A&E ready to jump on reality TV bandwagon

USA Today

A&E, the Arts and Entertainment network known for its substantive "Biography" documentaries, its respected "Investigative Reports" series and its classy original miniseries has succumbed to the not-so-real reality TV fad.

On tap for fall: "Real People TV," from Michael Davies, creator of ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

On "Real People," 10 contestants armed with handheld video cameras (but shadowed by A&E's cameras) will live out their adventure fantasies if they are chosen via an online search (www.AandE.com) starting today.

"The last thing this will be is cheesy," A&E's top programmer, Allen Sabinson, said in announcing the new program last week.

"We've always been a reality-oriented documentary service. That's what "Investigative Reports" are. The puzzle for us was, how do you reinvent the form? We didn't want to do a game show, and we didn't want to do 'Temptation Island.' And we're trying to step away from crime-oriented documentaries."

And so? "We think there are people out there with real passions who are obsessive in their interests — whether it's the Civil War or exploration or sports. We hope to reinvent the reality game along our ground rules: high-quality and smart."