The Border Blog
CREATING ITS OWN REALITY - The Beach Reporter
CREATING ITS OWN REALITY - EL SEGUNDO-BASED TIJUANA ENTERTAINMENT HAS MADE ITS OWN NICHE IN REALITY TELEVISION
The Beach Reporter - April 29, 2010
Two small-town guys from Pennsylvania move to Los Angeles with dreams of making it in the entertainment industry. Years later, John Foy and Troy Searer live in the beach cities running their own El Segundo-based production company, Tijuana Entertainment, which has been responsible for some of the rawest reality television in recent years.
“Shooting Sizemore,” which took an uncompromising look into the troubled actor’s life, was the company’s first foray into reality television with VH1 soon after Tijuana Entertainment moved to Penn Street. The next project was the second season of “The Two Coreys” for A&E, which again focused on actors with issues, Corey Feldman and especially Corey Haim, who died in March, reportedly from a drug overdose.
“When we started this place, in our first month or so, we got a year deal with VH1, so that helped ease the pain because we knew there was work coming,” Foy said. “But the biggest thing is to get out there and establish yourself as viable producers. You need to always keep showing that you know what you’re doing, showing that you’re putting out a good product. It takes a little while and I think it took the normal amount of progression for us.”
The last year and a half has been a boom for the production company with at least five shows - “Obsessed,” “Is She Really Going Out With Him?,” “Bob Saget’s Strange Days,” “Heavy” (tentative title), and “Shade of Hope” — expected to hit the small screen this year. With “Obsessed,” which has its second season debut soon, the documentary-style show looks at the lives of those stricken with anything from obsessive compulsive disorder to panic disorders and how it affects their everyday lives.
“Forever producers were trying to circle how do we put OCD on television,” Searer said. “As you could imagine, this isn’t a group of people waving their arms, ‘Put me on TV.’ So it became about credibility. We want to put a mirror on what you do. We don’t want to manipulate it. We don’t want to contrive it. We want to show the cognitive behavior therapy process because that in itself is fascinating. The same honest approach came with ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him?’ It’s ridiculous comedy but the approach is very earnest in the idea that you can walk down any street in any town and say, ‘Why is that girl going out with that guy?’ My wife and I are a perfect example (laughs). How do we present this in an honest way?”
While Tijuana Entertainment has a history of dealing with edgy reality, shows like “Is She Really Going Out With Him?,” which airs its second season later this year, and “Bob Saget’s Strange Days,” take a more comedic look at life, from dating to examining alternative lifestyles around the world with a former sitcom star and stand-up comedian.
“He (Saget) rolls up his sleeves and he’s the eyes and ears of the audience and he gets in and gets involved,” said Searer on the show, which is expected to air on A&E later this year. “It’s not dirty jobs by any means. He really truly lives it and as he does it, we comedically examine the world around that. For the pilot, we went to the Ukraine, living with a group of guys who were seeking mail order birdes. We flew together for 20 some hours and when you do that you really get to know somebody. He’s got this audience from ‘Full House,’ that wholesome…they’ve all grown up with him. Then he’s got this other audience from ‘The Aristocrats’ and his appearances on ‘Entourage,’ and his stand-up. I think what we’ve been able to capture is this great middle ground that you haven’t seen him in before. It gives him a chance to play sweet but play a little edgier.”
Other episodes of the series feature Saget meeting with a biker gang, pledging a frat, exploring the unseen Las Vegas and hunting Big Foot.
The partners’ own reality began in Pennsylvania where the two grew up about 30 minutes from each other — Searer in Lewistown and Foy in Camp Hill. They didn’t know each other growing up but they discovered their similar background while working at 3 Ball Productions, another locally based reality TV production company, and became fast friends.
