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| With Reality TV Bigger Than Ever, A&E Woos Top Producers With an Extravagant Miami Getaway | |||
| Between now and Labor Day, nearly 100 new unscripted shows are scheduled to debut on various broadcast and cable networks, from celeb-focused soaps (Ryan & Tatum: The O'Neals) to a series about competitive facial-hair growing (Whisker Wars). This Tribble-like expansion of reality is no shocker: Even seemingly low-concept series such as Pawn Stars or 16 and Pregnant now outdraw dozens of much costlier scripted shows. That's led to a major shift in TV's power paradigm, and now the same reality producers who a few years ago were treated as second-class citizens by Hollywood now find themselves on the A-list. Case in point: Vulture has learned that earlier this spring, the folks who run AEN Networks (the company behind History, Lifetime, and A&E) rang up about two dozen of the industry's most accomplished reality producers — including SallyAnn Salsano (Jersey Shore), Thom Beers (Deadliest Catch), Jonathan Murray (The Real World), Allison Grodner (Big Brother), Craig Piligian (Dirty Jobs), and Gay Rosenthal (Little People, Big World) — and invited them to Miami for an all-expenses-paid midweek getaway filled with lavish dinners, expensive wines, and preplanned recreational activities (kayaking, anyone?). But there was more: The event wrapped with AEN playing Oprah, offering the producers what some have taken to calling a "golden ticket" — a ducat with a $25,000 price tag. Read More » | |||
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