Bravo Cooking Up Seven New Unscripted Shows
by Sean ComerThe network that gave the world Heidi Klum's "Project Runway" and the best "Real Housewives" that "real" households have to offer has a lot more "reality" in store.
Bravo is currently developing seven new unscripted series, Deadline reports. None have debut dates quite yet, but as with Bravo's entire program slate, all have roots in entertainment, fashion, food, art and pop culture. At least one show looks like it will take the the "life-imitates-art" approach that made the "Real Housewives" line of shows a hit - this time, taking a page from the book of USA's popular one-hour comedy "Royal Pains."
USA's successful comedy centers on a one-time emergency room doctor who turns to concierge medicine to the privileged, but "MD: OC" will take a look at physicians that make real-life house calls. According to Bravo's description, the Gay Rosenthal Productions series' spotlighted doctors take care of everything from nick-of-time botox injections, to providing care to the injured after household accidents.
Elsewhere, there's "10 Things That Make Me Happy". Imagine "Cribs" or "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous" crafted with a hint of sentimentality. Celebrity guests will share personal possessions that have value beyond dollars and cents. As celebrities share the items and the stories behind them, each revelation will ultimately say something about the peeple behind the famous faces, as well as their homes, personalities, personal styles and homes. It's being developed by Authentic Entertainment.
Fame can be fleeting. High school triumph was the height of life for some - just the beginning, for others. "Alumni Project", developed by Left/Right Productions, looks into the past and present of how both sides lived and how they're living now. It takes graduates of the country's best-regarded high schools, reviews that pivotal four years in everybody's life - including all the acrimony and insecurities - and where they've landed 15 years later.
Produced by Hud:son Media, "Fashion Stories Of NYC" will follow four designers with significant fashion potential as fashion icon Andre Leon Talley observes them producing major collections. The mission: "creat, show and sell," according to Deadline's take on the series.
From "Real Housewives" to "Project Runway", there's a certain spirit of ambitious entrepreneurship that underscores many of the personalities that Bravo's unscripted shows have showcased. With that in mind comes "Female Entrepreneurship Project" (which is a working title). The co-founders of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women In Business crafted this competition shining a spotlight on start-ups driven by women. "Viewers get to delve into the lives and minds of successful female entrepreneurs and watch some of the biggest names in corporate America help them shatter through the glass ceiling," as Deadline describes it.
The world apparently absolutely needed at least one more cool-houses-for-sale show. Enter, "Property Envy". This one at least doesn't follow around agents/realtors and their prospective clients on showings. Instead, it takes a studio talk show approach, wherein property experts look at "unusual" homes, discuss the merits and downsides of each, then pick a favorite among themselves.
"Sex And The Kitchen" - it is pretty much what it sounds like: the series follows around "single, successful and beautiful women connected to the restaurant and food industry in Los Angeles as they juggle a world where business always mixes with pleasure." Advice for L.A. residents: after watching this show, dine out and wonder what happened on the prep table before the doors opened.