After branching out with Tijuana Entertainment, their goal has been to honestly approach issues like drug addiction or OCD, with no contrivance, because the “bottom line is truth is stranger than fiction.” That was evident when they took over during the second season of “The Two Coreys.” The first season was more like a sitcom, but the producers wanted to make season two more compelling by focusing on the former teen idols’ real relationship and Haim’s troubles with addiction. Bringing that honesty to television can be a challenge.
“There are a lot that come to us that we ultimately pass on or don’t think that there’s a story there and then there’s the good ones that we seek out or come to us,” Foy said. “There’s a lot of the personality ones…if they have an agenda that’s not true then it’s probably something we’re not going to do. Tom Sizemore, he was laying it all out whether you like to see it or not. That’s been one of the things we’ve gotten the most accolades for because that was truth telling, although sometimes hard to watch.”
The key, according to the producers, is to find out what they want out of the show and what they want to expose to the world.
“You have to be discerning because once you do one of those, people see those shows as a way to get back in the limelight or promote something about themselves,” Searer said. “The thing you never want to do is do a commercial for somebody. The things we always say to them is like in life if you’re willing to show your warts and people can relate to you, ‘Oh, he’s got problems just like I do or that gets to him like it gets to me,’ then they’re far more willing to accept the good side and the things you like to promote.”
The warts were all to see in “The Two Coreys.”
“Haim, who was kind of a wreck at the time, had a couple of teeth missing but he was lovable,” Searer said. “There was something about him that was really special and kind of cool. I remember leaving that meeting and he said, ‘I’m going to be on the cover of People magazine. I’m going to be the sexiest man alive in 2009.’ He ended up on the cover of People for an entirely different reason.”
Family men with five children between them, Foy and Searer said they are not Hollywood guys and they like to extend that family atmosphere to their company, creating a comfortable work environment that attracts employees from as far away as the valley. As their company expands, they feel reality television is here to stay because it’s cheaper to produce than a scripted show and that we are a “society that likes to see ourselves on camera.”
Other show Tijuana Entertainment have been involved in producing since its inception are “Mission: Man Band” for VH1; “Shoot to Kill” with Drew Barrymore’s production company; “Miss America Countdown to the Crown” for The Learning Channel; a pilot with comedian Andy Dick; and recently “They Call Me Crazy” with Los Angeles Lakers star Ron Artest, who will also develop and produce with E1 Entertainment.
BOB SAGET DOCUMENTS C.U. FRATERNITY LIFE - The Cornell Daily Sun
BOB SAGET DOCUMENTS C.U. FRATERNITY LIFE
The Cornell Daily Sun - April 23, 2010
With cameras rolling, Bob Saget sat in on PAM 2040: Economics of the Public Sector on Thursday morning, one of many appearances he is making around campus as he films an episode for the upcoming A&E television show “Bob Saget’s Strange Days.” The episode, which explores life in a fraternity, features Saget spending several days shadowing members of the Seal and Serpent Society, seeing sights on campus and attending fraternity events — including a formal and a toga party.
Saget, best known for his roles in “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” said he is enjoying spending time at the fraternity and around campus.
“I love this school. I was not smart enough to get in, but I did get 200 points for signing my name on the SATs,” he said.
The television show — which Saget described as a “docucomedy” — is billed as an investigation of “some of America’s most fascinating and mysterious worlds,” according to an A&E press release.
“It’s kind of a slice-of-life documentary,” said Claudia Wheatley, director of Cornell press relations.
In addition to discovering life in a Cornell fraternity, “Saget immerses himself in different unusual cultures from the world of mail-order brides to joining a survivalist cult prepping for the end of the world,” the press release said.
While Saget sat attentively for the duration of Thursday’s 75-minute class — minus one bathroom break — he may not have gained as much from the lecture as other students did.
“Economics is a complete blur,” he said after the class. “It does make me wish we had an open bar.”
After arriving in Ithaca on Wednesday, Saget has been spotted by students on the Arts Quad and in Collegetown as he tours the campus and shadows some of Seal and Serpent’s members.
