here’s what happened.” Looking back at them now, they feel a little preachy, whereas with these [reality] shows, it’s a way to get a real sense of what’s happening without someone being judgey or feeling like you’re being talked down to.

MCN:A number ofJersey Shorealumni have gone on to do other projects. When you look at producing a show, are the characters more important to the show’s success than the situations they’re put in?

SAS: I think it’s the characters for sure, then it’s the environment you create for them. I think the success comes from the group, and they become super successful because they feed off of each other. It’s so real-life, and real-life situations — you can do a show like this 500 times as long as you have a different cast. You’re going to get different stories and different things that appeal to different age groups.

MCN:Industry observers are calling this period the Golden Age of Television because of all the quality scripted series offered across multiple platforms. Can the same be said about the reality category?

SAS: I think it’s all an ebb and flow. I think the success of shows like Empire made everyone say, “Oh my God,” and flip to that side. In the end it all balances out, and I honestly think that there’s enough room for all of us.

On the flip side, the only people that talk about scripted vs. reality shows are people that work in the business. If you ask the average person what are your favorite TV shows, they’re not like, “In scripted I watch this and in reality I watch that.” They just say their favorite TV shows. It doesn’t matter to them. It’s still casting, it’s still editing — its just a different way of doing it.

MCN:So what’s next for 495 Productions?

SAS: We have [WE tv’s] Ex-Isle up now, and I love it because a lot of people in their lives are in a relationship with someone, but then you break up but you kind of keep them on the back burner as your backup plan. But sometimes that backup plan does not allow you to get on with your life. It’s the modernday booty call — when the need calls, they just call their ex. This is a show where we get people together to say, look how wrong you are for each other … why are you torturing each other?

We’re also in production on a new season of Blue Collar Millionaires on CNBC and we have a new show on Lifetime (The Mother/ Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition, premiering March 1).

Amid the multitude of female-skewing holiday movies and specials airing in December, networks such as WE tv and Oxygen are giving viewers the gift of new, original regularly scheduled programming.

Women-targeted programmers said they aren’t afraid of competing against one-off holiday movies — and they’re eager to take advantage of reruns airing on broadcast networks.

“There are a lot of Christmas movies and Christmas specials, but that’s not for everybody,” Jerry Leo, executive vice president, program strategy, Lifestyle Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, said. “I think the reality fan is still looking for other options.”

Two new reality series on NBCU’s Oxygen — Finding My Father, which tracks young women searching for their biological dads; and Rich in Faith, which follows Pastor Rich Wilkerson of Vous Church in Miami and his wife, DawnChere — both fit into the religious, heartwarming, family themes of the Christmas holiday, Leo said. In prior years, new seasons of Project Runway and The Real Housewives of Atlanta drew big numbers against holiday fare, he added.

“Hopefully the holidays will actually help us by creating that kind of environment and vibe for the shows,” Leo said.

WE tv last week launched the fourth seasons of two popular reality series, Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars and Tamar and Vince, the Braxton Family Values spinoff.

The holiday season provides a great opportunity to siphon off viewers who have been watching broadcast TV, WE tv president Marc Juris said. “On Thursday, when [ABC’s] Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder are in reruns, maybe 5 million women become available.”

Launching new and returning shows in December also allows the network to promote its January fare, he said. The network on Jan. 7 will debut reality series Growing Up Hip Hop. On Jan. 8, Ex Isle, starring Carmen Electra, will show individuals how to get over an ex.

“We want to use every opportunity in a crowded marketplace to bring in new viewers and to re-establish ourselves with our super-fans,” Juris said.

Still, women-targeted networks will face tough competition from holiday fare on Hallmark Channel and ABC Family.

ABC Family, with its “25 Days of Christmas” programming stunt, was easily the most watched network among women 18- 49, women 25-54 and women 18-34 during the first week of December (Nov. 30 to Dec. 6).

Undaunted, Leo said Oxygen plans to run its original content each week throughout the holiday season without any breaks.

“We don’t take our foot off the gas for even one week during the holidays,” he said. “If you’re into the storyline, you want to stay with it.”

AMC Networks reported higher second-quarter profits, reflecting the acquisition of BBC America.

