CBS has ordered a new reality series, Hunted, produced by Endimol Shine North America, the same production company behind reality properties like Big Brother and The Biggest Loser. The new U.S. order is based on a UK series of the same name.
Here’s the CBS press release:
IF YOU HAD TO DISAPPEAR TOMORROW, COULD YOU? CBS ORDERS “HUNTED,” A NEW ALTERNATIVE SERIES WHERE PARTICIPANTS GO ON THE RUN TO EVADE CAPTURE BY SKILLED INVESTIGATORS
CBS has ordered HUNTED, a new one-hour alternative series where participants are challenged to go on the run as some of the world’s most highly skilled investigators and trackers pursue them in a nationwide manhunt. The series is being developed for broadcast based on the format of the UK show, which was created and produced by Shine TV. The new CBS series will be produced by Endemol Shine North America.
“HUNTED is a compelling new alternative series format, which our Alternative department had been tracking for a while, that feels tailor-made for CBS,” said Glenn Geller, President, CBS Entertainment. “It combines the suspense of a crime drama with the thrill of a competition reality series and some very topical social issues.”
HUNTED follows ordinary people attempting the nearly impossible task of disappearing in today’s vast digital world, as professional investigators combine state-of-the-art tracking methods with traditional tactics to narrow down the search area. From searching their target’s home and scouring Internet and cell phone histories to identifying behavioral patterns, they look for clues to potential hiding places and collaborators that can ultimately lead to capture.
HUNTED premiered to strong ratings this month, especially among young adults, on Channel 4 in the UK.
Information regarding premiere date and how to apply to be a participant will be announced at a later date.
What do you think? Would you watch this show? If you’ve watched the UK version, how is it?
I find this show in poor taste. We have no privacy in this country and now you make a game of these pros tracking citizens.
count me in
Love your show already. I am a retired Army Master Sgt. I have been involved in escape and evasion courses and taught the same. If you continue the program and would like to lose your $250,000,00 please contact me. To make it fair, I will take one of my co-workers. The only thing he has evaded has been his wife to have a beer with his friends. Please send the Navy Seal after me.
Good show concept, but is one-sided. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. The hunters are skilled professionals with access to a vast networking of communications versus a handful of square citizens. Plus, just in case a fish gets away, they have the re-set button to re-track them every time they use the ATM card. Track me, an ex-con who has been living a positive and productive life for the past 27 years. Give me $500 dollars and access one time to an ATM, and I show up on the CBS door-step in 30 days.
I watched the first episode. I was not impressed at all. So far it is too easy for investigators and the “fugitives” seem vetted out to be on the more naive side of the law, making them easy prey.
Hopefully some of the future teams actually think strategically like real fugitives would!
And limited it to such a small area too, very unrealistic!
I think the show’s producers are manipulating variables to make us think investigators/hunters are smarter than they are….
I watched the “Hunted” with interest, but my interest quickly faded. The Hunted pit’s totally “square” citizens against skilled professional hunters with access to a vast communications network to locate and track the hunted. If the Hunted don’t find them in 7 days they get to hit the re-set button through the ATM card they use to get money. The Hunted is as challenging as shooting fish in a barrel. Why don’t you even the playing field? Instead of totally square citizens, how about someone like me? An ex-con who has been a positive and productive citizen for the past… Read more »
my message is this I can beat you or anyone at this game all day any day just come and see Ill smoke you today or the next come and get some I put it to you now you will never find me no matter who comes looking if you don’t then Ill know you cant win so why try
IS THERE A TIME LIMIT OR DESTINATION?? DOES IT GO ON FOREVER IF YOU ARE NOT CAPTURED??????
I think it is an amazing idea! I am looking foward to the show and I want to know how I can be a part of the next series!
This is a mind-numbingly bad idea. I hope this doesn’t make it to air.
The UK “Hunted” is engaging fun, though participants keep making bone-head mistakes like phoning home and failing to scrub laptops and mobiles that are left behind.
It’ll be interesting to see how the show “scales up” from a small island country to the US continent.
Ho-hum! Might as well watch the “Paint-Drying Channel” or the “Test-Pattern Network”. Time to fire up the XBox.
It sounds interesting but it doesn’t really appear to be too hard to disappear if you really want to. You need cash and brains. Everything else is easy.
Hi, I’m Cindy and wrote this article for TVSeriesFinale.com. Is anyone else out there a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? The premise of HUNTED reminds me of the BtVS season 3 episode 5, “Homecoming.”
Okay, granted, in “Homecoming,” the villains were actually hunting people, but that’s the first thing that came to mind (as is all that could go wrong during shooting) as I was writing this article. I hope you enjoyed it.
OMG!!!! Not another reality show!! CBS – you have too many reality shops already!!!!