Lifetime has unveiled its new “Real Love” relationship block for its Tuesday night lineup, beginning with season seven of hit docuseries Married at First Sight on July 10 at 8pm ET/PT with a matchmaking special, followed by a super-sized two-hour premiere at 9pm ET/PT. Then on the following Tuesday, July 17 at 10pm ET/PT, Seven Year Switch debuts its third season following four couples who partake in an extreme experiment of switch therapy, swapping partners in an attempt to salvage their broken relationship. Both shows are produced by Red Arrow Studios company Kinetic Content.
“Personal connection is at the heart of what Lifetime delivers to our audience, and we’re committed to offering a weekly destination for high-quality, non-fiction, romance and real relationship-based programming,” said Gena McCarthy, Executive Vice President, Head of Programming, Lifetime Unscripted & Head of Programming, FYI. “With the enormously successful Married at First Sight anchoring the night, we’re confident that ‘Real Love’ Tuesdays on Lifetime will quickly become required viewing.”
The lucky number seventh season of Married at First Sight heads to Texas where six Dallas area singles yearning for a life-long partnership agree to a provocative proposal: getting legally married to a stranger the moment they first meet, at the altar. A panel of experts – psychologist Dr. Jessica Griffin, sociologist Dr. Pepper Schwartz and marriage counselor, Pastor Calvin Roberson, create what they believe are three compatible couples based on scientific matchmaking and continue to counsel and mentor the couples throughout the season. The series captures each couple’s journey as they go from wedding, to honeymoon, to early nesting, to the daily struggles of working on their marriage. After several weeks together, each couple must make a decision: do they remain together or decide to divorce?
Married at First Sight, which wrapped its sixth season in April, delivered series high ratings on the network in the key adults 25-54 (648,000) and women 25-54 (467,000) demos. Over 1.2 million total viewers tuned into the season finale, the show’s best performance in over two years. On finale night, Lifetime was cable’s #1 entertainment network from 9-11pm among Women 18-49 (418,000) and the series was Lifetime’s best Tuesday telecast in key demos in two years.
In season three of Seven Year Switch on its new home on Lifetime, four couples embark on an emotionally difficult journey to help repair their relationships by participating in an extreme, innovative experiment of switch therapy. Each couple will swap partners and partake in experimental marriages in order to help determine if different traits and characteristics in a mate could make their marriage stronger. Viewers learn each of their stories – how they met, how they fell in love, how their marriages took a turn for the worst and why they are willing to risk everything in order to save it. Two relationship experts; Charles J. Orlando and Dr. Jessica Griffin, will help guide the couples through the switch therapy process, as they adjust to living with an experimental spouse.
Married at First Sight and Seven Year Switch are produced by Kinetic Content, a Red Arrow Studios company, for Lifetime. Kinetic Content’s Chris Coelen and Eric Detwiler executive produce both series. Sam Dean, Kimberly Goodman, Ally Simpson and Jen McClure-Metz also executive produce Married at First Sight while Dean Slotar and Rob Schwarze executive produce Seven Year Switch. Gena McCarthy executive produces both series for Lifetime.