Net income rose 41% to $83 million, or $1.14 a share, from $58.7 million, or 83 cents a share, a year ago. Net revenue rose 15.1% to $601 million.

Cash flow at AMC’s national networks, which include AMC, SundanceTV, IFC, BBC America and WE tv, rose 33% to $182.6 million. Net revenue was up 22.8% to $488.6 million, due to the inclusion of BBC America. AMC acquired a 49.9% stake in BBC America last year.

Ad revenue across the networks, including BBC America, increased 13.4% to $186 million. Growth was strong at WE tv, IFC and SundanceTV, the company said.

"AMC Networks had a strong second quarter, with double-digit growth in revenues, AOCF and operating income driven by our continued focus on investing in high-quality programming," CEO Josh Sapan said in a statement. "In addition to maintaining our core content strategy, we have become more of an owner of content; we have closely aligned ourselves with a premier producer of content through our BBC American joint venture.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

WE tv said it ordered the six-episode docu-series Growing Up Hip Hop from Entertainment One (eOne), to premiere in late 2015. It concerns "the next generation of hip hop royalty as they attempt to step outside the shadow of their famous families:"  Damon Dash, Rev. Run, Russell Simmons, Master P, El DeBarge and Pepa. 

“Hip hop is a hugely popular music genre, but beyond the songs it has become a lifestyle and has influenced a generation of young people,” Marc Juris, WE tv’s president, said in a release. "Growing Up Hip Hop profiles what it’s like to be raised by hip hop legends, living in their shadow while trying to balance success and independence. This series will be right at home in our growing line-up focused on the authenticity and the challenges of real people and real relationships, and we can’t wait to share these distinctive original stories with WE tv viewers.”

The principals: 

Romeo Miller is a musician, actor (formerly known as Lil’ Romeo) and the son of Master P. He’s on track to take over the music empire his father built, but is that really his path or will he veer off course? He consistently leans on close friend Angela for guidance and support;

Angela Simmons, the daughter of rap pioneer Rev. Run and niece of Russell Simmons, is a hip hop socialite, model and fashion designer of her own line, Foofi. She is a social media powerhouse who’s hoping to translate her fashion success into dollars away from the comfort of her father’s fortunes;

Damon “Boogie” Dash is the namesake of his father, Roc-A-Fella co-founder and media mogul, Damon Dash. Like father like son, “Boogie” is also an entrepreneur having co-founded Chipz Cookies as well as a record label and NYC art gallery;

Kristinia DeBarge is the daughter of James DeBarge from the legendary yet troubled group DeBarge, and a singer/songwriter in her own right. With her father currently in prison, Kristinia leans on her uncle, hip hop legend El DeBarge, as she struggles to choose between family and fame, all while considered the outsider of this tight-knit group;

Egypt Criss, the daughter of Sandra “Pepa” Denton from Salt-N-Pepa and rap icon Treach from Naughty By Nature, is actively pursuing a solo music career. Her overprotective mother, however, has yet to bless her career choice based on her own experiences in the hip hop industry which she helped establish;

TJ Mizell, the son of the late Run D.M.C. DJ, Jam Master Jay, has stepped into his father’s shoes as a DJ, spinning at the hottest events and venues around the world, yet always on his mind is his father’s mysterious and still unsolved murder.

Growing Up Hip Hop is executive produced by John Morayniss and Tara Long for eOne along with Romeo Miller, Angela Simmons, Percy Robert Miller (Master P) and Datari Turner. Turner’s Datari Turner Productions is co-producing the series. Lauren Gellert, executive vice president, development and original programming, Suzanne Murch, vice president, original programming, and Mark Powell are the executive producers for WE tv.

WE tv has greenlit two new law-based reality series that will debut in 2016, network executives said Tuesday.

Ladies Of Law follows a group of four African-American female lawyers specializing in entertainment law in New York City, while Sisters In Law follows the exploits of five Texas-based, African-American female civil and criminal lawyers, according to the network.

“Legal dramas have long been a popular TV genre but have not been represented in the unscripted space -- until now,” said Marc Juris, WE tv’s president said in a statement. “The very nature of ‘the law’ coupled with the intense personalities of lawyers gives us a wide range of storylines and characters to showcase.  Behind each of these attorneys is a rich story waiting to be told.”

