TLC Plotting 'Best Funeral Ever' Docuseries (Video)

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The cable network that's home to Honey Boo Boo has ordered a special/back-door pilot for Best Funeral Ever, a docuseries starring the staff of a Dallas-based funeral home.

The hourlong special is set to air Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 8 p.m. and if successful, TLC will follow its business model and order the project to series.

Best Funeral Ever revolves around John Beckwith Jr. and his staff of Golden Gate Funeral Home who organize not funerals but "home-going celebrations."

"The Golden Gate experience is our version of the traditional African-American home-going celebration," Beckwith said in a statement announcing the news. "We do not produce generic funerals; everybody’s experience has to be different.”


Among the "home-going" services:

• The death of a man who cherished the holiday season is sent off with a Christmas-inspired funeral, complete with reindeer, alpacas, elves and snow.

 


• A man whose disability prevented him from riding roller coaster is honored with a State-Fair-themed home-going ceremony and spends his last day on earth enjoying the rides, games and attractions. 

 


• A former doo-wop singer known for his famous rib sauce jingle is remembered at a barbecue-themed home-going service.  His family celebrates his life among live pigs, praise dancers, and a barbecue sauce fountain in which loved ones dip a ceremonious rib to say goodbye.  

Best Funeral Ever hails from Park Slope Productions and executive producers Paul Reitano and Terrence Sacchi.

If ordered to series, BFE would join a roster that includes Cake Boss, Say Yes to the Dress as well as other successful docuseries including Breaking Amish, My Strange Addiction, Long Island Medium and Sister Wives.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit