Divorce a Hot Topic on TV

    Divorce will be a topic of choice the television slate in upcoming seasons. TV will continue to shine a spotlight on divorce-related programming, especially reality shows. There are four shows in varying stages of production now in which divorce is a focal point.  

Splitsville: 
The option for couples who have reached an impasse dividing the china and silverware. This reality/game show will pit divorcing couples against each other as they compete in challenges to win their marital belongings. Executive producers Jay Bienstock and Jeffrey Kramer will bring the show to the small screen. They have not started shooting the show, but CBS has given the go ahead to move from development to preproduction.  

True Life: 
Divorce from the Generation Y perspective. This documentary reality show from MTV show is in its 10th year, and it showcases real-life stories told from the point of view of young people, between the ages of 16 and 28, and their social conditions. The show is looking to bring divorce stories to the network, and it is currently casting (http://www.divorce360.com/community/advice/emergencies/216/mtv-true-life-divorce.aspx). The shows will feature both young people divorcing and the children of divorce. 

Denise Richards’ as a single mom: 
This yet-to-be titled reality show will debut this summer on E! Entertainment Television, and Ryan Seacrest, host of American Idol, will produce it. The show will follow the actress as she rebuilds her life after a messy divorce from Charlie Sheen. The show will focus on Richards’ daily life as a single mother. It became an issue in her custody battle for her daughters Sam, 3, and Lola, 2, when Sheen asked the court to bar the children from appearing on the show. Richards and Sheen resolved the issue, and the show is scheduled to begin filming this month.  

Untitled divorce show:
From the writer of "The Starter Wife:" Gigi Levangie Grazer is working on comedy/drama show, that is also not yet titled, about couple with two children who can’t afford to divorce, so they continue to live under the same roof. The father is a college professor and controversial political Internet pundit, and the mother works at a private school and volunteers at a juvenile prison. The couple, in their 30s, will navigate the trials and tribulations of separation and divorce without becoming overly acrimonious. The project is still in development.  It has a script commitment from NBC, but it has not yet started filming.  

The new shows will join other divorce-related programming already on the air. Among them:

The Starter Wife on the USA network:
The show is a comedy that centers around a woman recently divorced.  It stars Debra Messing as a woman whose movie executive husband divorces her just before their prenuptial agreement runs out. Considered one of the top new shows this year, it has been picked up for a second season.

HBO drama Tell Me You Love Me:
This show made its debut this past fall. The show explores the relationship difficulties facing four couples whose only connection is that they visit the same therapist. The complete first season is available on DVD. Three divorce-related reality shows will continue to air. 

Decision House:
One that started in September, Decision House, portrays couples as they decide the fate of their relationships while cameras roll. Judge Lyn Toler leads the couples through three days in a house with a variety of relationship experts who are put together to meet the couples’ specific needs. At the end of the three days, the couples either use the information they learned from the experts to save their marriages, or they decide to split. Decision House airs on myNetworkTV on Wednesday nights. Toler also leads the charge in Divorce Court, in which she mediates disputes between sparring couples on a 30-minute syndicated show. The show is one of the longest running court television shows in history. It first aired in the late 1950s with fictional accounts of divorce. It began as a reality show in 1999, and Toler has been with the show since 2006.

Cheaters:
Another long-running divorce-related reality show, Cheaters, follows and records people suspected of cheating on their partners. The syndicated show films real-life spouses being confronted about infidelity.  


TO READ MORE

Click here to read a journal entry about the TV Show Splitsville.

Click here to read a journal entry about the TV Show Moment of Truth.

Click here to read a story about MTV divorce show.

Click here to read a story about TV shows about divorce. 


Michele Bush Kimball has a Ph.D. in mass communication with a specialization in media law. She has spent almost 15 years in the field of journalism, and she teaches at American University in Washington, D.C. She recently won a national research award for her work.