TVSquad

In his never ending quest to turn everything into some kind of reality series, Survivor and Apprentice creator Mark Burnett announced he will birth a new reality show baby based on the TV show Fantasy Island.

You might be thinking to yourself, "Isn't every reality show already just a real life version of Fantasy Island?" Not so fast Tattoo. Barnett's already got a trick up his sleeve. The contestants won't just be competing to have their fantasies come true. They are also competing to become the next Mr. Rourke.

I wish Ricardo Montlaban was still alive right now. He could "Khan" this whole production down with just one simple line.

What happens when the producer of Survivor collaborates with his wife, an actress who starred in Touched by an Angel, in a story created by the guy who brought us Dirty Sexy Money? Do you get Touched by a Dirty Sexy Angel? I guess that's what CBS will find out because Mark Burnett and Roma Downey are teaming with Craig Wright for a drama project for CBS.

Burnett, he of Survivor and a half-dozen other reality shows, is married to Angel star Roma Downey, and they're both executive producers while Wright is doing the writing for Sony Pictures TV. The show is the story of a lawyer who nearly dies in a car crash and gets a second chance at life when the ghost of his ex-wife appears to him.

Audrina Patridge is the latest "cast" member to leave The Hills, following on the heels of Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port. To this news I ask: Can the rest of the cast leave so they can just cancel the show? We could only be so lucky.

No, reality television's favorite couple of prats, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt remain. You know, that could explain why everybody else is running from The Hills. The producers are hoping an injection of Kristin Cavallari, formerly of Laguna Beach will help. Personally, I'd be thrilled with the addition of some of the fine folks from the MMA to kick Speidi's ass. I'd watch that week after week.

Don't worry about Patridge, though. She says she's leaving The Hills to focus on that acting career she went to LA for. Which means starring in another reality show for MTV, apparently. The Audrina Show, produced by Survivor's Mark Burnett, will hit the airwaves 2010. Can somebody tell me what Burnett is doing attached to this project?

Mark Burnett strikes again with Expedition Africa: Stanley & Livingstone, premiering tonight at 10 PM ET on History. The show channels a travel documentary with Burnett-style storyline. Four modern day explorers (Pasquale Scaturro, Mireya Mayor, Benedict Allen, and Kevin Sites) try to recreate the path that Henry Morton Stanley took to find Dr. David Livingstone. They forgo most of modern day technology (with the exception of water purifiers, sun block and medical kits) and depend on a map, a compass, porters, and two Maasai warriors.

It might seem crazy to suggest that either one of CBS's two long-running reality series doesn't work, but I'm sticking to my convictions. Survivor has lost the edge it had when it started, and it's no longer a show that works for me.

On the other hand, The Amazing Race continues to set the industry bar high for quality reality (assuming you don't think that's an oxymoron). So, stacking them up, one versus the other, here's how The Amazing Race tops Survivor.

Have you ever wanted to audition for a reality television show, but didn't have enough sick leave to fake an illness for your boss or the patience to wait in lines that would rival the bread lines in Cold War Russia?

Mark Burnett has struck a deal that will let people produce their own audition tapes.

Burnett signed a deal with Studio One Media to supply high traffic areas with self-serve kiosks that let people put together their own tapes for a measly twenty bucks. They can also provide a web-based service that lets contestants upload their own videos.

When I first heard about a reality show called The Shark Tank, I thought, oh great. They've taken things too far and are planning to throw people into tanks with sharks. It's not quite that insane, but budding entrepreneurs might want to tune in for some pointers.

Helmed by Mr. Reality himself, Mark Burnett, The Shark Tank has been ordered to pilot by ABC. As I understand it, the unscripted project is adapted from a Japanese show called Money Tiger, which aired on Nippon Television from 2001 to 2004. The show has since been produced in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, Nigeria, and the U.K.

The premise is interesting: aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to moguls, a.k.a. "Sharks," in hopes of landing investment funds.

I've always enjoyed jingles, you know, those catchy commercial tunes that get in your head and never leave. "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." See, after all these years, it's still there. I wonder if Gene Simmons would have liked that McDonald's jingle?