“He’s here to get a sense of what it’s like in the fraternity,” said Jon Hermann ‘12, one of the Seal and Serpent members Saget is following.
“The experience is amazing for us, and it’s great for the house,” said Jordan Smith ‘11, another fraternity member with whom Saget has spent time.
The actor is attending several Seal and Serpent events this week, including the fraternity’s formal on Friday and a toga party on Saturday, according to Hermann. Hermann was unsure whether Saget would bring a date to the formal.
Although he is not going to be initiated into the fraternity, Saget will become an honorary member of Seal and Serpent, Hermann said.
This is not the first time Saget has visited the University. While attending Temple University, he had a girlfriend at Cornell and visited the University often. He also wrote some of his earliest comedy in Uris Library, Hermann said, and performed a comedy show in Barton Hall in 2006.
Saget was excited to return to campus and revisit some of his “old haunts,” Wheatley said.
“[Cornell is] an amazingly special place,” Saget said. “The people work really hard, and they’re smart.”
Besides touring campus, Saget is looking forward to the “big party” at Seal and Serpent on Saturday, he said. The toga party will include a live band and is expected to be crowded.
“Make sure to get there early,” a member of Saget’s filming crew told an inquiring student on Thursday.
The party is intended as “a celebration of [Saget] being here,” Hermann said.
The Seal and Serpent episode of Saget’s television show is tentatively scheduled to air on A&E late this summer.
“OBSESSED” OFFERS HELP, HOPE FOR THOSE WITH ANXIETY DISORDERS – Boston Herald
“OBSESSED” OFFERS HELP, HOPE FOR THOSE WITH ANXIETY DISORDER
Boston Herald – May 25, 2009
Helen’s father perished in a car crash and now Helen sleeps in the clothes in which he died and is terrified of driving on the freeway.
Scott is a buff contractor who is afraid of germs and washes his hands at least 50 times a day. He lives in a home so immaculate, it could pass for a space-age showroom.
They are the first two subjects of A&E’s unscripted series “Obsessed,” a companion show to its popular “Intervention.”
Here the focus is on the estimated 40 million Americans suffering from anxiety disorders ranging from panic attacks to hoarding.
Helen and Scott both suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder. To cope with unrelenting anxiety, they compensate with a variety of rituals. Both recognize the cost to their well-being but feel powerless.
Helen worries how her behaviors are affecting her three children. “I cannot have these kids turn out like me,” she says.
Scott is on the verge of having the relationship he’s always dreamed of but he knows his OCD will destroy it, as it has every other relationship.
“People want to make fun of OCD and think that it’s a funny disease, but if you knew how lonely it makes us feel, it really is not that funny,” he says.
Unlike “Intervention,” “Obsessed” takes viewers right into the therapy sessions and follows its subjects as they struggle to get better. For Helen and Scott, that means meeting with cognitive therapists who force them to face their fears.
With heightened exposure, the two will be able to develop coping skills to manage their panic, their therapists reason.
For Helen, that first means taking a ride on the freeway as a passenger. For Scott, that means handling things like a used tampon.
The hour tracks them through approximately three months of therapy, and the results are astonishing. Both make incredible progress. Scott can host a dinner party and not blink when someone leaves a dirty plate on his table. Helen is able to drive on the freeway and is able to burn her father’s clothes.
There are TV shows that entertain and TV shows that make you think, but there are a rare few that offer genuine hope to people in turmoil. “Obsessed” could turn out to be one of the best.
OBSESSED – Variety
Variety – May 21, 2009
No, this isn’t that movie with Beyonce, a “Monk” spinoff or even a perfume. “Obsessed” instead picks up the reality baton from “Intervention,” capitalizing on a condition – there drug addiction, here obsessive-compulsive disorder – to approximate the narrative arc of a made-for-TV movie. First, there’s the crippling nature of the disorder, providing a kind of voyeuristic carnival element. Then matters shift to the treatment portion, potentially providing elements of hope. Slickly intercutting between two stories in each hour, this series should deliver for A&E, which has found a dubious niche in documenting human frailties.
