TCA: USA, Bravo Slate New Shows

By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/15/2007 5:09:00 PM

NBC Universal’s USA Network has greenlighted development on a trio of scripted series with quirky leads. Its Bravo channel greenlighted new seasons of its reality shows Top Chef, Work Out and Real Housewives of Orange County, and slated a fantasy game to let viewers play network executive on its acquired Website TelevisionWithoutPity.com.

USA’s projects are: Halo (Fox TV Studios), about a guy who ends up doing good deeds after waking up with a halo over his head; Citizen’s Arrest (Universal Media Studios), about an eccentric wannabe cop solving cases on his own; and The Expert (Universal Media Studios, Dreamworks), about a librarian who helps cops solve cases using her ability to mix her senses.

Bravo’s fourth season of Top Chef will take place in Chicago with casting beginning this month. The network also said season three, set in Miami and currently in first-run episodes, will finish with a live finale. Getting picked up for third seasons are gym-set reality show Work Out and docu-soap Real Housewives of Orange County.

For its acquired website TelevisionWithoutPity.com, Bravo is planning TVBigshot.com, a game that lets viewers compete against each other for $100,000 in real dough by spending $300 million in virtual dollars on programming lineups they cobble together using the broadcast networks' fall series.