We'll soon find out what the Kiss star likes in musical commercial craftsmanship because Gene Simmons has been tapped as one of the judges on the CBS reality show Jingles. It's a competition show, from producer Mark Burnett, he of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Survivor and The Apprentice fame. We'll just forget about the ones that didn't fly, like On the Lot (that was painful to watch), Pirate Master (unwatchable) and Rock Star: INXS (truly a train wreck).

Jingles should be pretty challenging for contestants; it's hard to fake it when it comes to writing words and lyrics. The winner gets a contract with an advertising agency and $100,000.

The summer of 2000 started out to be a typical one for television: repeats, theatrical movies edited for television, repeats, shows that needed to be burned off because they were so bad, and repeats. It was a formula that hadn't really changed for the Big Three networks in several years. And, it was one that viewers had gotten used to as they mourned the last episode of their favorite series and waited with eagerness for the new season to begin in September.

Then, something happened. CBS decided to air a 'game show' about a group of strangers stranded on a tropical island. Survivor began at the end of May and continued into the end of August. Along the way it gained more and more fans and produced more and more publicity for both the show and the network. By the last episode, on August 23rd, Survivor had become a huge success as well as one of the highest rated original shows ever to air in the summer.

Little did CBS know that this summer replacement show would begin the Reality Revolution and change the landscape of network television forever more.

Executive television producer Mark Burnett is being sued by his former business partner Conrad Riggs for $70 million. Burnett, a British television producer, is best known for kick-starting the reality television genre in the United States. He's been on the producer and creator train for shows such as Survivor, The Apprentice, Rock Star, The Contender, Martha Stewart Apprentice, Pirate Master, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, On the Lot (with Steven Speilberg), and more.

So, why is he being sued for the big bucks? Read on past the jump.

A day hasn't gone by where we haven't received some sort of tip or email asking us, the TV Squad, how to get on [insert reality show here]. Unfortunately no, Simon Cowell does not work for us, and Donald Trump isn't my BFF, so we really can't help all that much.

The folks at RealityWanted.com often send us a list of new and existing reality shows that are looking for new, er, talent, and they've given us permission to make mention of them here. We'll try to make this a regular feature as often as we get a new list.

This time we have The Moment of Truth, Jingles and other new shows.

Mark Burnett is no longer exclusively making reality TV shows. He has crossed over into animation and has signed a deal with the popular online animation site Liquid Generation to develop cartoon TV comedies.

Burnett is best known for creating the reality shows Survivor and The Apprentice. This would be his first venture into animation. Considering how much money he's made from reality television, I don't think it's that much of a risk for him.

A day hasn't gone by where we haven't received some sort of tip or email asking us, the TV Squad, how to get on [insert reality show here]. Unfortunately no, Simon Cowell does not work for us, and Donald Trump isn't my BFF, so we really can't help all that much.

The folks at RealityWanted.com often send us a list of new and existing reality shows that are looking for new, er, talent, and they've given us permission to make mention of them here. We'll try to make this a regular feature as often as we get a new list.

This time we have Trading Spaces, The Newlywed Game and other new shows.

Well, here's something about reality TV that didn't make me gag. Survivor mega-producer Mark Burnett has a new unscripted project, greenlighted by CBS, called Jingles. It's a competition show in which contestants have to create tunes for products, commercial jingles. No mud wrestling, no unlocking keys to puzzle pieces the size of boulders, no eating slugs wrapped in wild boar bacon. This time it's all about catchy melodies, clever hooks and lyrics that incorporate product info whether the products an erectile dysfunction pill or a new luxury car.

There's more reality being served up by NBC: a food-based competition show in which couples vie to open a restaurant. British chef Marco Pierre White will be the judge. NBC has greenlit The Chopping Block for next season, calling it a sort of Top Chef meets Hell's Kitchen. Actually, it sounds like a twin for BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing. That one has nine couples competing for one restaurant with Chef Raymond Blanc as the judge. The NBC incarnation will have eight couples, and unlike Chef Blanc who has earned two Michelin stars for his restaurants, Chef White has three.