This week's reality TV premieres: Feb. 8 to 14
Dear newsletter subscribers,
Good evening! In the lead up to the Super Bowl, I couldn’t shake how it's been 20 years since Survivor: The Australian Outback premiered after the 2001 game.
There will be a lot of these 20-year anniversaries this year—two decades ago, The Mole was airing its first season—and I've had that in my mind as I look at this week's premieres.
Which of these shows will last two decades? (Probably not many!) Which of them will we look upon fondly and with nostalgia 20 years from now?
One contender for me is my favorite new broadcast reality competition of last year, Tough As Nails, which is back for a second season. It's taking over the timeslot that would have been occupied by Survivor (CBS, Wednesdays at 8). I'll write more about this later in the week.
Also returning for new seasons:
American Idol (ABC, Sundays at 8 starting Feb. 14)
Ghosted: Love Gone Missing (MTV, Mondays at 7)
Basketball Wives (VH1, Tuesdays at 8)
Sister Wives (TLC, Sundays at 10 starting Feb. 14)
The Food That Built America (History, Tuesday at 10, then Sundays at 9)
The next iteration of VH1's Love & Hip Hop franchise is a series that brings together cast members from all for Love & Hip Hop shows.
They’ll stay together at a resort for what VH1 calls "an outrageous action-packed gathering." It has the lengthy title of VH1 Family Reunion: Love & Hip Hop Edition (VH1, Mondays at 8).
Jason Biggs is hosting a Pepsi-branded game show that's based on a slot machine, and that is all true, I swear. Cherries Wild (Fox, Sundays at 7 starting Feb. 14) will involve trivia questions and have a $250,000 prize.
Great British Baking Show winner Nadiya Hussain's new series Nadiya Bakes aired on BBC Two last fall, and now comes to the United States (Netflix, Friday).
The family that runs a Memphis funeral home stars in Buried by the Bernards (Netflix, Friday), who Netflix calls "bickering but big-hearted." What are the chances that the New Zealand funeral home show The Casketeers that Netflix started streaming in 2019 was so popular that Netflix decided to make its own?
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City starts its three-part reunion (Bravo, Wednesdays at 10). The series has been renewed for a second season, having been "Bravo's biggest series launch in nearly five years" in key demographics, the network said.
My Celebrity Dream Wedding (VH1, Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 9) is a special that follows three wedding planners competing to put together one wedding for a person who wants a celebrity-ish wedding.
In documentary series, Hip Hop Uncovered (FX, Fridays at 10) focuses on what FX calls "the paradox of America's criminalization of the genre and its fascination with the street culture that created it."
If you want to pretend that things are normal and travel around Italy with an actor, there's Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (CNN, Sundays at 9 starting Feb. 14) on which he explores the country's regional cuisines.
Lincoln: Divided We Stand (CNN, Sundays at 10 starting Feb. 14) will be "interweaving his tragic personal life with his history making political career," according to CNN.
It's Black History Month, and several networks and streaming services have created collections of documentaries and other shows:
Ovation has a dozen documentaries and five unscripted series available to stream free
Revry, the free LGBTQ streaming service, has a similar collection of films and shows
HBO Max's Black History Is Our History has "hours of curated programming, featuring compelling films, documentaries, biopics" and more, according to a press release
PBS is streaming several documentaries free
Black Art: In the Absence of Light (HBO, Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 9) is "an illuminating introduction to the work of some of the foremost Black visual artists working today," according to HBO.
This week, Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage (History, Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 8) "explores the history, legacy and impact of America’s first Black military pilots and how their significant contributions to this country inspired the next generation of activists and leaders pushing for racial equality and civic change," according to the network.
Women in Blue (PBS, Monday, Feb. 8, at 10) was filmed over three years, following four women in the Minneapolis Police Department between 2017 and 2020, and Independent Lens says "an unprecedented view into the inner workings of the MPD, chronicling a department—and a community—grappling with racism and a troubled history of police misconduct long before an MPD officer killed George Floyd in May of 2020."
MTV's Following: Bretman Rock (YouTube, Mondays at 4) is "an exclusive look at all aspects of the content creator's life in Hawaii, following Bretman and his crazy crew as he navigates vlog life, new business ventures, his mom's impending move, and the recent passing of his dad," according to MTV.
In murder and ghost reality TV:
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (Netflix, Wednesday) is the first season of a series about crime scenes, and it focuses on a downtown LA hotel.
Lovers Lane Murders (Oxygen, Thursday and Friday, Feb. 11 and 12, at 9) is a four-part special that starts with the murder of two women—"US Naval Academy graduate Cathy Thomas and her girlfriend Becky Dowski"—in Virginia and continues to include "the slayings of David Knobling and Robin Edwards in another lovers’ lane area," according to Oxygen.
Snapped: Behind Bars (Oxygen, Sunday, Feb. 14, at 6) features an interview with Sabrina Zunich, who stabbed her foster mother to death.
Down the Hill is a podcast about the murders of two teenagers in Indiana, and it's expanding into a two-night special called Down the Hill: The Delphi Murders (HLN, Sunday, Feb. 14, at 10).
Fright Club (Discovery+, Tuesday) has Jack Osbourne and Ghost Brothers Dalen Spratt, Marcus Harvey, and Juwan Mass watching "supernatural footage" together
A feature documentary about a couple in New Zealand who adds another person to their bedroom activities are the subject of There Is No "I" In Threesome (HBO Max, Thursday).
And finally, Big Bend: The Wild Frontier of Texas (PBS, Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 8) takes cameras into "a vast, unspoiled wonderland of serene beauty and home to some of America’s most iconic animals, including black bears, rattlesnakes and scorpions," according to Nature.
I hope you enjoy whatever TV you watch this week—or are perhaps enjoying it right now, if this e-mail arrives in the middle of the big game or whatever you are watching instead of the Super Bowl.
best,
Andy