It’s been said that with love, all things are possible. Networks hope that one of those things is higher ratings.

A&E’s reality series Surviving Marriage — which puts a couple on a deserted island, supplied with little more than the clothes on their back — is one offering in a shower of new programs that examine the institution of marriage beyond the “I Do’s” and traditional wedding nuptials.

Reality-relationship shows are a risk, with provocative titles such as Sex Box and Naked Dating giving way to programs that examine more-traditional marriages in varying stages of success of failure, with a little of the sexual tension typical of the reality genre.

More viewers are imagining what happens with brides and grooms behind closed doors after the bouquet is thrown, network executives said. Cue shows such as FYI’s Married at First Sight, which marries two strangers who meet for the first time at the altar; WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp, which focuses on marriages on the rocks; Bravo’s Newlyweds: The First Year, which follows just-married couples through their freshman year; and TLC’s Married by My Mom and Dad, an exploration of arranged marriages.

“We’re all trying to flip the relationship show — there’s so much content in the relationship space that’s out there, so with marriage, it’s really how do you up the game,” Shelley Tatro, senior vice president of development and programming for A&E, said. “Marriage is much more relatable [and] that resonates with everyone … even if you’re not married, your friends are married, your siblings are married or your parents were probably married. It’s something that everyone can relate to.”

Unscripted content focusing on the trials and tribulations of marriage has been prevalent on television for decades. PBS’s groundbreaking 1970s series An American Family, considered TV’s first reality series, documented for the first time on camera the initial bliss and eventual breakdown of a marriage and its effect on the family.

But as reality programming has flourished over the last 20 years, society has placed less value on marriage as the ultimate goal of a budding relationship. Rather, people have embraced the concept of men and women having relationships without having to “put a ring on it,” or have played up the negative aspects of traditional marriages, such as infidelity.

“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,” said Elizabeth Carroll, marriage counselor and co-star of WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp franchise.

Shows that do revolve around marriage, such as WE tv’s Bridezillas or Lifetime’s Prison Wives Club, tend to examine it from a mostly one-sided female perspective. Celebrity-themed shows like Kendra on Top and USA’s Chrisley Knows Best view the institution through the lens of the family environment, touching only peripherally on relationship issues.

That has left a void for marriage-themed programming that looks within the relationship, executives said, from the church ceremony to the often difficult adjustments that couples make in the first few years of their marriage.

“Marriage is an authentic relationship that is pretty high-stakes — once you are in it you know that the goal is for the long haul,” Lauren Gellert, WE tv executive vice president of development and original programming, said. “You’re apt to have a richer storyline when you have that high-stakes emotion attached to it.”

The increase in marriage-themed series also comes as the institution of marriage has been a topic of interest in the news, given the recent legal and cultural battles over same-sex marriages. It also comes as fewer people are getting married than ever before and with half of marriages ending up in divorce.

Still, executives say marriage still holds a fairy-tale status, particularly with women, who make up the lion’s share of viewership for these shows.

“I think our viewers love to peer behind the public wall of other people’s relationships to see what’s going on,” Gena McCarthy, senior vice president of programming for FYI, said.

The network’s Marriage at First Sight, which follows would-be brides and grooms who meet each other for the first time as they exchange vows in the months after the nuptials, has become the network’s most-popular series ever, averaging 1.3 million viewers (on a live-plus-seven- day basis) in its first year on air.

The second season of the series has averaged 800,000 viewers in live-plus-seven-day ratings, according to Nielsen.

The show was so popular that FYI moved it to A&E to expose it to a much-larger audience. A spinoff, Marriage at First Sight: The First Year, which follows two couples from the original series as they approach their first anniversary, also drew big numbers, averaging 359,000 viewers — well above the nearly 200,000 primetime viewers the network averaged during first-quarter 2015.

Other shows, such as WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars — which tracks the relationships of former reality-show stars as they work on their marriages under the watch of marriage counselors Elizabeth Carroll and her husband, Jim — provide insight and tips that are well-received by viewers.

