Tom Ascheim, President, ABC Family, today announced that the network will continue to grow its slate of original programming with a new hilariously scary, hidden-camera, funny-prank show, “Freak Out.” The half-hour series, from SallyAnn Salsano’s 495 Productions (“Jersey Shore,” “Party Down South”), has been picked up for 14 episodes and will premiere this fall during the network’s well-known programming event “13 Nights of Halloween.”
“I’m glad to get reality back on our schedule and to continue to grow our original programming,” said Ascheim. “Scary can be funny, and this series is sure to deliver the ‘sclaughing’ — the screaming and the laughing. We’re also excited to be working with 495 Productions, a company with a proven track record for delivering hugely entertaining reality series.”
Each episode of “Freak Out” will feature an unsuspecting mark, whose fears come to life before their eyes with elaborate special effects, intricate makeup, twisted actors, and multiple cameras capturing the scenario from every angle. Every frighteningly hilarious prank is deviously tailored with help from the victim’s friends and family to turn an everyday situation into someone’s scary moment, until they realize they’ve been pranked.