With Chilean rescue done, Spike TV announces reality show about life and work in a coal mine

The rescue of the gold-and-silver miners in Chile, and the massive attention to their story, has prompted announcement of a cable-and-satellite-TV reality show that will be about coal miners working in a very different underground environment in Central Appalachia, reports James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter.

Spike TV has ordered 10 episoides of 'Coal,' which Hibberd calls "a docuseries chronicling the dangerous profession of coal mining set in West Virginia. ... With the rescue of 33 Chilean miners drawing international headlines, the project should have little trouble generating interest from viewers and the media. But Spike executives note that 'Coal' has been in development for nearly a year. ... The network was prepared to announce the project weeks ago but held off until rescue workers could begin freeing the miners."

"It didn't take a tragedy, and then a miracle, to get us excited about this," Sharon Levy, executive vice president for original programming at Spike, told Hibberd. She said people at the channel are "humongous fans of the kind of shows" produced by "reality powerhouse Thom Beers and his Original Prods," as Hibberd describes them. They make "Ice Road Truckers" and "Ax Men," for example.
Hibberd reports, "The show will focus on Mike Crowder and Tom Roberts, co-owners of Cobalt Mine in Westchester, W.Va.," just west of Fairmont. "The mining team has more than 40 employees, and this series will show every major aspect of their jobs, from planting explosives to surface mining to working in a traditional mine shaft."

The one-hour shows will begin in April. "We've tapped into something that people are passionate about," Levy told Hibberd. "This is a topic the world is interested in. Everybody is afraid of being buried alive." (Read more)

Spike TV has issued a release noting the show will include 10 unscripted, hour-long episodes set to debut in April 2011. "Every aspect of the job will be covered, from the dangers behind the super-charged explosions needed to open surface mines, to the well-publicized daily dangers of working in the dark recesses of the earth's crust in a traditional shaft mine," Spike writes. "As they face the daily pressure to keep the mine up and running and their workers safe, family men Crowder and Roberts will rely on the support of their loved ones to tackle the mine's daily demands." (Read more)