WE tv has received letters, tweets and emails from viewers who claim that the shows have helped improve and in some cases saved their marriages, Gellert said.

“Marriage Boot Camp explores real relationships — the couples are not just put together or feature people who are taking it lightly — these are people actually fighting for their relationships,” said Gellert.

The network later this month will launch a new season of the series, which will feature among its celebrity couples Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett, whose infidelity issues were prominently profiled during the last season of WE tv’s reality series Kendra on Top.

“The very point of Marriage Boot Camp 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,” Carroll said.

And it’s not just traditional marriage that’s getting a look from viewers. Shows such as FYI’s Arranged and TLC’s Married by Mom and Dad focus on the shunned but still-prevalent practice of arranged marriages.

Arranged, which follows three couples whose marriages were arranged by their families, sheds light on a different aspect of marriage that isn’t discussed openly, according to FYI’s McCarthy.

Said McCarthy: “The storylines are compelling and they’re authentic and quite playful, and people can watch and ask themselves could I ever marry a stranger at first sight, so it has a double promise for viewers.”

TLC in fourth-quarter 2014 will debut Married By Mom and Dad, in which men and women who have been unlucky in love put their romantic futures in their parents’ hands. The network, which has walked down the aisle of the wedding genre which such shows as Say Yes to the Dress, Bride by Design, 90-Day Fiancé and its newest effort, Curvy Brides, said the marriage genre offers stories and experiences that its targeted female audience can relate to, TLC & Animal Planet group president Marjorie Kaplan.

FYI has at least one new show lined up for later this year, tentatively titled The Seven-Year Switch, in which couples experiencing the so-called seven year itch swap partners for a week to bring back lessons to use in their own marriages.

“I think when trends are hot people try to invent their own way into it,” McCarthy said.

We tv’s gospel-themed reality series Mary Mary struck a chord with key demo groups in its March 5 season four premiere, the network said Tuesday.

The series, which follows the lives of the gospel music duo, averaged 1.3 million viewers in its season four premiere, which was on par with the show’s season three debut last year.

The show did post double digit increases among key groups compared to its season three debut including among adults 18-49 (up 27%), adults 25-54 (up 31%), women 18-49 (up 28%) and women 25-54 (up 34%), said network officials.

The episode was also the most watched cable telecast among all key African-American demos for the night, said WE.

 “We’re thrilled with the performance of Mary Mary and excited that our viewers continue to enjoy these genuine stories,” said Marc Juris, WE tv’s president in a statement.  “This season’s growth is a testament to the personally emotional and dramatically charged stories that Erica and Tina share, and which are the hallmarks of our unscripted series centered on authentic relationships and real life drama.”

When BBC America drama series Orphan Black returns, for a third season, on April 18, it will be shown on AMC, IFC, SundanceTV and We TV in addition to the mother ship, at 10 p.m. ET.

This marks the first time that AMC Networks -- which now oversees BBC America in a joint venture with BBC Worldwide -- will have aired a show across all five national networks at the same time.

“Orphan Black is a truly outstanding original series that has attracted consistent and widespread critical acclaim as well as a considerable, growing following from viewers,” AMC Networks COO Ed Carroll said in a release. “AMC Networks is a channel group known for high-quality storytelling and creating a premiere television event for Orphan Black is a perfect opportunity to use our programming assets to help extend the reach of this quality series.”

Starring Tatiana Maslany in multiple roles (as cloned copies of the same person), the show is among BBC America's most popular series (see "BBCA Touts 'Orphan Black' Gains"). Maslany has been nominated for Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards, and when she is absent from major TV-award categories the snub becomes news. Season three sees her clone characters coping with the knowledge that there is also a line of male clones, played by Ari Millen.

The Parents Television Council has launched a petition to to get cable operators to pull We TV from their cable bundles, citing the show Sex Box, which debuts Feb. 27.  It has also threatened to hold advertisers "accountable."

We TV announced last week that it would be launching the reality show,  which it billed as "extreme couple's therapy." Couples have sex in a soundproof box onstage after consulting with relationship counselors, after which the couples talk about the experience -- there are no cameras in the box.

The idea, presumably, is to inject some thrill into "thrill is gone" relationships.

