Sonny Corinthos

The Viacom-owned cable network announced its first-ever animated project, Bounty Hunters, along with a fun-loving cop reality show Trinity 911 at its upfront at New York’s Museum of Arts & Design this morning.

The former hails from the popular Blue Collar comedy troupe, and will count Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy as voices as well as executive producers. The series, which also counts Lisa Lampanelli as a series regular, will feature the Blue Collar trio as they track down fugitives for their own two-bit bounty hunting business in each of the series' 13 half-hour episodes. Lampanelli will voice the part of as tough-as-nails bondwoman who assigns them cases.

Hunters, co-created by Glenn Clements, Ben Levin and Matt Burnett, is being produced by Muse Entertainment and Parallel Entertainment and is set to debut next year. Joel Rice, Michael Prupas andJesse Prupas of Muse Entertainment along with JP Williams andJennifer Novak of Parallel Entertainment and Jayson Dinsmore, Eliot Goldberg and Melanie Moreau of CMT will also serve as executive producers.

For its part, Trinity, a 10-episode unscripted series premiering later this year, will feature the real-life hilarity of a small town police force in Trinity Texas (population 2,656). The Endemol USA-produced project will capture the jovial cops as they do such things as taser each other or attempt a donut-free week mandated by their trainer. Endemol's Greg Johnston is on board as an EP, with Dinsmore and Goldberg joining him as the network.

“We’re in the midst of a bold, new era here at CMT with more record-setting series than ever before,” said Dinsmore, a former NBC reality executive who joined CMT as EVP programming and development a little over a year ago. He was joined by Cheer EPs Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, one-time Bachelor star Melissa Rycroft and husband Tye Strickland of Melissa & Tye and a performance by The Band Perry.

In his short tenure at the cable network, Dinsmore has launched the net’s two highest rated series ever with Bayou Billionaires and My Big Redneck Vacation, and has ambitious plans to launch several more shows this month. Among them: a second season of Texas Women (April 7), The Singing Bee (April 20), freshman efforts Ryan Seacrest-produced Melissa & Tye and Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country (both April 20). The network’s annual CMT Music Awards will air live from Nashville June 6.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...engvall-308201

Vlyger

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