One of the world's most popular reality shows has found a new catalyst for on-screen drama: a Friday rush hour drive from Toronto to cottage country.
What happened: The hit Bravo reality TV show Summer House is getting a Canadian spinoff set in Muskoka. Summer House Canada, just like its NYC-Hamptons counterpart, will follow a group of young friends as they escape the city to share a weekend lakehouse for the summer.
Meanwhile, Canada Shore — a show that also follows dramatic people trying to find love while living almost entirely in a bathing suit — was recently renewed for a second season at Paramount.
Why it matters: At a time when networks and streamers are struggling to get people to sit through a 45-minute episode of TV, marquee reality shows have managed to keep viewers glued to their couches, in some cases, six days a week.
The current season of Love Island USA (which drops an episode almost every day) raked in an absurd 824 million minutes of stream time for its first three episodes.
The last season of Summer House averaged 2.2 million viewers, while its reunion episode brought in a network record of 3.1 million people.
Zoom out: The appointment viewing habit that these reality shows have built is similar to live sports — by far the most popular entertainment segment in the world. Not only are people tuning in at home, they’re betting on it (US$32 million in Love Island wagers have been made on Kalshi so far this season), and bars are filling up with hundreds of patrons coming together to watch on a near-nightly basis.—LA
