US Cable Upfronts 2011: Lifetime

Lifetime has tripled the number of reality series that it airs and has doubled its slate of scripted dramas in its latest programming slate.

The female skewing network, which is operated by A&E Networks, is launching series including Roseanne Barr-fronted Roseanne’s Nuts, a weight loss series from Jersey Shore producer SallyAnn Salsano and two new spinoffs of hit fashion series Project Runway.

The broadcaster has commissioned two new scripted dramas; The Protector, a police procedural starring Sons of Anarchy’s Ally Walker produced by ABC Studios and CBS Television Studios, and cop drama Against The Wall, starring NCIS: Los Angeles’ Rachael Carpani produced by Universal Cable Productions. Lifetime has also ordered a pilot from Sony Pictures Television and BermanBraun, Modern Love, about a journalist struggling to write a relationship column and juggle his family life that will include real columns optioned from the New York Times. It has also renewed Army Wives for a sixth seasons and Drop Dead Diva for a third season.

The channel has tripled the number of unscripted hours that it will air with the pick up of 11 new series.

This includes Jupiter Entertainment-produced Vanished with Beth Holloway, which follows family involved in unsolved abuctions; Love Handles, a weight loss series produced by Jersey Shore producer 495 Productions; Brighton Beach, a Left/Right-produced reality series about the Russian community in New York; Demi Moore-produced The Conversation and Dance Moms, a Collins Avenue Entertainment-produced series that follows the mothers in the world of competitive dance.

Other reality shows include Roseanne’s Nuts, the 3 Ball Productions / Eyeworks USA-produced series that follows the sitcom star as she manages a 40-acre macadamia farm; RelativityREAL-produced interior design series To Live & Buy; GRB Entertainment’s anorexia themed series The Tracey Gold Project and Sirens Media’s The Day That Changed My Life.

There will also be two new spinoffs of Project Runway; Project Runway All Stars, which will be produced by The Weinstein Company and Bunim-Murray Productions and will feature past members of the series, and Project Accessory, which will be produced by The Weinstein Company and Goodbye Pictures.

TBI will be launching a new supplement in July that will comprehensively cover  all of this year’s US cable pickups.