Lifetime is getting religious.
The A&E Networks-owned cable channel has ordered family docusoap, Preachers' Daughters, to series. The unscripted effort, which is will premiere on Lifetime next year, will center on the lives of teenage pastors’ daughters and their watchful parents as they balance the temptations of adolescence with the expectations of following their household beliefs.
“Adolescence can be a challenging time of transition for children and their parents,” said Lifetime Networks' EVP Programming Rob Sharenow. “By opening their homes and lives to our viewers, the families featured on Preachers’ Daughters will provide an honest portrayal of their experiences -- book-ended by the deep love they share and shifting household dynamics in their beliefs.”
STORY: A&E's Nancy Dubuc on 'Liz and Dick': I'd Do It Again
Lifetime ordered eight hour-long episodes of the series, which will be produced by Hatfields & McCoys' Thinkfactory Media. Adam Reed, Emily Sinclair, Adam Freeman and Leslie Greif well serve as executive producers alongside Lifetime’s Sharenow, Gena McCarthy, Kimberly Chessler and Toby Faulkner. A+E Networks will handle global sales for Preachers’ Daughters.
The news comes as Lifetime continues to expand its offerings, looking to make noise and drive ratings. The network's most recent effort, Liz & Dick, did more of the former than the latter. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter for this week's cover story, A&E Networks' honcho Nancy Dubuc acknowledged she would do the Lindsay Lohan telepic all over again.
"What I'm most proud of is that I don't think it's a movie that Lifetime would have done two years ago. It would have felt too disconnected, too provocative and too risky," she said of an internal mind-set that she is changing, one network at a time. "And what I love about my team today is that they don't feel like it was risky at all."
Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose
