NATPE 2018: Facebook Watch to Debut Three New Shows

Facebook Watch is adding three new shows to its line-up: Bear Grylls’ Face the Wild; stuntman series FlyGuys and Sacred Lies from Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions.

Face the Wild comes to Facebook Watch from production company Electus and debuts March 21. Over the course of 10 episodes and ten weeks, Grylls will select 10 fans off of Facebook to join him on an individual back-country adventure

“This series is a special chance for me to connect with and celebrate some of the many unsung heroes I get to hear about through Facebook – and above all to have an adventure with them. These are the fans that inspire me the most, and it has been so moving to be a part of this journey. Thank you Facebook Watch for helping us pull this off,” said Grylls in a statement.

Bear Grylls: Face the Wild is produced by Bear Grylls Ventures (BGV) and Electus. Grylls and Delbert Shoopman are executive producers for Bear Grylls Ventures, with Chris Grant, Drew Buckley, Rob Buchta and Justin Dudek executive producing for Electus.

Fly Guys follows a crew of Europe’s most talented acrobats and professional stunt performers as they travel throughout Eastern Europe designing, building and execute gravity-defying physical performances.

“This series is nonstop action, with extraordinary visuals and a scientific method to the madness, all assembled by a squad of extremely gifted acrobatic performs,” said Josh Entman, co-founder and chief creative officer of Jukin Media, which is producing the series. “This is a motley crew of craftsmen, mathematicians, engineers, and performers who can pretty much pull off any imaginable stunt.”

Each of the ten episodes will be 12 to 15 minutes in length, with the series debuting on Friday, Feb. 2. Jonathan Skogmo and Entman, serve as executive producers.

Sacred Lies (working title) is a scripted half-hour drama from Blumhouse Television produced by Raelle Tucker and Scott Winant. The show is based on the Brothers Grimm story, “The Handless Maiden,” and the novel, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes. Tucker adapted the story from the novel, and will serve as executive producer and showrunner. Winant will executive produce and direct the first two episodes. No premiere date has been set yet and the series is still being cast.

“This is a young female protagonist we’ve never seen on screen before,” said Tucker in a statement. “She’s complex, brave, funny…and sometimes dangerous. And she has no hands. But she refuses to let that, or her bizarre, brutal past define her or limit her. That’s the message of our series: no matter what life throws at you - ultimately only you have the power to decide what you believe and what you become. I’m beyond excited and honored to bring this unique, inspiring, badass character to life.“

Also executive producing are Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.