On the plus side, despite the provocative title, “Obsessed” feels more clinical and less exploitive than “Intervention,” which returns for another season as its lead-in. Although the quirks of those involved are detailed for maximum effect, there is a sense of compassion here, and the treatment program occurs over a matter of months, so we’re not talking about overnight epiphanies or miracle cures.
The premiere features Scott, a germaphobe who washes his hands repeatedly; and Helen, a single mom who experiences panic attacks when driving (her father died in a car accident), can’t venture onto the freeway and hasn’t been able to visit her parents’ graves.
Each is paired with a therapist (five are featured in the 11 episodes), who goes about the arduous task – or as arduous as can be shoehorned into a half-hour – of exploring the patient’s OCD symptoms, forcing them to confront the problem and teaching them various coping skills. Along the way, Scott has to discuss his obsessive cleanliness in the context of his bowel movements, and viewers are subjected to the cringe-worthy sight of a fidgety Helen driving her young kids around.
As intrusive as this might sound, the producers, to their credit, make “Obsessed” mostly about the pain and loneliness of such disorders; it’s not strictly a freak show (as “Intervention” is at times).
In this case, a straightforward approach mixed with a modicum of empathy goes a long way. And while that combination probably won’t inspire most to watch “Obsessed” over and over again, it did help a certain TV critic with his nagging compulsion to mock and ridicule manipulative reality concepts.
But as the song says in “Avenue Q,” only for now.
A&E Goes To Extremes On Memorial Day - Multichannel.com
MULTICHANNEL NEWS – May 5, 2009
A&E Goes To Extremes On Memorial Day
A&E will debut the seventh season of its Emmy-nominated reality series “Intervention,” flanking it with a new show examining extreme anxiety disorders, “Obsessed,” on Memorial Day. The seventh season of “Intervention,” which profiles people struggling with various addictions and the friends and family members seeking to help them out of their personal malaises, is scheduled to bow on May 25 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).
The new season of the four-time Prism Award-winning series will feature such stories as a fireman traumatized by a fire that nearly took his life and the partner he rescued who is desperate to save him from alcoholism; anorexic identical twins who would rather die than lose the title of being the thinner sister; and a young man whose suburban life was shattered by the Columbine High School massacre 10 years ago struggling with feelings of sadness and guilt and an addiction to heroin and cocaine.
In its sixth season, “Intervention” averaged 2.1 million total viewers, including 1.4 million adults 25 to 54 and 1.5 million adults 18 to 49, making it the network’s top program against those key demos.
The fresh installments will serve as a lead-in to “Obsessed” at 10 p.m. The new show explores those who suffer from anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and hoarding. A&E has ordered 11 one-hour episode from Tijuana Entertainment (“The Two Coreys,” “Shooting Sizemore”).
Each show will track two individual cases where the subjects face debilitating extreme anxiety disorders, their struggle and the process of rehabilitation.
In the series opener, Helen, a single mother of three is tormented every day by her OCD, which is turning her life into a nightmare. Her anxiety was spiked when her father died in a car accident, and now has extreme panic attacks while driving and she obsessively puts on her father’s bloody clothes from that fatal night.
Meanwhile, Scott is a germaphobic who doesn’t keep a trashcan in his house, doesn’t have any pictures on the wall, washes his hands 50 times a day and sleeps on the sofa because it takes him too long to make his bed in the morning. His OCD has caused him to be desperately alone and he must face his fears through cognitive behavioral therapy in the hope he can have a successful relationship.
“The series sheds a light on the vast world of anxiety disorders, while offering those who suffer from these debilitating afflictions a path to recovery,” said Robert Sharenow, senior vice president, nonfiction and alternative programming, A&E Network and BIO, in a statement. “Like “Intervention,” “Obsessed” takes an honest and unflinching look at a difficult subject, programming that has come to resonate with our viewers and that underscores the essence of our brand.”
