News

“Rescue 911” could be returning to the airwaves.

Variety has learned exclusively that a reboot of the classic series is currently in the works. However, unlike the original show, this new weekly, two-hour format would offer a live look at first responders taking real emergency calls every week. Original series host William Shatner would return to host the new series, with the veteran actor joining a panel made up of actual fire fighters, EMTs, and police personnel discussing the emergency calls in real time.

Shatner, Craig Piligian, Anthony Zuiker, and Jason Hervey will executive produce, with the latter three having created the reboot. CBS Television Studios is developing the project. No network is currently attached, but an individual with knowledge of the project says that it has generated significant interest in the marketplace already.

This marks a homecoming of sorts for Zuiker, who famously created the “CSI” franchise at CBS. Piligian...

Exclusive: VH1 has ordered a presentation for a reality series toplined and executive produced by Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys. The project, produced by Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment (Hardcore Pawn: Chicago) chronicles Carter’s life as he tries to make amends with his past and prepare for his upcoming nuptials with fiancée, Lauren Kitt. Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey also exec produce. Bischoff-Hervey is repped by CAA; Carter and Kitt are with TalentWorks.

Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys is set to topline and executive produce a reality series that will chronicle his life as he tries to make amends with his past and prepare for his upcoming nuptials. I hear unscripted production company Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment (Hardcore Pawn: Chicago) is shopping the half-hour docu-series starring Carter and his fiancée, Lauren Kitt, which already has received interest from cable networks. The series, also exec produced by Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey, coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Backstreet Boys who will release a new album In A World Like This on July 30 and will set out on a world-tour. Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment is repped by CAA;  Carter and Kitt are with TalentWorks.

There’s going to be even more reality on reality network truTV. The network said today it has ordered more episodes of Hardcore Pawn: Chicago and Impractical Jokers. That makes eight more episodes of the hit freshman spinoff Hardcore Pawn: Chicago and 13 more second-season episodes of Impractical Jokers. Based on the long-running Hardcore Pawn, Hardcore Pawn: Chicago debuted to the highest-rated series premiere in truTV’s history on New Year’s Day. Averaging 2.1 million viewers, the show hits its midseason finale February 26. It is produced by Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment with Eric Bischoff, Jason Hervey and Richard Calderon serving as executive producers. The public gags- and antics-based Jokers is averaging about 1.8 million viewers this season. It is produced by NorthSouth Prods with Charlie DeBevoise and Mark Hickman executive producers.

Do we really need another pawnshop series?

With the number of pawnshop shows already out there, it's a fair question to ask. But walking into Royal Pawn Shop on South Clark Street in Chicago and spending a little time with Wayne and Randy Cohen, it's easy to see how inevitable it was that the genre would discover these two. Rich with the salt of the earth, the brothers are about to flavor the airwaves when truTV's "Hardcore Pawn: Chicago" debuts Tuesday, Dec. 18.

The Cohens had noticed that shows such as "Pawn Stars" bore little resemblance to the business they've been in for decades. Wayne explains to Zap2it, "We never really had the idea [to do a show]. We didn't want it to affect our business any. So eventually those [other pawn] shows came on and we wanted to show people the real pawnshops. We're a real pawnshop. We're none of that jive stuff."

Wayne singles...