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Reality TV Takes on Superheroes

Wed., Apr. 2, 2003 3:15 PM PST by Joal Ryan

Reality TV is nothing if not the people's medium. You can aspire to be anything: a singing star, the wife of a rich guy, a codpiece-wearer.

Yes, the genre that gave us American Idol and The Bachelor will no longer exclude those whose dearest desire is to save the world from baddies (while wearing tights and a codpiece, natch). Enter: Who Wants to Be a Superhero?

Not a misprint, the WB has given the go-ahead for a six-episode run of a reality series aimed at introducing a new super man (or woman) to the people of Gotham and beyond.

To clarify, the show's talent scouts won't be looking for people who can bounce bullets off their chests, rather, for people who can dream up characters who bounce bullets off their chests.

The brainchild of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee and Meet My Folks producer Bruce Nash, Superhero seeks to find material for a potential new comic-book series.

The series is penciled in for next season.

"The tone of the show is going to be fun," Nash promised in the Hollywood Reporter. "It's wish fulfillment, a blend of fantasy and reality."

Befitting a show whose prime demographic would seem to reside in geekdom, Nash said Superhero will not focus on "sexual tension" like other reality series.

Instead, the show will focus on people willing to pitch their ideas before a panel of celebrity judges and, later, become one with their characters by donning costumes and competing in acts of would-be daring do--all part of the so-called "superhero makeover."

Plans are for the celeb judges to be culled from the ranks of actors who have played superheroes in TV and film. (That ringing sound you hear is Adam West calling his agent.)

For those who don't think Who Wants to Be a Superhero? poses enough of a challenge, may we interest you in Donald Trump?

The Manhattan real-estate mogul has agreed to star in The Apprentice, yet another new reality series, this one from NBC and Survivor guru Mark Burnett, to pit go-getter against go-getter in the corporate world.

The network has ordered 13 episodes. No word yet on an air date, although it's thought that it, too, will debut some time next season.

On The Apprentice, 20 contestants, ranging from, as NBC says, "Ivy League MBA graduates [to] street entrepreneurs with no college education," will work at Trump's Trump Organization, performing "sometimes humorous but always difficult job assignments."

Trump will grill, er, interview the hopefuls, and, at the end of each episode, fire somebody. (And they say reality TV is fake...)

In the end, the winner gets to work for Trump. (Or would that be the loser?) Actually, it's not such a bad deal--a six-figure salary comes with the job.

In a statement, Trump, who previously committed to a reality game show that never got off the ground, said he is "truly excited" to work on The Apprentice.

"Mentoring up-and-coming executives has been something I've always enjoyed," Trump said. And since getting attention has always been something he has enjoyed, too, the project's a true win-win.

In the NBC release, Trump, 56, is described as the focus of the show's first season, indicating that if future seasons are warranted, other moguls will be tapped to be "master" to a new cast of "apprentices."

Maybe if Kingpin isn't busy with Who Wants to Be a Superhero?...