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Apple gives series order to a show about ‘extraordinary homes’

Apple gives series order to a show about ‘extraordinary homes’

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Apple has given a series order to an unscripted show called Home, Variety reports. Each hour-long episode of the docu-series will look at an “extraordinary” home and the person who built it. Apple has reportedly ordered 10 episodes.

This series feels pretty different from the rest of Apple’s original slate. After experimenting with largely unsuccessful unscripted series like Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke, Apple has been bulking up its catalog of original shows. Back in October, the company said it was reviving the Steven Spielberg anthology series Amazing Stories, and the next month, it ordered a scripted drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. In December, Apple ordered a series from Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore.

Apple said last year that it plans to invest more than $1 billion in original content in this upcoming year. Home feels like a safe choice for Apple, especially for a company that’s trying to compete with prestige TV like HBO’s Game of Thrones and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. But the appeal of fancy mansions and extravagant homes as entertainment has already been proven over and over again by reality shows like Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing, and any one of HGTV’s wildly popular house-flipping shows. Apple is betting that Home will bring viewers, if not prestige.

As The Verge’s Bryan Bishop pointed out, Apple is likely working on something broad in scope, like a self-contained ecosystem of Apple-exclusive programming. And if Apple wants to appeal to the biggest number of viewers, it’s going to need award-bait shows and guilty pleasures.