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CNN Live Today
Reality TV Network
Aired April 29, 2003 - 10:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Here's another harsh reality for you, a new television network devoted exclusively to the genre that American viewers just love to hate. Our next two guests this morning are launching reality central, which is going to deliver, if they do it as planned, reality television 24 hours a day, and they plan to begin in January.
Blake Mycoskie and Brennan Swain themselves former reality television contestants. They joins us from L.A. this morning.
Good to see you, guys. How are you?
As I understand this, Blake, this was your idea to begin with, right?
BLAKE MYCOSKIE, CHAIRMAN, REALITY CENTRAL: Yes, that's correct.
HARRIS: All right, so how did you get idea? And what did do you with it?
MYCOSKIE: I was on a reality show, "Amazing Race," a year good, And before that, I started my career in the outdoor media business, came up with the idea, wrote the business plan, went to the original founder of E Entertainment, invited him to be my partner, and we've been going ever since.
HARRIS: All right, and as I understand it, Brennan, you also were on "The Amazing Race." How did the two of you come together then?
BRENNAN SWAIN, INVESTOR, REALITY CENTRAL: Well, we as -- from being on a show like "The Amazing Race," the first one, Blake being on second one, we got a chance to meet each other from different show functions, and became friends, both living here in Los Angeles, but when it came to for Blake to raise some money, Rob, may partner from the show, the two of us had a little money sitting around, so we were the first two that he came us to for the investing purposes.
HARRIS: All right, so what's a little money? What's it going to cost to do this thing guys?
MYCOSKIE: To get it from where it is today, to break even, it's about $52 million. To get us to launch and on air first year, it's about 25 million.
HEMMER: Wait a second, how much did you win on the show? You couldn't have won that much? MYCOSKIE: No, the only -- reality stars were the original seed investors, and they put up first half million just to get to started, so that was about a year ago. So I didn't have to part with too much money.
HEMMER: Tell us then, can you tell us who also joined in and invested with you and what shows they were on?
SWAIN: Yes, for me, I was on the first "Amazing Race" with my teammate Rob Frisby (ph). Alex Boilon (ph) and Chris Luca (ph) from the second "Amazing Race," the one Blake was on, also invested, and we've also got Ethan Zahn from "Survivor Africa" and Tina Wesson from "Survivor The Australian Outback."
HEMMER: Now you guys think this is the kind of thing that's actually going to last for a long time. A lot of critics think this is just a flash in the pan.
MYCOSKIE: I think if you look at the 18 to 34 demographic which typically watches the show, there is a shift in the way they watch television. For people in the '50s, they grew up watching sitcoms, so sitcom is television to them. To the members of the 18-34 demographic who grew up watching "Real World," reality television is television. So this it is not something now or a fad to them at all.
HEMMER: But the thing is, aren't these shows actually owned by the other networks? How do you get programming, the show on your network? Are you got to start your own shows, or what?
MYCOSKIE: Yes, about 50 percent of our will programming will be original. We'll have a lot of stuff about the genre, promoting the network shows and the cable networks.
HEMMER: Like what kind of snows.
MYCOSKIE: For instance, we'll have the, where are they now? What did Tina do with the $1 million she won? Did Alex, the original bachelor, is he still with the girl he was supposed to marry, or did he find another girl? You know, all the behind the scenes, and we're also bringing over a lot of international reality shows that have never been seen in the United States before.
HEMMER: Now, I'm going to guess you have a lot of folks that recognize you from your appearances on television? Did you have anybody walk up to you and say this stupid idea, this stuff stinks, what are you thinking about?
SWAIN: Well, it's a love/hate relationship that America has with reality television. It's like a train wreck. You turn on the TV, and you get stuck watching it, even though maybe you didn't plan to. So yes, there is certainly people that don't like it, but I'll tell you, my experience after having come off the show and having people recognize me, those kinds of things, it's always been very positive.
HEMMER: I got to tell you, you have been big hits in this newsroom. I've got to tell you, almost every single morning after a lot of -- it's taken work to get our producers to talk about our shows that are talking about your shows.
SWAIN: That's great.
HEMMER: Good luck, guys. We'll have to keep an eye on this and see how things turn out. On the way out, do you guys, either one of you, have a favorite show of your own?
MYCOSKIE: I would have say that mine is "Survivor."
SWAIN: Yes, mine is probably "Survivor," after "The Amazing Race," but I'm a little partial to that one.
HEMMER: Good deal. Hey, listen, Blake, Brennan, good luck to you guys. We'll have to see how this all turns out and watch you down the road, all right?
SWAIN: Thank you very much.
