CNBC remains committed to unscripted in primetime despite the shelving of one of its first reality series, the studio show Crowd Rules.
"We knew we were in for the bumpy ride," admitted Jim Ackerman, senior vp of alternative programming at CNBC. "There's a lot of stuff out there, you have to be willing to take shots. And you have to be willing to say, hey that didn't work, let's move on. The commitment is as strong as ever."
To that end the NBCUniversal-owned cable news network announced an expanded unscripted slate at its breakfast session at the Television Critics Association press tour on Saturday. It has renewed The Car Chasers for a second season and will bow Money Talks, which follows well-known handicapper Steve Stevens, who runs VIP Sports in Las Vegas, Sept. 10 at 10 p.m.
And casting for the second season of The Profit, which premieres July 30 at 10 p.m., is already underway, Ackerman told The Hollywood Reporter. The Profit has entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis - the head of RV company Camping World, which has 25 percent of the RV market and more than 6,000 employees - on the hunt for struggling small businesses that could use a cash infusion. Lemonis has already turned around more than 100 small businesses, has invested $2.6 million of his personal fortune into the businesses to be featured on The Profit. If the show sounds similar to Shark Tank, Lemonis freely admits that he is "not a big fan" of the ABC hit starring Mark Cuban. "I don't know if the deals happen of not," explained Lemonis. "On our show the deals close before the episode airs."
