If everyone is going to get that proverbial 15 minutes of fame, we'll need more airtime. Enter Larry Namer - cofounder of E! Entertainment Television - who this winter will launch Reality Central, a 24/7 cable network devoted to every riveting, repulsive, and banal dimension of reality TV. Namer's partner is Blake Mycoskie, a losing contestant from CBS's The Amazing Race. Mycoskie persuaded the show's winners - and some from other reality fests - to chip in more than half a million bucks as seed funding. The surreality doesn't stop there: Namer and Mycoskie are taping every step of the launch saga so that it can be turned into, yes, a reality TV show. The partners insist their network will not only have staying power, but also will play an important role in the unwiring of conventional media, powered by cheaper, faster digital tools that have the potential to make anyone a programmer, a star, and a producer.
WIRED: Why now? Your critics say reality TV is over.
NAMER: Bad TV is bad TV. About 70 percent of new dramas that air this fall will die. Does that mean drama is no longer a viable genre? MTV's Real World has been going strong for 11 years.
Half the programming will be reruns of old shows, and the other half behind-the-scenes news about what's on other networks. Aren't you sending viewers straight to competitors?
From the beginning at E!, we told our audience to go to the movies. I've always believed that no matter how good the programming is, it's not going to be 100 percent of a viewer's life. We just want them to return when they need to figure out where to go next.
How will you cultivate new fans?
We'll expand the base by making it more accessible, and foreign shows will be a big part of that. Some are much racier.
How far will you go?
Full-frontal nudity. As a basic cable network, nudity is OK but full-on sex isn't. We may explore racier content as pay-per-view specials.
Has the growth of broadband and wireless adoption in the US influenced your plans?
Absolutely. We've been recording the creation of Reality Central on digital video since day one, and we're making that footage available online. We're also going to open programming meetings to the general public. Not only will the audience be able to watch online, they'll be able to interact - participating remotely with cameras and microphones, using instant messaging and other forms of digital communication. On many issues, viewers' opinions will result in network decisions.
Does "reality" represent a kind of democratization of television? What does this mean for the future of TV and our relationship with it?
With the cost of Internet technology and digital video dropping so fast, we're going to see even more niche networks - for people who love NASCAR, people into alternative health, or fans of reality TV.
How do you feel about the growing popularity of time-shifting technologies like TiVo?
I love the fact they're turning everything upside down. We should have learned the Napster lesson by now. The industry likes to think it can create regulatory or technological barriers to prevent viewers from bleeping out ads, but the days of networks controlling every pixel are gone.
Does the genre make possible any new kinds of advertising?
We're speaking with ad agencies about reality advertising. For instance, students shooting commercials with their digital cameras that feature a specific product.
Personal weblogs feel a lot like low-budget reality TV. Are you planning to explore anything new combining reality TV and blogs?
We may team up with film schools to do some experimental stuff - for instance, where a blogger works with digital equipment and we make the footage available online, allow the audience to react, then move the best to TV.
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