• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, November 23, 2009

TLC is hoping truth proves to be at least as popular as fiction.

Inspired by a blockbuster film earlier this year, the network has begun producing a reality series chronicling the security force at the country's largest mall.

The small-screen version comes after this year's Columbia Pictures' "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," starring Kevin James as a security agent at a New Jersey mall, grossed more than $180 million at the box office globally on a $26 million budget.

Titled "Mall Cops: Mall of America," the TLC cinema vérité version takes place at the Minneapolis mall, crowded by 40 million visitors annually. Earlier this fall, TLC ran a special carrying the same name.

Twelve half-hour episodes of the series have been ordered. The show could offer advertisers -- notably the 500 retailers that line the Mall of America's atriums -- ample opportunity for product placement.

The series comes from September Films, the production company behind A&E's "The Exterminators" and WEtv's "Bridezillas."

TLC also announced two other upcoming productions: "Ghost Intervention," a four-part series about a case manager and team of women with psychic abilities, debuting next month, and "Craving Comfort," where a chef travels the country exploring the foods that can kill a diet.

TLC has seen its ratings in the adult 18-to-49 demo rise 4% this season by one measure, to an average of 557,000. Among a secondary target of women 25-to-54, ratings are up 5% to 363,000.