MYCOSKIE: Thanks, Leon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 29, 2003 - 10:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Here's another harsh reality for you, a new television network devoted exclusively to the genre that American viewers just love to hate. Our next two guests this morning are launching reality central, which is going to deliver, if they do it as planned, reality television 24 hours a day, and they plan to begin in January.
Blake Mycoskie and Brennan Swain themselves former reality television contestants. They joins us from L.A. this morning.
Good to see you, guys. How are you?
As I understand this, Blake, this was your idea to begin with, right?
BLAKE MYCOSKIE, CHAIRMAN, REALITY CENTRAL: Yes, that's correct.
HARRIS: All right, so how did you get idea? And what did do you with it?
MYCOSKIE: I was on a reality show, "Amazing Race," a year good, And before that, I started my career in the outdoor media business, came up with the idea, wrote the business plan, went to the original founder of E Entertainment, invited him to be my partner, and we've been going ever since.
HARRIS: All right, and as I understand it, Brennan, you also were on "The Amazing Race." How did the two of you come together then?
BRENNAN SWAIN, INVESTOR, REALITY CENTRAL: Well, we as -- from being on a show like "The Amazing Race," the first one, Blake being on second one, we got a chance to meet each other from different show functions, and became friends, both living here in Los Angeles, but when it came to for Blake to raise some money, Rob, may partner from the show, the two of us had a little money sitting around, so we were the first two that he came us to for the investing purposes.
HARRIS: All right, so what's a little money? What's it going to cost to do this thing guys?
MYCOSKIE: To get it from where it is today, to break even, it's about $52 million. To get us to launch and on air first year, it's about 25 million.
HEMMER: Wait a second, how much did you win on the show? You couldn't have won that much? MYCOSKIE: No, the only -- reality stars were the original seed investors, and they put up first half million just to get to started, so that was about a year ago. So I didn't have to part with too much money.
HEMMER: Tell us then, can you tell us who also joined in and invested with you and what shows they were on?
SWAIN: Yes, for me, I was on the first "Amazing Race" with my teammate Rob Frisby (ph). Alex Boilon (ph) and Chris Luca (ph) from the second "Amazing Race," the one Blake was on, also invested, and we've also got Ethan Zahn from "Survivor Africa" and Tina Wesson from "Survivor The Australian Outback."
HEMMER: Now you guys think this is the kind of thing that's actually going to last for a long time. A lot of critics think this is just a flash in the pan.
MYCOSKIE: I think if you look at the 18 to 34 demographic which typically watches the show, there is a shift in the way they watch television. For people in the '50s, they grew up watching sitcoms, so sitcom is television to them. To the members of the 18-34 demographic who grew up watching "Real World," reality television is television. So this it is not something now or a fad to them at all.
HEMMER: But the thing is, aren't these shows actually owned by the other networks? How do you get programming, the show on your network? Are you got to start your own shows, or what?
MYCOSKIE: Yes, about 50 percent of our will programming will be original. We'll have a lot of stuff about the genre, promoting the network shows and the cable networks.
HEMMER: Like what kind of snows.
MYCOSKIE: For instance, we'll have the, where are they now? What did Tina do with the $1 million she won? Did Alex, the original bachelor, is he still with the girl he was supposed to marry, or did he find another girl? You know, all the behind the scenes, and we're also bringing over a lot of international reality shows that have never been seen in the United States before.
HEMMER: Now, I'm going to guess you have a lot of folks that recognize you from your appearances on television? Did you have anybody walk up to you and say this stupid idea, this stuff stinks, what are you thinking about?
SWAIN: Well, it's a love/hate relationship that America has with reality television. It's like a train wreck. You turn on the TV, and you get stuck watching it, even though maybe you didn't plan to. So yes, there is certainly people that don't like it, but I'll tell you, my experience after having come off the show and having people recognize me, those kinds of things, it's always been very positive.
HEMMER: I got to tell you, you have been big hits in this newsroom. I've got to tell you, almost every single morning after a lot of -- it's taken work to get our producers to talk about our shows that are talking about your shows.
SWAIN: That's great.
HEMMER: Good luck, guys. We'll have to keep an eye on this and see how things turn out. On the way out, do you guys, either one of you, have a favorite show of your own?
MYCOSKIE: I would have say that mine is "Survivor."
SWAIN: Yes, mine is probably "Survivor," after "The Amazing Race," but I'm a little partial to that one.
HEMMER: Good deal. Hey, listen, Blake, Brennan, good luck to you guys. We'll have to see how this all turns out and watch you down the road, all right?
SWAIN: Thank you very much.
MYCOSKIE: Thanks, Leon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com