Fans of reality television have a glut of choices to choose from, beginning with those always-compelling TV competitions pitting budding pop singers against each other to make it as an “Idol” or on the strength of their “Voice”. But what about some of the more off-beat reality TV shows coming to the small screen this season? Here is our guide to some exciting new reality TV shows worth checking out.

Currently running in AMC’s Thursday night lineup is Freakshow, which follows Todd Ray and his family business, the Venice Beach Freakshow. Located on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, Ray’s family delights in bringing spectators various oddities and the unexpected. This is a true family affair, as wife Danielle is known as “Freakshow Mama,” running the front office with her beloved five-footed dog nearby. Their daughter, Asia, is looking to become a teacher soon but currently works as the “Rubber Girl” and the “Elastic Lady.” Then there’s Brianna Belladonna, “The Indestructible Woman,” who eats light bulbs and holds two world records in sword-swallowing. There’s the host of the live show, “Amazing Ali,” who is 3’5″ tall, and “The Tallest American” who stands at 7’8″. Rounding out the cast is Morgue, a shock artist with “a taste for the unsettling” and “The Creature,” the first African-American body modification artist. Family businesses don’t come any more deliriously fascinating!

Meanwhile, coming up on ABC’s Tuesday night lineup is Splash. The concept alone is intriguing: it’s a reality show challenging celebrities and stars to dive from dizzying heights into swimming pools – perfect for whetting our appetites for Olympic-style competition until the next Summer Games.

But what really sold us was the cast. You’ve got athletes whom you’d imagine will do well: Brandi Chastain, Ndamukong Suh, Rory Bushfield and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are no strangers to intense physical activity. You’ve got others drawn from the worlds of swimsuit modeling (seems like a plus in their favor) in Nicole Eggert & Katherine Webb, and a veteran of reality television in Kendra Wilkinson. And there’s the “Hey, I remember you!” factor for Keshia Knight Pulliam and Drake Bell. But the true draw for us is comedian Louie Anderson. He’s not in his physical prime and to us, he’s going to be the “everyman” diver. He’s the sort of “Wow, so that’s what we’d look like trying that dive” part of the show. See who makes the biggest (figurative) splash on the show all season-long!

Finally, ABC has announced an upcoming reality series for this summer called “Whodunnit?” No stars or official air date have been announced, but when they ordered the show early last month, we were hooked:

Each week players will use a variety of crime scene investigation techniques to meticulously uncover evidence that will ultimately reveal who among them is the killer. The interactive series will pit 13 amateur sleuths against each other in a quest to solve a series of puzzling murders. Some will form alliances and others will choose to go it alone just to get them closer to the grand prize. The contestants will reside in a glamorous estate where each week they must solve a new crime in order to advance in the game. Failure to solve the crime will lead to each player’s demise until only three are left standing. In the final episode, only one player will unmask the killer and take home the $250,000 prize.

A mix of Survivor & Sherlock Holmes, we’re relying on deductive reasoning to say it should be fantastic.