Zac Efron, reality star?
Yes, it's actually happening. The actor is heading to the small screen as host and executive producer of a new documentary special for MTV about food and culture, the network announced Thursday. The as-yet-untitled show will see the Baywatch star, "an actor, traveler, and food-lover," investigate food's importance to Millennial culture and look beyond the "extravagant and obscure in food to explore the artistry, storytelling and journeys in what we eat, and the issues and experiences surrounding what we find on our plates."
While that's not exactly the show we would have expected to be hosted and produced by Efron, we have zero complaints about this. We'd watch Zac Efron read us wordless Ikea manuals, so a show about food and culture is absolutely up our alley.
MTV also announced a whole slew of new projects, including lots of shows about music! They include a weekly live music performance series called Wonderland, a music competition from Mark Burnett, an updated version of MTV Unplugged, a documentary series using archival footage that follows the breakthrough years of music superstars called Year One, and a project from Scooter Braun that pairs a famous artist and a mystery person to create a new song in just one day called Studio 24.
On the scripted side, there's a dark dramedy about vigilantes avenging sexual assault victims on a college campus called Sweet/Vicious, a comedy about weed dealers in L.A. called Mary + Jane and a comedy loosely based on the life of Girl Code star Nicole Byer called Loosely Exactly Nicole.
There are also reality shows in the works about families living on the edge of society (The Outsiders), a young fashion brand (Shinesty), a show that digs into the cases of the wrongly imprisoned (The Investigation), an aptly titled competition (Stranded With a Million Bucks) and a new game show based on a hit U.K. series (The Almost Impossible Game Show).