It is clearly to ill for Parents Television Council, which issued a release on Wednesday, Jan. 28 with a link to the petition and a dressing down for the network and the cable bundle itself -- PTC has long advocated for a la carte as a way for viewers to avoid what it considers inappropriate fare.

It is the first time PTC has called for pulling a channel, according to a spokeswoman for the group.

"A live sex show on TV is something that might show up on a premium cable network. But in an affront to all families, We TV is bringing that content to basic cable and potentially exposing millions of children in the process. If some adults want to watch a program like that, let them pay for it. But forcing it into the basic-cable bundle and making parents and families pay for it is an outrage. Sex Box should never see the light of day on basic cable.

We TV didn't respond to requests for comment at press time.

We tv in February will create its own version of the Bachelor featuring an available African-American male looking for love in Match Made In Heaven, the female-targeted network said Thursday.

The series, which debuts Feb. 4, stars real estate magnate Shawn Bullard as he seeks the help of a Pastor to choose a love connection between 24 women living under one roof, said network officials.

The announcement comes as ABC was questioned about the lack of diversity among contestants for its series the Bachelor during ABC's Television Critics Association Winter press tour presentation Wednesday. 

The eight-hour episodes of Match Made In Heaven will be produced by Glassman Media.

WE tv will follow the lives of Telenovela actresses as part of a new unscripted series, the network said Monday.

The Real Women Of Telenovelas will chronicle a group of beautiful and fierce Latina actresses and actors working on Telenovelas, or short-run Spanish-language soap operas, said network officials. The reality series will be produced by Matador.

“The world of telenovelas has everything we look for in a WE tv show – compelling characters, conflict, consequence and comic relief,” said WE tv president Marc Juris. “We could not be more excited about this project and bringing these beautiful women and their stories and highly charged relationships to WE tv viewers.  I think we’ll find the lines on the scripts in these TV dramas sometimes pale in comparison to real life.”

We tv will look to encourage viewing of its shows within three days of air through an new social promotional initiative.

The network’s Watch W/In initiative will offer prizes to viewers who watch WE Tv’s most popular shows live, on demand or via DVR within three days of the show’s airing, said network officials. The initiative encourages viewers to watch through commercials and promotional spots to be eligible for weekly prizes and one grand prize drawing, as well as to spark participation in social media conversations.

The Watch W/In effort will debut Thursday during the network's Tamar & Vince series.During a WE tv spot within the show, a specific code word will be featured which viewers can enter at wetv.com to receive a Tamar & Vince swag bag. All participants will also be automatically entered into a grand prize sweepstakes to win a home theater system.

“We know many viewers today want to time shift their favorite shows and watch on their own timetables, but promoting urgent viewing within three days is meaningful for the network and our advertisers,” said Marc Juris, WE tv’s president in a statement.  “Watch W/In is a fun and innovative effort to encourage viewers to watch our most popular shows within three days, which is significant both for our advertisers and for promoting the kind of communal and conversational experience consistent with our new brand. Whenever possible, we want people watching and talking about our shows in a variety of ways as they happen, and Watch W/In serves this important brand-building goal.”

We TV has promoted Lauren Gellert executive vice president of development and original programming, a newly created position, the network announced today. 

With the network since 2012, Gellert was the former senior vice president of original production and development, and has been responsible for a surge in viewership for unscripted originals, such as Kendra on Top and Marriage Boot Camp Reality Series. 

From We TV's New York City headquarters, Gellert will report to President Marc Juris. 

"Lauren is a dynamic creative executive who understands the value of great storytelling; she understands what resonates with today's hyper-connected viewers and delivers shows that break through the clutter," said Juris in a release.

Gellert is the executive in charge for the unscripted series including, Kendra on Top, Braxton Family Values, Tamar & Vince, David Tutera's Celebrations, the Marriage Boot Camp franchise and the debut of Sex Box. 

Many of Gellert's work has reached top numbers in viewership, audience engagement and overall network performance. Kendra on Top is breaking series records on the third season among P2+ and A25-54 viewers, with a 97% and 95% increase from last season. 

She has also served as vice president of production and development at ION Media Networks and Tru TV, as well as senior vice president at RDF/Zodiak USA.