UPFRONT & CENTER: TLC Shifts Scheduling Strategy, Unveils Slate

Discovery Networks-Owned Channel to Debut Themed Nights

By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/9/2008 1:33:00 PM

TLC is reworking its scheduling strategy, giving each night of the week a “theme,” with programming that fits within that theme. The network also unveiled its 2008-09 programming lineup.

The themed nights will include “Family,” featuring returning shows Little People, Big World and Jon and Kate Plus 8; “Makeover,” including What Not to Wear; “Home/Design,” including Trading Spaces and Flip That House; and “Unusual Lives,” featuring American Chopper and LA Ink. Other themes include “Relationships,” “Careers” and “Events.”

New programming includes:

• Real Simple, a show, previously announced, produced in partnership with Real Simple magazine;

• Date My House, giving potential homeowners a chance to test-drive potential homes;

• Your Place or Mine, the network’s first game show, will pit teams against one another to win a room makeover;

• Single Moms, a series with three women looking for love, although for this show, the women will be able to select who they would like to know better before they ever meet them in person;

• The Singing Office, which will pit rival offices against one another in a singing competition;

• Ashley Paige, which will follow the life of the title bathing-suit designer; and

• Napoleon Complex, which will follow 10 students of makeup artists Napoleon Perdis as they see who has what it takes to make it in the makeup biz.

For complete coverage of the upfronts, click here.