Fox Reality and MNT Revive Paradise Hotel
By Jim Benson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/14/2007 11:38:00 AM
Fox Reality and MyNetworkTV (MNT) are bringing back Paradise Hotel, a moderate success for Fox during its one-season run in summer 2003.
The first co-production for Fox Reality will allow for cost and window sharing between the cable/satellite channel and Fox sibling MNT, which is shifting its strategy to lower-cost reality fare after racking up huge deficits with scripted telenovelas in its first year.
The original production company, Mentorn USA, will return to produce new episodes under the guidance of Executive Producers Dan Barraclough (Dating the Enemy and Flesh Families) and David Leach (Work Out).
In making the announcement, Fox Reality President David Lyle said, "All of our research has shown that ‘Paradise Hotel’ is a brand that reality viewers are desperate to see on TV again."
The series, which will shoot in an undisclosed tropical location, attracted 12.6 million viewers over its initial 32-episode run, with younger women comprising its core viewers.
Fox reportedly weighed whether to bring it back in 2005 but chose against it after an earlier failure with the short-lived and similarly themed Forever Eden.
The show follows 11 eligible single guests who live together at an exclusive resort and pair up with a roommate of the opposite sex. An 11th guest lives alone. At the end of each episode, the roommates shuffle and someone is evicted from the hotel.
