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Spike TV Picks Up Coal Miner Reality Show
by Jean Bentley, posted Oct 14th 2010 4:00PM
Well, that didn't take long. Less than a day after the last of the 33 Chilean miners was lifted to safety after being trapped underground for two months, the inevitable coal miner cash-in has already started.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Spike TV is picking up a show about the dangerous world of coal mining from Thom Beers and the team of producers behind the Discovery Channel hit 'Deadliest Catch.' The series, called 'Coal,' follows the owners and miners of Westchester, W.Va.'s Cobalt Mine and will begin its 10-episode run in April 2011.
Although the announcement is suspiciously timely, Spike original programming VP Sharon Levy insists the series has been in the works for more than a year. "It didn't take a tragedy, and then a miracle, to get us excited about this," Levy said. "Obviously, we're humongous fans of the kind of shows Thom does that celebrate the everyday man. He said, 'We're working on this project called "Coal,"' and we said we'd take it."
In fact, Levy said the network deliberately held off from announcing the project until the Chilean miners were rescued.
"We've tapped into something that people are passionate about; this is a topic the world is interested in," Levy said. "Everybody is afraid of being buried alive. These people risk their lives every day to make the world move, yet most of us never really think about how we get [our energy] ... this series is going to shine a light on the brave men and women and their families who endure the rigors of this arduous profession."
Despite the fact that this show has been in production for a while now, it still seems insensitive to announce it so soon after the situation in Chile was resolved.
Tell us: Is this timing a little uncomfortable for you too? Or is it just us?
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