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Discovery Communications’ TLC confirmed it’s not bringing back Real Simple. Real Life., the lifestyle-makeover show it produced with Time Inc.’s Real Simple.
The series premiered last October amid heavy promotion by Time Warner Cable, Real Simple and TLC, with launch sponsors that included Saturn, Kraft and Sears. It was a gamble, given that magazines have rarely spun their brands into commercially successful TV shows. The show also represented an unusual cross-platform sales effort between the magazine and cable network.
The idea was to build on the success of the lifestyle title and TLC’s What Not to Wear by bringing simplicity to harried women’s lives in a reality format. In the end, though, the show failed to capitalize on the magazine’s popularity, averaging 347,000 total viewers for all 15 episodes.
The cable network said it still hoped to find a way to translate Real Simple magazine to TV. “Ultimately, Friday night is a tough time to gain viewership,” said Steve Sachs, president of Time Inc.’s Lifestyle unit. “The Real Simple woman has a lot of balls in the air. It’s probably not the best time to reach her. That was probably the biggest thing.”
