Five goes for more reality with Trading Spouses
Five viewers are to get the chance to compare the US version of Wife Swap and Trading Spouses.
Not content with launching its latest reality TV extravaganza, The Farm, Five is to test viewers' appetite for the much-derided genre still further by broadcasting American reality shows, starting with Trading Spouses, a US show similar to Wife Swap.
The boss of the company behind Wife Swap recently dismissed Trading Spouses as "badly made" and "ghastly" and has threatened to sue Fox TV for allegedly ripping off the hit British format.
UK viewers will soon get a chance to decide for themselves which is the better of the two shows, with Five planning to broadcast Trading Spouses in its new 2.30pm afternoon reality slot, and Channel 4 having bought the US version of Wife Swap.
As well as buying Trading Spouses from Fox, the Five controller of acquisitions, Jeff Ford, has bought NBC dating shows Who Wants to Date My Dad and
The One That Got Away.
Mr Ford has also splashed the cash on two reality shows from Universal,
The Restaurant and
Blow Out, which is set in a hairdressing salon.
Five has already tried out CBS reality show America's Next Model in the 2.30pm slot and will be broadcasting a daily highlights edition of The Farm at that time from today, with
Trading Spouses to follow.
"We've bought a mix of the best of the reality genre from America, including
Trading Spouses, dating shows such as
Who Wants To Date My Dad and fly on the wall formats such as
The Restaurant," Mr Ford said.
The American version of Wife Swap will be launched by ABC on Wednesday night.
However, in the meantime Fox nipped in and commissioned Trading Spouses, which has the same basic premise as Wife Swap: one parent from two separate families switching places.
Trading Spouses began broadcasting on Fox in July and has proved a ratings hit, regularly attracting more than 7 million viewers.
US entertainment industry trade paper The Hollywood Reporter described Fox's aggressive decision to commission Trading Spouses as "either strategic brilliance or ethical bankruptcy".
In a separate deal, Mr Ford has bought 30 film titles from Hollywood studio MGM, giving Five the UK terrestrial premieres of movies including Reese Witherspoon comedy Legally Blonde 2.
The other new titles in the MGM deal include Agent Cody Banks, featuring Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz, and Collision Course, the movie starring Australian crocodile hunter Steve Irwin.
These films will be broadcast in Five's Sunday teatime family movie slot, between 6pm and 8pm.
Older films from the MGM library bought by Five include Misery, Species II, When Harry Met Sally, Ronin and The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Leonardo Di Caprio.
mediaguardian