A&E Has An Obsession - Multichannel.com
A&E is Obsessed – as in a new real-life series.
MULTICHANNEL NEWS – January 31, 2009
A&E has ordered 11 installments of “Obsessed,” a docuseries examining people with anxiety disorders and their treatments, from Tijuana Entertainment. The show, which is expected to bow in the second half of 2009, will complement the acclaimed “Intervention” and look to draw from its established audience. “Like our Emmy-nominated series “Intervention,” “Obsessed” balances intense human drama with redemption,” said Robert Sharenow, A&E Network and BIO senior vice president of nonfiction and alternative programming in a statement. “The series will take a raw, honest and emotional look at the world of anxiety disorders while offering those who suffer a path to recovery.”
A&E “OBSESSED” OVER NEW SERIES – Variety
Network Orders 11 Episodes Of Series
Variety – January 29, 2009
A&E has greenlit “Obsessed,” a nonfiction series delving into the lives of people stricken with anxiety disorders.
The cable network has ordered 11 one-hour episodes of the series, which it compares to its Emmy-winning, addiction-focused skein “Intervention.”
Produced by Tijuana Entertainment (“The Two Coreys”), “Obsessed” is already in production. It’s due to premiere on A&E in the latter half of this year. Troy Searer and John Foy are exec producers.
Series profiles the lives of those stricken by anxiety-based mental illnesses, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and various phobias, showcasing the challenges they and their families face, as well as their search for treatments and cures.
THE LOST BOYS - People Magazine
THE LOST BOYS
People magazine - August 4, 2008
BEST FRIEND FOR YEARS, THEY CAN’T STAND EACH OTHER NOW. HOW DRUGS AND DARK SECRETS ARE RIPPING APART THE COREYS.
They are two men who will not speak to each other, share the same room or even pose together for a single photograph. They grew up like brothers and were closest confidants. But now neither can discuss the other without bitterness and rage.
This is how bad things have gotten between Corey Feldman, 37, and Corey Haim, 36, the two ‘80s idols known for being best friends on- and off-screen. Among the most famous teen actors of their era, they are forever linked by their names and the score of youth movies they made together, including the Gen X cult classic “The Lost Boys.” But the pair also experienced shockingly traumatic childhoods, marked by exploitation, molestation, and drug abuse.
That history has been laid bare on “The Two Coreys,” a reality series on A&E that reunited Haim and Feldman and exposed their rapidly disintegrating relationship. During the show’s second season, both actors 
confessed that they had been sexually abused as kids. Feldman by a man hired to be his assistant, Haim by a 42-year-old man he won’t identify. Not long after those startling revelations, Haim suffered a relapse in his 20-year battle with drug addiction.
Feldman, a recovering heroin addict who has been clean for more than a decade, says he had no choice but to cut ties with his costar, motivated by equal parts tough love and self-preservation. “As a friend and somebody that cares deeply about the guy, I am not going to watch him destroy himself,” says the “Goonies” star, who is now married to model Susie Feldman, 26, and father to son Zen, 3. He has not spoken to or had any contact with Haim in over six months.
But Haim has his own story to tell, claiming that Feldman could have done more to protect him from the molestation he endured. “Corey is a fake friend,” says Haim, who claims he’s been sober since before “Coreys” wrapped six months ago. “(Now) he’s being very vindictive and malicious.”
On the same day - but at opposite ends of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley - both men talked to “People’s” Oliver Jones about their poisoned friendship, the toll of teen stardom and why the painful past they share is now tearing them apart.
COREY FELDMAN: “I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE”
Are you refusing to speak with Corey Haim in an effort to spur his sobriety?
I don’t know if I would glorify my actions quite that much. First and foremost, it’s about my family: I don’t feel that he’s a safe person to have around my wife and child at the moment, for a multitude of reasons.
