AMC ramps up reality with new series and programming block

US cable network AMC is ramping up its move into reality programming with the launch of a new series produced by The Kennedys‘ producer Asylum and a new Thursday night reality block.

The broadcaster, which hosts scripted series including Mad Men and Breaking Bad, is opening up a new programming night to house its raft of reality series including Comic Book Men (pictured), Freakshow and Immortalized.

“With an expanding slate of unscripted series, it makes perfect sense for us to create and build a new night for these great stories, in the same way we have made Sundays a true destination for our award-winning original dramas,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s EVP of original programming, production and digital content.

Separately, it has ordered 8x30mins Owner’s Manual from Asylum Entertainment. The series, which will launch in the third quarter of 2013, will test men who read owner’s manuals and those that do not through weekly challenges including including flying a fighter pilot or operating a submarine. It is exec produced by Steve Michaels, Jonathan Koch, Alex Piper and Jerry McNutt and hosted by Extreme Makeover‘s Ed Sanders and Hammer Heads‘ Marcus Hunt.

The minute we saw this show, we knew it was a great concept,” said Stillerman. “Every adult in the world falls into one of two categories. You either read the owner’s manual or you don’t. As a non-owner’s manual person, I have a whole shelf in my house dedicated to parts that never found their way into things I have assembled. Watching Ed and Marcus go at it every week in the great tasks that Asylum is putting together is going to be truly compelling entertainment no matter what side of the Owner’s Manual divide you live on.”