Mark Burnett Shopping This is Your Life Revival
Reality Guru Pacts With Ralph Edwards Productions.
By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/9/2008 10:35:00 AM
Mark Burnett will attempt to resurrect the 1950s game show This is Your Life.
Mark Burnett Productions (MBP) is shopping a redux of the show to broadcast and cable networks, the company announced Thursday.
This Is Your Life, which debuted on radio in the late 1940’s, featured ordinary people and celebrities, with mystery guests from their past offering testimonial about their lives.
The revival is a co-production between MBP and Ralph Edwards Productions.
Edwards was the host and producer of the original. He died in 2005 at the age of 92 Edwards also produced and hosted Truth or Consequences, which ran on radio and TV for nearly 40 years. Ralph Edwards Production continues to oversee The People’s Court.
The company also spearheaded an aborted attempt three years ago to revive the show in a series of primetime specials for ABC. Regis Philbin was to host
John Couch, senior vice president of business affairs at Ralph Edwards Productions, believes the timing is ideal for another go at reviving a feel-good show like This is Your Life.
“Back when we had the ABC deal, there was such a glut of reality programming and it was a different kind of reality where the show were really trying to out-spectacularize each other,” said Couch. “I think people are looking for more character driven reality.”
There are iterations of This is Your Life on the air in Australia and New Zealand and next month the show will premiere in Holland. The company also has licenses in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
This Is Your Life was a spin-off of Truth or Consequences. At the time of its premiere on radio in 1948, the country had only recently emerged from World War II.
“The country was going through a really hard time,” added Couch. “And what [the show] allowed people to do was find inspiration. Maybe this sounds like a cliché, but we’re going through another very difficult time, with a terrible economy and two wars. I people are hungry for something inspirational again.”
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