‘Wife Swap’: Revival Of Hit Reality Series Set At CMT

CMT is bringing back hit reality series Wife Swap. The network has given the green light to an hour-long 10-episode revival of the program, which originally aired on ABC from 2004-2010. The successful series also spawned spinoff Celebrity Wife Swap, which ran for four seasons on ABC, from 2012-2015.

Per CMT,  with the country more divided than ever before, the timing for a revival is right. The series will feature two families from different geographical and social backgrounds that swap spouses, showcasing hot-button issues like politics, classism, gender and race with the end goal of everyone finding common ground. During each switch, the new spouses must at first adhere to exactly the same rules and lifestyle of the spouses being replaced, only to later establish their own rules. At the end, the two couples meet for the first time, where they discuss what they learned from the swap and what changes and new rules will remain once they return home.

Production is set to begin shortly on the series, which hails from Banijay Studios North America, with David Goldberg and Caroline Baumgard as executive producers. A premiere date has not been set.

In the original series, two families, usually from different social backgrounds and lifestyles, swapped wives, mothers and sometimes husbands for two weeks.

The revival greenlight comes on the heels of a strong growth period for CMT. February 2018 was CMT’s best February performance in four years, leading the channel to deliver its 15th month of year-over-year ratings growth among adults 18-49. Among women 18-49, CMT earned its best February in six years in Live+same day.