For longtime “Married at First Sight” viewers, Season 20 may feel a bit different. The new season, which debuts on July 12, is the first full season made for Peacock.
The series, produced by Kinetic Content, aired Seasons 5-18 on Lifetime before moving to NBC’s streaming service in 19 — but that deal wasn’t completed until after the 19th season was filmed.
“Season 19 was made for Lifetime. We edited it for Peacock, but we had already shot the show for Lifetime, so we had shot with a Lifetime lens on it,” says Chris Coelen, Kintetic founder and CEO. “This season, for the first time, is a true, full-scope Peacock season.”
Going in, the team knew that meant a full overhaul for Season 20. Coelen is forever grateful to the long partnership with A&E, who “were the first ones to take a chance on the series.” But with the changes in the business and marketplace overall, it was time for a change. That brought along more freedom, without the time constraints of network television.
It also meant, in a big shock to the fans, all new experts. Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Pastor Cal Roberson and Dr. Pia Holec exited after Season 19, with Paul C. Brunson and Dr. Lisa Paz coming in as the new experts to help each couple.
“Every season, it’s an ongoing conversation about what’s working, what’s not working, and I think our experts have worked for a really long time. I just think the opportunity came across to look at two really exciting new experts,” the executive producer says. “It made sense for us, moving to a new platform, a new home, to be able to bring some new experts to the table. And we’re really excited about the people that we brought on board.”
Over the last 20 seasons, there have been three or four experts at a time, but having two made sense with the new format, he says. “It felt a little less crowded and more focused, in terms of the ability for the experts to really develop a relationship with the participants in a different way.”
This season, set in Seattle, also features couples who are a bit older, and in turn, maybe a bit more ready to get married.
“I think it depends, partly, on the place,” says Coelen. “Different people are ready at different ages for a big commitment and the group of people that we have in this iteration felt like the right age that they were serious about marriage as a as a next step in their lives.”
For the first time, “Married at First Sight” features a familiar face from the reality TV world. Nick Uhlenhuth has previously appeared on Netflix’s “The Circle” and “Perfect Match.” And at first, Coelen was hesitant about that, wanting to make sure that his intentions weren’t to be a reality TV star but to actually find his partner. Luckily, he had a real connection with Courteney Landis.
“When you look at how he and Courteney align, it has nothing to do with any of that. The way that they match up across so many different qualities is really ideal,” says Coelen. “I don’t even know that we originally went out thinking, ‘Let’s find somebody from another show.’ Those are things that we all talk about, but I think getting to know his family, getting to see the relationship role models around him and the way they talked about him, all of that added up to feeling like he was a really good choice.”
The first episode of “Married at First Sight” Season 20 is now streaming on Peacock.