Well this should be fun! Rolling Stone Country confirms that country star, American Idol Season 5 finalist, and Dancing With The Stars Season 16 champ Kellie Pickler and her husband, Nashville hitmaker Kyle Jacobs will star in a reality show set to premiere on CMT on September 18!
CMT will roll out a new reality series following Kellie Pickler and her songwriter husband Kyle Jacobs. Tentatively titled I Love Kellie Pickler, the show will chronicle their quirky he said/she said romance and lifestyle. Ryan Seacrest, Pickler’s old American Idol pal, is the show’s producer.
“It finally feels right with the people that we’re working with [Seacrest], and having CMT as our home. There’s no drama, there’s no cat fights. Nothing like that,” Pickler tells Rolling Stone Country. “We just want to be a bright light and make people happy — make ’em feel good and help them get away from their day a little bit.”
Kellie and Kyle had previously signed on for a reality show that would document their wedding preparations and wedding before ditching the hoopla and eloping in Antigua on New Year’s Day 2011. Considering her hilarious appearances on the Ellen Degeneres Show (like this one from 2011, this one from 2012, this one from 2013 and this one from later in 2013), and and the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (like this one) and the fact that her personality has earned her repeat appearances on shows like The View and The Chew (in April and July of last year), Kellie’s fielded a ton of reality show offers.
She says as much in this Rolling Stone Country interview, which says her show has been greenlit for 10 episodes based only on a sizzle reel and that she and Kyle will start filming in late April or May. She describes the show as follows:
We laugh so much. We have Redneck Supper Club dinner parties at our house and grill out. I was a huge fan of Lucille Ball, and her funny shenanigans with Ethel that poor Ricky would have to get her out of. We want to play off that type of comedy — lighthearted but natural situations that I get into — and marry that with a Friends-type feel.”
Despite Kellie saying the show won’t be very music-intensive, let’s hope this one will help launch her next album, too. Kellie’s had 2 consecutively well-reviewed but weak-selling albums in 2012’s 100 Proof (her last album with Sony Nashville, which had sold 90k through late November 2013) and 2013’s The Woman I Am (her 1st album with Black River Entertainment, which had sold 47k through mid-January 2014). Although Kellie has no shortage of star power, near-platinum sales for her debut album Small Town Girl (which had sold 900k through late November 2013), near-gold sales for her self-titled sophomore album (which had sold 470k through late November 2013) and 5 t15 country hits under her belt, she hasn’t seen a t30 peak at country radio since 2011’s “Tough,” the by-product of country radio’s woman problem.
Kellie has been working on new music – collaborators include her husband Kyle Jacobs, Ruston Kelly, Billy Montana, Gordie Sampson, Caitlyn Smith, and Troy Verges.
Do you think the reality show route is a good one for Kellie, and do you think it could help her with country radio airplay and music sales?