He blames you for the sexual abuse he suffered as a kid.
That’s bs. I think that he needs to demonize somebody. As a 14-year-old, how could I be responsible for actions that happened between him and another person?
Did you know Corey was going to bring up sexual abuse on the show?
No. When he did, my jaw hit the table. I couldn’t believe he’d do that. This stuff is very private, very personal.
Why did you admit to being sexually abused yourself?
He threw it out there, and it was my way to make him feel better about what he had just done. What he said was shocking, and troubling. Afterwards, off-camera, he’d pull me aside and go, “What did I just say? I can’t believe I just did that!” I couldn’t believe it either, but I’m proud of him because it was obviously something holding him back in life. It needs to be dealt with.
Who molested you?
Somebody who befriended me, who was working for me. His job basically was to be my chaperone, my adult supervision. He would come in at night when I was asleep, and I would wake up the next morning, and he would act like we were buds. At age 14, how do you digest that?
As a kid, you were befriended by Michael Jackson.
It wasn’t Michael Jackson who molested me, but he did do real damage in my overall life. I was a 12-year-old boy who was hurt by his family and ignored by people at school. Michael would sit and talk to me for hours and he would listen. Then he would get bored. The biggest thing that Michael’s done to children is befriending the ones that are in need and then abandoning them. “Hey, I love you, I’m here for you, anything you need, you call me, I will be there for you.” Then the very next day, the number’s been changed. As a 12-year-old kid, that’s a pretty hard one to comprehend. That’s the karma he’s paying off now.
Was sexual abuse why you started to use drugs at 15?
Part of it, but there was a lot of pain in my life. As a child my life was hell. I had no friends because I was the geek, the outsider. I was told I was fat, I was told I was ugly. There was mental abuse and physical abuse - anything you can imagine. I was beaten with sticks, toilet seats. The beautiful thing is now as a father I get to make up for all that. That is my healing.
Will there be a third season of “The Two Coreys?”
No. There can’t be until he gets it together, period. I will not do a third season or anything else with the guy until he has done what I feel is a full course of treatment. As his friend, I can’t do this anymore.
Do you think that he will ever fully recover?
I haven’t given up hope yet. There’s hope as long as he’s still breathing.
COREY HAIM: “I’VE LEARNED TO ASK FOR HELP”
Why did you drop the bombshell about being sexually abused?
It was time for me to reveal some things that happened in my life, basically that I was molested at a young age and I felt like I let it happen, man. I had come to terms with this a long time ago, but then, obviously not. I’m still working on it. Stuff happens when you are a kid; it scars you.
Do you still care about Corey Feldman?
You know somebody for so long, you are always going to have a special little something in your brain for that person. So I will always love Corey Feldman, but I lost 105 percent respect for him and his wife. His beautiful son Zen has nothing to do with this.
Why blame him for your childhood sexual abuse?
He said, “I’ll always have your back.” But he knew that there was a rape issue going on with me for about two years, and what did he do about it? Nothing.
You say you are sober now. How did that come about?
It was a real eye-opener for me to see myself (using drugs) again on the show. When I was 22 years old, that was one thing. But you don’t want to be doing this when you’re 35 years old, 36 years old. It’s embarrassing and shaming for people to see me like that.
Why did you relapse?
I’m human and I have had some major, major things happen to me in my life. That’s no excuse at all for taking a drug, a pill, a drink, you name it, and I know that. But at the same time, I was going through a lot of stuff - life is what it is - and I had a slippage. It happened, and it’s over, pretty much. When I say pretty much, I mean I’m on a program now, a good, solid, two-times-a-week program.
How long have you been sober?
Ten months now. So I’m on a good path. Every day is going to be a new day.
Is it as hard as you thought it would be?
