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CMT has launched the new show "Bayou Billionaires," meant for everyone who has ever dreamed of striking it rich overnight.
The show focuses on the Dowden family of Shreveport who struck it rich from oil money from the Haynesville Shale natural gas play in northwest Louisiana.
The season premiere, the first episode, was entitled "We Put the Country in the Club". See below for our list of all Bayou Billionaires episode titles and airing dates.
The first season will end on March 12, but CMT announced on February 23, 2012, that the series has been renewed. The second season of "My Big Redneck Vacation" will premiere in June of 2012.
The Dowdens' home sits right on top of this huge deposit of natural gas.
They live on 80 acres of land off Fly Low Lane near the small town of Frierson, located south of Shreveport, off I-49 between Stonewall and Caspiana in DeSoto Parish.
After years of pinching pennies and balancing budgets, the Dowdens are now ready to enjoy the finer things in life, sparing no expense.
Elvis Presley outside Shreveport's Memorial Auditorium ... former home of the Louisiana Hayride |
The shows are not entirely unscripted. A CMT writer writes scenarios for the family, which then have to be approved by Gerald and Kitten. the families.
But the actual words spoken by the family members during taping of the shows are their own, and their reactions are genuine and off-the-cuff.
The show features several members of the Dowden family, including the dad, Gerald Dowden and his wife Kitten.
Also appearing is their oldest daughter Valerie, who works for the public defender's office in Shreveport and prides herself on being a legal professional. Valerie and her three children Jessica, Devyn and Nikki live in a double-wide trailer on Gerald and Kitten's property.
Chantel is Gerald and Kitten's second oldest daughter, more timid and self-conscious than the others, but is the sweetest one of the bunch. She's recently become the proud recipient of a brand new set of teeth. Albert is Chantel's offbeat, live-in boyfriend of seven years.
Gerald Jr. is Gerald and Kitten's eldest son. He's a professional ATV racer and the daredevil of the family.
Photo of the cast of "Bayou Billionaires"
(Courtesy of CMT) |
He's the only one of the four children who lives off the Dowden compound, in a solar-powered home with his wife Peggy.
Thomas is Gerald and Kitten's youngest son and is the "mama's boy" of the family. He is the most outspoken and opinionated of the children and has a fiery, competitive streak.
Thomas, his wife Mallory, and their daughter Ellie Rae live in their own home on a one-acre piece of land on Gerald's property.
Grandpa is Kitten's 90-year old father, who prides himself on being a real ladies man. He claims to currently have five different girlfriends who hail from all around the globe. He lives with Gerald and Kitten in his own bedroom/bachelor pad.
For an introduction to the Dowden family, be sure to watch the Bayou Billionaires preview video below.
 Production natural gas wells in the Haynesville Shale Natural Gas Play around Caddo Parish and DeSoto Parish in North Louisiana |
The Haynesville formation is a layer of sedimentary rock more than 10,000 feet below the surface of the Earth in the area of northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas and eastern Texas. Development of the Haynesville - Bossier Shale is providing impetus to exploration, drilling and production, the creation of jobs and employment opportunities in the oil industry, and huge profits for land owners in the area ... like the Dowdens.
The most active areas have been in Caddo, Bienville, Bossier, Red River and Webster Parishes in Louisiana, and of course in DeSoto Parish where the Dowdens live.
The Haynesville Shale has been estimated to be the largest natural gas field in the contiguous 48 states, with an estimated 250 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
Land owners like the Dowdens receive "up front" money from the oil companies when they lease their land, plus monthly production income ... "mail box money"!
Louisiana is a popular setting for the movie industry, and several hit reality TV shows on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, A&E, CMT, and other cable networks.
The state has become an exciting location featuring a diversity of towns and subjects for reality television for three main reasons: 1) tax credits and incentives, 2) mild year-round weather, and 3) interesting, likable, real-world characters.
According to a report prepared by the Louisiana Office of Entertainment Industry Development, Louisiana has had five consecutive years of economic growth in the film and music industry.
The report also recognizes Louisiana as ranked third in film and television production nationwide behind only California and New York.
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