BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – For the new series “Undercover Billionaire” (10 p.m. Aug. 6), Discovery Channel sent billionaire businessman Glenn Stearns to Erie. But they made him go broke first.
Mr. Stearns, who founded Stearns Lending in 1989 and grew it into a successful business, arrives in Erie with just $100 in his pocket and no access to his bank account. Going by the alias “Glenn Bryant,” he has 90 days to create and build a company before an independent financial evaluator assesses the company’s worth. If it comes in at less than a $1 million valuation, Mr. Stearns has to put $1 million of his own money into the business.
In an interview before a Discovery Channel press conference on the series at the Television Critics Association summer 2019 press tour, Stearns said he had never been to Erie before his private jet touched down at Venango Regional Airport near Franklin just before St. Patrick’s Day. From there, he hopped into an old pickup and began his journey.
Stearns, who grew up near Silver Spring, Md., and now lives in Jackson Hole, Wyo., said his initial impression of Erie was of “this industrial powerhouse that was now run down and vacant and a lot of industry had left.” But his view on Erie evolved over time.
“They’ve been very smart, because now they’re trying to bring in small entrepreneurs,” he said. “My opinion changed completely. It’s a wonderful place. They realize they need to be the ones to pull themselves up.”
In the premiere episode, Mr. Stearns finds it quite difficult to get by on $100 and that trying to build a business at 55 is different than when he was 25.
“[I really got a glimpse into the lives of] the people in our country that are just there every day trying to survive,” Mr. Stearns said. “Because you can’t get breaks, it’s difficult. And so once I got a couple breaks … I was able to do that and gain some momentum.”
Unlike on CBS’s “Undercover Boss,” Mr. Stearns could be mostly honest with the locals he met, saying a camera crew was trailing him for a documentary on building a small business from scratch. He just couldn’t mention his net worth.
A season preview suggests Mr. Stearns will embark on opening a restaurant with the assistance of locals who will gain a stake in the business. Cleveland native Dawn Van Scoter — whose parents, Carol and the late Richard Dezzutti, are from Pittsburgh — is an interior designer and small business owner who was happy to get involved.
“I knew in my gut that I had to help him build this business here in town,” she said. “[With him] not being from Erie originally, I knew he was going to have a hard time because you’ll have this in any town. It’s really hard for somebody to just waltz in and build something and expect people to love it and use it and support it.”
Executive producer Aengus James said he envisioned “Undercover Billionaire” as “Naked and Afraid” for business with Mr. Stearns stripped of his contacts, wealth and name recognition.
“At the end of the day it reduced Glenn to someone who could only rely on people,” Mr. James said. “That’s the only resource he had.”
Showrunner Tim Warren said the search for a “hard-working American city” that Mr. Stearns had never visited led producers to Erie.
“What we loved about Erie was its history,” Mr. Warren said during a Discovery press conference. “It was obviously an industrial powerhouse that lost a lot of jobs and population, but that didn’t keep them down. They are rebuilding their city and economy through small businesses.”
For Mr. Stearns, “Undercover Billionaire” isn’t his first reality TV rodeo. He and his wife previously competed on TBS’s 2004 reality competition series “The Real Gilligan’s Island” where they were cast as “the millionaire and his wife.” Mr. Stearns won the competition.
“And then I just went back to work,” Mr. Stearns said, noting he was open to a show like “Undercover Billionaire,” but “I wasn’t actively out there trying to figure out how to do it.”
Mr. Stearns said his “Undercover Billionaire” experience might benefit American political leaders.
“I think it would be wonderful to give all of our representatives a hundred bucks and tell them, ‘You need to figure out how to survive,’ because they would think differently. I absolutely thought differently,” he said. “I will tell you what didn’t change for me: I don’t think it’s about giving people something. It’s about a hand up, not a handout. People all want to have that sense of pride that they’ve done something, and I still believe that. … There is so much more that I think we can do as a country to help the people that are just surviving. It’s very, very difficult to get ahead when you don’t have anything.”
BBC America transforms
As scripted British drama proliferates on other platforms — PBS’s “Masterpiece,” Acorn.tv, Britbox — BBC American continues its pivot toward natural history series.
Late this year, BBC America will rebrand itself as Wonderstruck every Saturday, offering 24 hours of natural history content, kicking off with a preview of “Seven Worlds, One Planet,” which will debut in early 2020.
BBC America also announced a new six-part series, “Eden,” which will travel to six different areas around the globe exploring the land and wildlife of the last untouched places on Earth.
Kept/canceled
HBO renewed “Los Espookys” for a second season.
Disney Junior renewed “Muppet Babies” for a third season.
IFC renewed “Baroness von Sketch Show” for a fifth season ahead of its Oct. 30 season four premiere.
NBC’s “Will & Grace” will end — again! The upcoming third season, airing in 2020, will be the rebooted sitcom’s last.
Channel surfing
True crime tales continue to expand on TV with AMC’s announcement of the five-part docuseries “The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park” (9 p.m. Nov. 13, AMC and Sundance TV), a re-examination of the 1986 killing of Jennifer Levin in New York’s Central Park by Robert Chambers. … NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” replacement, “A Little Late with Lilly Singh,” debuts at 1:35 a.m. Sept. 17. … FX ordered a new drama series pilot starring Jeff Bridges (“The Big Lebowski”) as a retired CIA officer who contends with his past. … The excellent BYUtv fantasy-adventure-comedy “Dwight in Shining Armor,” entertaining to children and parents alike, returns for its second season at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22. … The Chip and Joanna Gaines Discovery-owned network, Magnolia, will replace DIY in 2020.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column responds to questions about “The Alienist,” TV freelancers, Jeff Verszyla and weather on WTAE. This week’s Tuned In Journal includes posts on “Chasing the Cure.” Read online-only TV content here.
Post-Gazette TV writer Rob Owen is attending the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Follow RobOwenTV at Twitter or on Facebook. You can reach Rob at 412-263-2582 or rowen@post-gazette.com.
First Published: July 26, 2019, 1:33 p.m.
