Un-Real: Craig Bierko Joins Upcoming Lifetime Drama

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Craig Bierko (The Young and the Restless) has joined the cast of upcoming Lifetime drama Un-Real. He’s set to play Chet, the self-indulgent, pompous creator of a reality dating series who engages in an extramarital affair with his executive producer (Constance Zimmer). However, he has no intentions of leaving his wife.

Based on the Sarah Gertrude Shapiro short Sequin Raze and co-written by Marti Noxon, Un-Real is set in the world of a reality dating competition and follows a young staffer (Shiri Appleby) whose job it is to manipulate relationships in order to create the dramatic footage demanded of her by producers. In addition to Appleby, Zimmer, and Bierko, Un-Real stars Josh Kelly (One Life to Live) as one of the show’s cameramen, Johanna Braddy (Shameless) as a contestant eager to land a husband, and Breeda Wool (Betas) as a vulnerable tomboy from the South.

In addition to his role on the CBS soap, Bierko has appeared on the likes of Damages, Boston Legal, and Sex and the City.

Un-Real should be the next original scripted series to debut on Lifetime, which has already premiered one new series this year in sci-fi conspiracy drama The Lottery. The network, also home to the likes of Devious Maids and Witches of East End, recently picked up another scripted drama in The Clan of the Cave Bear, which tells the story of a young girl fighting for survival in a world where Neanderthals and the first modern humans occupy the same space.

Will you be watching Un-Real? Do you think a show with this type of concept can be a success for Lifetime? Are you surprised that it’s taken this long to get this type of scripted show on the air?