TVtropolis, a channel that is best known for reminding viewers how much they used to love classics like Friends and Seinfeld, is bolstering a recent programming strategy that involves adding more reality TV shows.
New Canadian show Totally Tracked Down (8 x 30 min.) is a docu-series that interviews former stars of goldies hits like The Brady Bunch and The Facts of Life. Viewers of the show, which will air Thursdays at 7 p.m. starting Sept. 2, will find out which stars have been affected by tragic diseases like multiple sclerosis, and which are still in show business and in what capacity.
Another Canadian reality series returning to the schedule is TV With TV’s Jonathan Torrens (13 x 30 min.), a newsmagazine-style talk show that poked fun at the medium and clichéd shows with comedy sketches. The show targets adults aged 25 to 54 and will air Fridays at 7 p.m. starting Sept. 3.
The three seasons of the UK’s Total Wipeout (45 x 60 min.) will ready viewers for the Canadian version of the show, which is set to debut later in 2011. The competition series puts contestants through a series of obstacle courses in order to earn a cash prize. It will air Mondays at 8 p.m.
The Marriage Ref (12 x 60 min.), which offers bickering couples advice from sometimes mean-spirited celebrities, will debut on Aug. 31 and will run Thursdays at 9 p.m. The show is produced by Jerry Seinfeld and made its debut earlier this year on Citytv in Canada.
Intervention, which airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m., profiles people who are in personal crisis because of drug and alcohol addictions. It is followed by I Survived… at 9 p.m., where those who have extreme circumstances explain how their lives have been changed forever. Both shows debut on Sept. 1.
Exclusive to TVtropolis from the US-based TruTV are Southern Fried Stings, a true crime series that follows ex-state trooper and addiction expert Jay Russell as he solves tough cases; and All Worked Up, which follows professionals like repo agents and traffic cops, who may have the worst jobs in the world, delivering bad news to enraged recipients. Southern Fried Stings airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. and All Worked Up airs Thursdays and Fridays at 10:30 p.m. starting Aug. 30.
