The circus is coming to town. Well, at least to television, now that the Burbank-based Wolper Organization has inked a deal with Feld Entertainment Inc. to develop and produce a range of programming related to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. Most notably, the company plans to produce a celebrity-driven circus reality television show aimed toward airing on one of the broadcast networks, and a made for television cable documentary about the people and operations behind “the greatest show on earth.” According to Mark Wolper, president of the Wolper Organization, the idea to create circus-related programming originally came about when he realized that Kenneth Feld, (his partner in creating a show about the Feld-owned Disney on Ice), also owned the circus. “I was just astounded by the stories that he told me. They have three huge trains with restaurants, schools, families, child care, chefs, doctors, children being born and people dying and three and four generations of families all traveling in custom made trains with the animals and the vets,” Wolper said. “I thought that it was an amazing world that nobody knew about, and that we could explore.” Producing a reality television program represents a relatively new arena for the company, which has traditionally produced documentaries and/or mini-series’ such as “Roots,” and “North and South.” The company itself is a production house that has hung its shingle at Warner Bros. and is a subsidiary of Time Warner. Most recently, Wolper has served as executive producer of “Pen and Teller: Bullshit!” a show in which the famed magicians try to debunk certain theories and practices. Wolper believes that entering the world of reality television is a natural progression for the firm, theorizing that reality TV is just another form of documentary. “The reality world is really just another form of documentary, so we decided to re-activate that part of the company. It’s part of our roots and our great love, whether you call it reality or documentary,” Wolper said. “Reality television is just a modern hip way of watching documentaries. It’s a great thing for the documentary world to figure out a way to find a new form for the medium. I see our company doing more of this in the future.” Deborah Goldfarb, the executive vice president of Rebel Entertainment Partners, a talent agency that specializes in reality programming, believes that the Wolper Organization will be successful in its latest endeavor. “Mark Wolper is one of the best producers in our business, both in scripted programming and reality programming. We’re most excited to work with him on this project and expect it to enjoy great success,” Goldfarb said. But Marc Berman, the senior television writer at Mediaweek magazine believes that there are a variety of intangibles that will ultimately decide whether the circus-based programming yields Wolper a hit show. “It depends on where and when the show would air. I’m not surprised that there would be a circus reality show. I’m surprised that it took this long,” Berman said. “You don’t see a lot of reality shows in the regular television season, so it sounds like a network would want to pick it up for the summer or perhaps as a mid-season replacement.” While many television critics initially perceived reality television to be a fad, Berman insists that for now, it’s here to stay. And the latest Nielsen ratings seem to back up this trend, as ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” has become one of the most highly watched programs of the summer. “The state of reality television is as strong as ever. There are no signs of deterioration at all. That’s not to say that every show works. But there are no signs that it is dropping off by any means,” Berman said. While the format for the show is still in its most formative stages, Wolper has already begun bandying about ideas for its content. “It would like involve actually bringing celebrities into the world of the circus. They might train with the circus, or perform various events like becoming a tightrope walker, a lion tamer, or training to become a clown,” Wolper said. “They’d be forced to live in this world. These are normal people who would enter an unusual world and the audience would see how they would react and adjust to it.” Wolper claims that he has been in discussions with some of the broadcast networks, though he declined to state specifics. He expects to ink a deal with one of them in the next two to three weeks.
