Fleiss
Mike Fleiss is two-timing ABC.
The man behind "The Bachelor" has quietly wrapped production on "The Two-Timer," a 10-episode unscripted comic sudser revolving around a twentysomething man with a knack for juggling multiple galpals.
Skein, from Fleiss' Telepictures-based Next Entertainment, will bow this summer on the Alphabet. Most episodes will be half-hours, though some could expand to an hour.
"It's a comedic look at a kind of man who lurks out there in the dating world," Fleiss told
Daily Variety. "It's a very relatable concept because everyone knows someone who's been a two-timer."
Skein will follow bachelor Chris as he goes on multiple dates each day, never telling the women of his other flings. While a few of the dates will be arranged, Chris will mostly serve as his own matchmaker -- picking up women in bars, at dog parks, or wherever else he finds potential sparks.
"This guy is just so great -- you can't make up some of the stuff he does," said ABC alternative chief Andrea Wong. "He's got a lot of tricks in his bag, and he's going to share some of them with us along the way. It's going to be a very fun show."
But "The Two-Timer," while sometimes lighthearted in tone, will have dramatic elements -- and won't necessarily glamorize the art of dating deceit.
"Crime doesn't pay in the end," Fleiss said. He also hinted at a final twist at the show's conclusion.
"There's a huge payoff he's not aware of," Fleiss said.
Indeed, Chris will find himself struggling to keep up his act -- particularly when producers introduce some twists, such as forcing him to meet the parents of several of his girlfriends.
"It's a complicated and hazardous business," Fleiss said, noting that at one point Chris attempts to date nine women.
While Wong calls Chris "a good-looking guy," this bachelor doesn't survive on looks alone. "He has to have some game to get this many women to go out with him," she said.
Unlike "The Bachelor," there won't be any rose ceremonies on "The Two-Timer." Fate will decide which women come or go.
"It's a natural process of elimination," Fleiss said. "When women find out he's two-timing them, they get pissed and leave."
"The Two-Timer" has been shooting in secret over the past few weeks, with producers using the cover story that they're shooting a documentary on young people in Hollywood.
Fleiss' "The Bachelor," which returned for a new season last night, is easily ABC's top-rated entertainment show -- as well as TV's most copied reality format (think "Joe Millionaire," "Average Joe," "Meet My Folks," "For Love or Money," "The Littlest Groom," "Playing it Straight," "Boy Meets Boy," "Mr. Personality," et al.)
While Wong notes that "The Two-Timer" is "a completely different kind of show," Fleiss said his latest skein is a gentle stab at the form he created.
"I wanted to skewer my own genre, which is all these dating shows," he said.
"The Two-Timer" was packaged by CAA.
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