History orders five, renews six

Truck Night in America debuted earlier this year

A+E Networks-owned channel History has greenlit a raft of unscripted series and renewed six shows.

The new titles are Yamashita’s Gold, American Butcher, Ax Men Reborn (all working titles), Brothers in Arms and Knight Fight.

Being renewed are treasure-hunting series The Curse of Oak Island (30×60’) and The Curse of Civil War Gold (10×60’), for sixth and second seasons respectively; competition series Truck Night in America for a second outing (13×60’); survival show Alone for a sixth run (10×60’); and docuseries Swamp People (14×60’) and Mountain Men (13×60’) for 10th and eighth seasons respectively.

Yamashita’s Gold explores the tale from the Second World War of Japanese soldiers who, under the leadership of General Yamashita, buried treasure worth around a billion dollars deep in a jungle in the Philippines.

The 8×60’ series is produced by US-based Ample, with Ari Mark, Phil Lott and Ed Gorsuch exec producing for the company. Mike Stiller and Mary E Donahue serve as the executive producers for History.

Fremantle-owned Original Productions’ Ax Men Reborn (10×60’) follows the new generation from the logging families of the Pacific Northwest – captured in History’s previous series Ax Men – as they look to revive their fortunes amid the timber industry’s resurgence. Brian Lovett and Brian Mandle are executive producers for Original Productions, alongside Stiller, Zachary Behr and Dolores Gavin for History.

Competition series American Butcher (6×60’) and Knight Fight (8×60’) explore the skilled craft of professional butchers and medieval weaponry and combat, respectively. In the former, butchers put their expertise to the test to be crowned a ‘Master Butcher,’ while the latter sees contestants customise armour and weapons before fighting. Knight Fight is produced by Matador Content and American Butcher comes from Railsplitter Pictures.

Finally, Brother in Arms (5×60’), produced by Blackfin, follows two army veterans who are experts at historical military weaponry and take ownership of Banditos Armory in the historic town of Ogden, Utah.

A+E Networks holds global distribution rights to all the series.