Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's dog Daisy does not have its own MTV show. Yet.
On Thursday, the network announced a spate of Simpson- and Lachey-related programming, including a third season of Newlyweds, a second season of Ashlee Simpson's personal reality trip and a new solo series for Lachey.
So as to not leave any family member unmonitored, Daisy the dog will appear on Newlyweds.
New episodes of Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica and The Ashlee Simpson Show are set to debut in January.
The Lachey show, currently known as the Nick Lachey Project, will debut sometime next year in a pairing with another new reality series, Meet the Barkers, starring Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and his wife, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler.
In a statement, MTV executive Lois Curren expressed amazement at viewers' connection with the Simpsons and Lachey, and threatened to "take fans even deeper into their lives." (Well, we suppose that last part wasn't technically a threat.)
The show orders come at a prickly PR time for the first extended family of reality TV. The state of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's union is being questioned weekly on newsstands, while the integrity of Ashlee Simpson's pipes are being challenged in the wake of her infamous Saturday Night Live appearance.
MTV says the younger Simpson's SNL snafu, in which the 20-year-old pop star resorted to hoe-down dancing when a prerecorded vocal track began warbling the wrong song, will be chronicled in her show's new season.
Where Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's marriage is concerned, MTV is promising more "excitement"--just not the kind of excitement that stems from bachelor and bachelorette parties gone wild.
According to the network, the couple, who have denied reports of their marital demise, will be seen celebrating just about everything--their second wedding anniversary, Lachey's 31st birthday, Halloween, etc. (While they're at it, they may as well toast the ratings of their latest ABC special, Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas, which scored a solid 12.4 million viewers Wednesday night).
On his new MTV show, Lachey, who saw an ABC sitcom deal go nowhere earlier this year, will be depicted as a man "completely submerged in the artistic process" as he "sets out to take his career to a whole new level," or at least to the level that sister-in-law Ashlee Simpson achieved through her MTV series/CD promotional device this past spring. (To date, Ashlee Simpson's debut, Autobiography, featured prominently in her show's first season, has sold about 3 million copies.)
Leaving no promotional opportunity squandered, the new season of Newlyweds will show Jessica Simpson at work on her upcoming movie, The Dukes of Hazzard, in which she plays Daisy Duke.
In another bit of good timing, the new season of The Ashlee Simpson Show will launch just as its titular star embarks on her first concert tour.
While the Simpson-Lachey clans have moved in on MTV, the Osbournes appear to be moving out.
The network made no mention Thursday of its once-signature reality show in its programming plans for 2005. This, on the heels of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne vowing last month that their family was done with the show.
Still, the show may not be done with them. It's believed MTV already has a new season's worth of episodes in the can, and ready for air next year.
In its fourth season, which ended in May, The Osbournes remained popular with younger viewers, but no longer was the pop-culture or ratings force that it was in its first season in 2002.