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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

W Network orders Season 2 of Game of Homes

From a media release:

Corus Entertainment announced today the renewal of W Network’s hit series, Game of Homes, with Great Pacific Media. Game of Homes (8×60) gives skilled amateur home renovators a chance to parlay their skills into the prize of a lifetime – a house and a plot of land. The second season heads across the country to the Toronto area, with four new teams of amateur home renovators turning rundown houses into their dream homes, room-by-room. Production begins on Game of Homes Season 2 in mid- September and it is scheduled to air in 2016 on W Network.

In Season 2, these dilapidated houses, slated for the wrecking ball, will be uprooted and transported to the Toronto area. The teams will work side by side, around the clock, to completely transform these dumps into show homes while also living in them. They will battle small budgets, tight deadlines, cramped quarters and each other for a chance to win a home and change their lives forever.

Casting for Season 2 is currently underway. People interested in applying to be on the show can visit wnetwork.com/be-on-tv or gameofhomestv.com. 

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

W Network partners with Mark Burnett and Insight Productions on New Series Pilot, Destination Detour

From a media release:

Corus Entertainment’s W Network announced today an agreement with Mark Burnett, United Artists Media Group, Omnicom Canada Corp.’s Highway Entertainment and Insight Productions to develop a new series format and pilot episode of the travel-reality series, Destination Detour(working title). The format is being developed for Canadian and international markets and will air on W Network in 2016.  Production of the one-hour pilot, begins in August in Ontario, Canada.

Destination Detour  takes three couples on what they expect will be their own meticulously planned, once in a lifetime dream vacation but throws a major curveball into their plans. The three couples from vastly different walks of life, personal interests and temperaments must face this massive detour head-on. The couples will be immersed in worlds they never dreamed of entering and face challenges that will scare, excite and ultimately redefine them. Only time will tell if the couples embrace this Destination Detour or if it will turn out to be a holiday from hell.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Survivorman star injured in car accident

Best wishes go out to Survivorman star Les Stroud, who was injured in a car accident in Mongolia recently.

The news broke Tuesday afternoon on OLN’s Facebook page, detailing the veteran survivalist was filming new footage for Survivorman when the incident occurred.

“After being out in the field for a few weeks, shooting new footage for Survivorman featuring Les Stroud, he headed out to Mongolia where he got into a car accident,” the post read. “He is back home now, recovering from a dislocated shoulder, a couple broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. Get well soon, Les!”

Well-wishers were quick to lend their support to the writer, producer, author, TV host and singer/songwriter in the comments section on the post.

Stroud’s most recent series for the network, Survivorman: Bigfoot, found him traveling the world over the course of six episodes seeking out the mythical, mystical Sasquatch.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: The Weapon Hunter blows history away

The best history lessons are those delivered with enthusiasm, excitement and, hopefully, without textbooks. That’s certainly the case of The Weapon Hunter, T+E’s latest series starring rock promoter/actor/military enthusiast Paul Shull, who traverses the globe on the hunt for the weapons and munitions that shaped the world.

Debuting Tuesday, the six-part series from Cream Productions (Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan) tracks Shull into the hills of B.C., where he meets friend Brook, who is in the final stages of completing a 1940s Achilles Tank Destroyer. After logging thousands of hours on rebuilding the rare piece, Brook needs a brake pad so the beast can roll in a Veteran’s Day parade.

Enter Shull, whose journey takes him to a Vancouver basement to pick through 40 years of collecting by a man named George; his collection of Second World War items includes helmets, uniforms and a rare Liberator gun that was dropped by the Allies into France to arm the Resistance. Then it’s on to Los Angeles to a seven-acre military outpost called Tankland. Still without a brake pad for Brook, Shull jets to Big Sandy, Arizona, for a machine gun shoot where he tries out a Browning machine gun and Pak 40 German anti-tank gun. The latter, a monstrous affair that shakes the hillside when it goes off, nets the following comment from our host:

“It’s like someone inserted a firecracker into my sinus cavity.” And it’s exactly that kind of remark that makes The Weapon Hunter such entertaining TV.

The program is a fascinating and immersive history lesson blending old war footage, choppy animation and Shull’s charm. The man with unique facial hair has a curiosity that comes through the screen; he loves this stuff and asks all the right questions to get interesting stories and tales out of his interview subjects.

Shull finds that elusive tank part for Brook, and discovers a lot of other cool stuff along the way.

The Weapon Hunter airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on T+E.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

T+E to bow original series The Weapon Hunter

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From a media release:

T+E, a Blue Ant Media network, announced today the world premiere of The Weapon Hunter, a Blue Ant Media six-part, original series, produced in association with Cream Productions. Launching July 7, 2015 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, The Weapon Hunter follows the adventures of history buff and restoration expert, Paul Shull, as he embarks on a coast-to-coast quest to get his hands on and help resurrect some of the world’s rarest and most remarkable pieces of military history.

The series follows Shull and his lifelong obsession with military history and technology and he’s on a one-man mission to find and fire the weapons that helped shape the modern world.  To achieve his goal, Shull enlists the aid of a loosely-knit network of history obsessed collectors.  They’ve spent decades – and small fortunes – amassing military collections that rival those found in any museum.  Now, they’re opening their doors to allow Shull the once-in-a-lifetime chance to come face to face with the past.

The Weapon Hunter is produced by Cream Productions with David Brady and Kate Harrison as Executive Producers. Matthew Booi is the Series Producer.

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