Boy band ‘The Wanted’ gets reality show on E!
In its search for hit programming beyond the omnipresent Kardashian clan, E! network continues to poach from the music community -- this time with across-the-pond boy band “The Wanted.”
“The Wanted Life” (working title) willl document the personal and professional lives of the English-Irish fivesome as they shack up in the Hollywood Hills. They’re the latest music folk to get a reality series: British pop girl group The Saturdays made their stateside presence known in “Chasing The Saturdays,” which premiered last month, and last year’s “Married to Jonas” chronicled newlywed life for Kevin Jonas, one-third of the Jonas Brothers.
“The rock star lifestyle is something that everyone has fantasized about and The Wanted are giving viewers total access into their world as they live out this dream,” Suzanne Kolb, president of E!, said in a statement. “This series is a perfect blend of music, bromance and superstardom chronicling the lives of one of music’s biggest groups as they continue to make their mark on the global stage.”
The half-hour series, which features Ryan Seacrest as an executive producer, is set to make its debut in the U.S. in June and around the world in the fall.
“America has a long history of falling for British bad boy musicians, so it’s no surprise that The Wanted are already beloved by legions of fans far and wide,” Seacrest said in a statement. “This talented and outspoken English-Irish band are setting their own course to fame and this journey is the foundation of the series. It’s a road that’s bound to include irresistible pop tracks along with plenty of humor, antics and drama behind-the-scenes, which I believe will further ignite fascination and even obsession with these guys.”
The series is likely an effort to broaden exposure for the band that has been trying to break into the U.S. The group, managed by Justin Bieber shepherd Scott “Scooter” Braun, hit No. 1 on the iTunes pop chart last year with its single “Glad You Came” -- a song that would eventually get covered on “Glee” and sell more than 3 million copies in the U.S.
Still, the self-titled EP from group -- part of a boy-band revival with the help of One Direction-- wasn’t a mega-hit stateside, selling 170,000 copies since its release last April.
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