Anyone who has ever checked their watch 30 minutes into one of Morgan Spurlock’s documentaries and thought, “You know, this really should have just been a TV show” is in luck (again). Furthering its concerted efforts to hip up its brand identity by performing the programming equivalent of turning a baseball cap around, CNN has announced that the premise-generator behind Super Size Me and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold will debut a new reality series on the network in April of next year.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Spurlock’s Inside Man will parachute drop the “adventurous documentarian” behind subcultural lines, immersing him in the lives of “gun lovers, marijuana growers, migrant farm workers, and end-of-life caregivers.” In other words, it sounds exactly like Spurlock’s previous show, the cancelled FX series 30 Days, in which people (including—but not limited to— Spurlock himself) spent 30 whole days living among people whose lifestyles were entirely different than their own. No word yet on whether CNN is planning a crossover in which Spurlock will plunge into the world of CNN’s recently announced Anthony Bourdain show, which (like his soon-to-wrap Travel Channel hit No Reservations) similarly explores strange subcultures, albeit through food. Considering CNN is all about reinventing itself as the go-to channel for lifestyle surfing, maybe it's not far off.