Reality TV Takes on Superheroes

[DarleneIllyria]

I just came across an article at Yahoo News about a Superhero reality show and it doesn't really mention Batman, but it does kind of mention a sarcastic remark about Adam West. No, I'm not posting it here for the sarcastic remark, but it's a possibility that a Batman actor might be a judge on this show, so that's why I'm posting it. Others that view this site might be interested in other superhero shows and might find this article interesting.

Reality TV Takes on Superheroes
Wed Apr 2, 6:15 PM ET Add Entertainment - E! Online to My Yahoo!

By Joal Ryan

Reality TV is nothing if not the people's medium. You can aspire to be anything: a singing star, the wife of a rich guy, a codpiece-wearer.


Yes, the genre that gave us American Idol and The ...Bachelor will no longer exclude those whose dearest desire is to save the world from baddies (while wearing tights and a codpiece, natch). Enter: Who Wants to Be a Superhero?


Not a misprint, the WB has given the go-ahead for a six-episode run of a reality series aimed at introducing a new super man (or woman) to the people of Gotham and beyond.


To clarify, the show's talent scouts won't be looking for people who can bounce bullets off their chests, rather, for people who can dream up characters who bounce bullets off their chests.


The brainchild of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee and Meet My Folks producer Bruce Nash, Superhero seeks to find material for a potential new comic-book series.


The series is penciled in for next season.


"The tone of the show is going to be fun," Nash promised in the Hollywood Reporter. "It's wish fulfillment, a blend of fantasy and reality."


Befitting a show whose prime demographic would seem to reside in geekdom, Nash said Superhero will not focus on "sexual tension" like other reality series.


Instead, the show will focus on people willing to pitch their ideas before a panel of celebrity judges and, later, become one with their characters by donning costumes and competing in acts of would-be daring do--all part of the so-called "superhero makeover."


Plans are for the celeb judges to be culled from the ranks of actors who have played superheroes in TV and film. (That ringing sound you hear is Adam West calling his agent.)


For those who don't think Who Wants to Be a Superhero? poses enough of a challenge, may we interest you in Donald Trump?


The Manhattan real-estate mogul has agreed to star in The Apprentice, yet another new reality series, this one from NBC and Survivor guru Mark Burnett, to pit go-getter against go-getter in the corporate world.


The network has ordered 13 episodes. No word yet on an air date, although it's thought that it, too, will debut some time next season.


On The Apprentice, 20 contestants, ranging from, as NBC says, "Ivy League MBA graduates [to] street entrepreneurs with no college education," will work at Trump's Trump Organization, performing "sometimes humorous but always difficult job assignments."


Trump will grill, er, interview the hopefuls, and, at the end of each episode, fire somebody. (And they say reality TV is fake...)


In the end, the winner gets to work for Trump. (Or would that be the loser?) Actually, it's not such a bad deal--a six-figure salary comes with the job.


In a statement, Trump, who previously committed to a reality game show that never got off the ground, said he is "truly excited" to work on The Apprentice.

"Mentoring up-and-coming executives has been something I've always enjoyed," Trump said. And since getting attention has always been something he has enjoyed, too, the project's a true win-win.

In the NBC release, Trump, 56, is described as the focus of the show's first season, indicating that if future seasons are warranted, other moguls will be tapped to be "master" to a new cast of "apprentices."

Maybe if Kingpin isn't busy with Who Wants to Be a Superhero?...

[DarleneIllyria]

Oops, forgot the link. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...en_tv_eo/11554

[DarleneIllyria]

Another article

WB Looks For Real 'Superhero'
Wed, Apr 2, 2003 10:20 AM PDT






LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Working men and women with repressed superhero fantasies will get an appropriate and very public venue for their creations on "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" a new slightly tongue-in-cheek reality show in development at The WB.

Have a great idea for a character called The Plumber, who stops leaks and crooks with a giant radioactive wrench? Or for The Litigator, who dispatches briefs and criminals with equal aplomb? Or Xerox Man, who spends his days copying important documents, but can duplicate himself at night to fight crime? Or The Fat Lady, an opera singer who captures villains after piercing their eardrums first?

Provided those characters don't already exist in some dark corner of the comic book universe, now could be their time.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Superhero" is being developed by Bruce Nash ("Meet My Folks") and comic legend Stan Lee for the 2003-04 season.

"The tone of the show is going to be fun," says Nash. "It's wish-fulfillment, a blend of fantasy and reality."

Regular people with original superhero ideas will pitch those ideas to a panel of celebrity judges all of whom have played onscreen superheroes. Lee will then oversee "superhero makeovers" on the semifinalists who will have to compete in stunts and challenges. The winner will be eligible to have his character expanded into a possible comic book spin-off by Lee's crew.

"The WB just seemed perfect for the show," Nash says. "There is a rich history of superheroes both in features and on television at Warner Bros. and The WB."

The WB has had mixed results with their superhero programs. "Smallville" is one of the network's most consistent performers, but "Birds of Prey" failed to make it through its first season.


http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?30826