Reality Check: 'Scare Tactics' returning to TV

“Scare Tactics,” the Syfy hidden-camera series in which unknowing participants are caught reacting to frightening scenarios, is set to return this fall — after a hiatus of over a decade — on NBCUniversal stablemate USA Network.

The revival comes from Monkeypaw, the production company of filmmaker Jordan Peele, who earned an Academy Award as screenwriter as well as best director and best picture nominations for his social-satire horror movie “Get Out” (2017).

“We’re so grateful at Monkeypaw to help reimagine one of our all-time favorite hidden-camera shows,” said the company’s president, Win Rosenfeld, in a statement. “Working with showrunner Elan Gale, one of the most creative and mischievous minds in unscripted television, and Scott Hallock, the brilliant” co-creator, with Kevin Healey, “of the original ‘Scare Tactics,’ has been an absolute blast.”

“Fans have been asking us to bring ‘Scare Tactics’ back for years, and working with this team was an amazing opportunity,” added Hallock, who returns as executive producer. “There’s no one better at horror and comedy than Jordan and Monkeypaw.”

The series premiered in 2003 with Shannen Doherty as host. Massapequa-raised Stephen Baldwin, of the Baldwin brothers actor clan, served as host also for a short time, followed by comedian Tracy Morgan (“30 Rock,” “The Last O.G.”).

Beach reading

“Survivor” season 47 begins Sept. 18. Can’t wait that long? Then wait just a couple weeks for “Survivor and the Endless Gaze” by Sallie Tisdale, author of “Advice for Future Corpses” (and Those Who Love Them).” Due out in paperback Aug. 13 with a new epilogue, this originally appeared as the 2021 hardcover “The Lie about the Truck.”

The enduring series “typifies the endless gaze,” describes the Gallery Books news release, “as the players watch each other, the cameras watch them, and, in turn, we add our own surveillance from the comfort of our homes.” The show’s popularity lies in part through our “fantasy marooning,” the book suggests, adding, “Viewers are not unaware of the editing process behind each season’s narrative arc, yet the myth persists that we’re seeing contestants as their authentic selves, which is part of its seductive power.”

The book also examines how winners emerge “not through superb survival skills but rather via carefully strategized deceit, short-lived alliances, and cutthroat social skills.”

Premieres

Only one this week. Blame the dog days of summer. The new “Love Is Blind: Mexico,” early Thursday on the streaming service Netflix, is the latest expansion of the flagship in which singles propose marriage after only speaking with the other person but not actually seeing them.

Recaps

Jess Druey, founder and owner of California’s Whiny Baby Wines, won “Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars” season 2 … Paramount+’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season 9 went to Angeria Paris VanMicheals aka Tommie Laron Holsey, who won $200,000 for the National Black Justice Coalition, the charity for which she competed

Aaron Erb quit and Hakeem Moulton and Tomas Azzano were eliminated from “The Bachelorette” … and on “America’s Got Talent,” which completed its audition episodes Tuesday, host Terry Crews announced that the show’s judges will now have Golden Buzzers during the live shows. Golden Buzzers have traditionally provided auditioners a fast-track to the live shows. The new ones will send acts directly to the finals.