It’s harder, man; it’s harder. But you have great moments of clarity: I’m talking colors, I’m talking sounds, I’m talking, you know, my friend’s laugh. It feels like raw bacon getting stripped out of every cell of my body. But it takes about a year, they say, to get back to normal.
Do you feel like it’s going to stick this time?
Of course I’m going to feel fragile, because I’ve been on stuff for a long time, you know. But it’s becoming more and more solid. So I have my support and I am starting to attend AA meetings. My support group is enlarging because I’ve learned to ask for help.
Will you ever patch things up with Corey Feldman?
I’m not even thinking about that right now. I’m thinking about me: my career, my future, my life. I’m thinking about putting a Band-Aid on a 20-year addiction and moving on - not just a Band-Aid, but putting cement on it so that it will never come off.
LOST BOYS FOUND - Star Magazine
LOST BOYS FOUND
Star Magazine - July 7, 2008
It’s Corey vs. Corey! The first season of “The Two Coreys” - ‘80s icons Feldman and Haim - came across as a humorous reality show like “The Osbournes.” But the gritty new season is more like the A&E addiction docu-drama “Intervention!” After 20 years of close friendship, Feldman and Haim come to a crossroads when they begin to film “Lost Boys: The Tribe” (out on DVD July 29), and Haim, 36, shows up on the first day of filming obviously under the influence. “Corey is still fighting the battle all these years later,” Feldman, 36, tells “Star” about his friend’s addiction to drugs and alcohol. “He’s his own worst enemy, and he’s doing it for the world to see.”
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER
The new season of “The Two Coreys” follows the best buds as they try to get their new movie off the ground and attend therapy sessions together in hopes of ironing out their differences. “As opposed to last season, this time the gloves are really off,” Feldman says. “This is one of the most realistic, honest TV shows you’ll ever see. There’s so much revealed.”
But will the two Coreys be able to weather the storm caused by Haim’s personal demons? “He’ll always be my friend,” says Feldman. “He’s had a lot of screwed up things happen to him, and he gets it out. It’s explosive - there’s really no other way to describe it.”
FIGHTIN’ ‘COREYS’ IN REMATCH - The Hollywood Reporter
FIGHTIN’ ‘COREYS’ IN REMATCH - A&E CONTRACTS FOR 10 MORE ROUNDS
The Hollywood Reporter - January 9, 2008
A&E Network is bringing back “The Two Coreys” to air out their grievances, giving a second-season pickup to the unscripted series starring Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.
A&E has ordered 10 new half-hour episodes of the show from producers RDF USA (ABC’s “Wife Swap”) and Tijuana Entertainment (VH1’s “Breaking Bonaduce”) and is tentatively targeting a spring premiere.
Haim and Feldman, longtime friends who starred together in such 1980s films as “The Lost Boys” and “License to Drive,” were last seen feuding at the end of Season 1, and execs say the two have not seen each other since. In the second season, Haim and Feldman will pick up in Los Angeles where they left off and decide whether to work through their differences or part ways.
“The first season of the show exposed some deep-seated issues between the Coreys, which really only started coming to the surface in the final episodes,” said Robert Sharenow, senior vp nonfiction and alternative programming at A&E. “This season promises more drama, tension and laughs as they struggle to make their relationship and careers work.”
Season 1 delivered 28% and 40% increases above A&E’s primetime average in the key adult demos of 25-54 and 18-49, respectively.
“The first season was a whirlwind,” said Greg Goldman, executive vp development and current at RDF USA. “I think we’re all looking forward to see what happens this next time around.”
Goldman, Chris Coelen, Tony Yates, Feldman and Haim executive produce “Coreys” for RDF USA; Troy Searer and John Foy exec produce for Tijuana. A&E exec producers are Sharenow, Michael Morrison and Scott Lonker.
RDF USA also produces Fox’s “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” and Lifetime’s “How to Look Good Naked,” while Tijuana’s credits include VH1’s “Shooting Sizemore” and “Mission: Man Band.”