Funeral-Themed Reality Shows Are a Thing Now – Thanks, Discovery

After bad timing buries TLC's "Best Funeral Ever," Discovery Fit & Health launches "Funeral Boss"

Discovery, which delayed airing TLC's "Best Funeral Ever" after the Newtown shootings, is giving the death business another try with the new "Funeral Boss."

The six-part series, which will premiere next month on Discovery Fit & Health, follows a funeral business owner who hopes to pass it on to his children.

Also read: TLC Delays 'Best Funeral Ever' After Newtown Shootings

"Best Funeral Ever," which was to premiere in December on Discovery's TLC, featured Dallas-based funeral director John Beckwith Jr. and his staff organizing sendoffs with such unlikely themes as Christmas and a state fair. But the network decided to delay the one-hour special until Jan. 6 because of the mass shooting.

"Best Funeral Ever" had 1.5 million viewers and TLC has ordered more episodes to air later this year.

The new Discovery Fit & Health series will take a more traditional approach than "Best Funeral Ever." Instead of highlighting outrageous funerals, it will focus on a family business that just happens to be readying people for their eternal rest. It follows patriarch Bill Harris as he tries to keep his three sons and a daughter in line. At least one of them hopes to one day take over.

Discovery is attempting, of course, to tap into one of television's largest demograpics: People who will someday die.

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