MTV finds wild crowd in Alaska with "Slednecks"

MTV says its upcoming series "Slednecks" about a wild group of young people in Alaska isn't "Buckwild" on ice.

The production company that made "Buckwild" is behind "Slednecks," too. Clips of the new series shown to advertisers Thursday featured loud arguments, a snowmobile rider flipping and crashing, and people jumping naked into a lake through a hole cut in thick ice. The show is expected to premiere this fall.

"Buckwild" was a big hit for MTV, featuring a group of hard-partying West Virginia residents, but was abruptly canceled last year. That came after one of its stars, Shain Gandee, died of carbon monoxide poisoning when his SUV became stuck in a mud pit, its tailpipe submerged.

The series had already attracted negative attention from some less rowdy West Virginia residents who felt it presented a negative image of their state.

MTV President Stephen Friedman said "Slednecks" will not be a version of "Buckwild" in a different setting. Production companies can make a wide range of different series. Zoo Productions has also made "Family Game Night" for Hub, "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" for Fox and "Girls Behaving Badly" for Oxygen.

Friedman on Friday compared "Slednecks" to past MTV series "Jersey Shore" and "Laguna Beach" that focused on the unusual experiences of a different group of people.

"'Buckwild' was really unique to West Virginia, the phenomenal cast and the experiences they had," he said. "We always felt we would continue doing what is an ethnographic reality, where you're going into a culture and shining a light onto what is going on."

"Slednecks" features some Native American cast members and the show will illustrate how they mix with other cultures, he said.