Now That Shaq and Shaunie Are Splitting Up, Who Gets the Reality Show?

It seems that Shaquille O’Neal and wife Shaunie have filmed a reality show pilot  that was about their family life, and  it must be pretty entertaining, because according to TMZ, cable network A&E is deciding if they should purchase the show. There’s just one catch: Shaunie has filed for a legal separation, and they are going from matrimony to acrimony. And alimony.

Shaunie has taken the kids and moved to L.A., leaving Shaq  the house in Florida and plenty of time to devote to trying to get another championship ring for his collection. This summer she was shopping a reality show that would showcase the life of a professional athlete’s wife. Maybe she can shop one for life as a woman making a new life for herself after being a pro athlete’s wife.

Kirstie Alley Gets Reality Show on A&E

Actress Kirstie Alley has signed on for her own reality show, scheduled to air on A&E in 2010. The show will document her life as she raises her two daughters, produces a movie, and looks for love. It will also track her weight loss progress.

Robert Sharenow, senior vice president of A&E’s non-fiction and alternative programming had the following to say about the network’s working partnership with Alley:

“She is a multifaceted talent who connects with our audience on so many levels,” he added. “Her personal life has been playing out in the media for years, but this will be the first time she’ll be opening up her home to reveal her real life for the cameras.”

Criss Angel Is Buried Alive in the Snow in the Season Return of Criss Angel Mindfreak

Criss Angel puts himself to the ultimate life or death test each week in the fifth season of the hit A&E original series “Criss Angel Mindfreak” as he attempts five death-defying demonstrations during each one-hour episode. Season five premieres with “White Death” on Wednesday, August 12 at 10 PM ET/PT.

Criss Angel’s visionary approach to the art of magic escapes the confines of tradition, the world-renowned mystifier is known for his incredible illusions, death-defying escapes, fearless demonstrations, and astonishing physical feats.  In his most daring season of “Mindfreak” to date, Criss ups the ante by attempting five of the most dangerous demonstrations in magic. Each week he will attempt to defy the natural laws of science in new and innovative ways and will be challenged with a way to live… or a way to die. Each one-hour episode will feature a variety of different illusions and culminate in one grand, never-before-seen demonstration that will blow viewers minds.

The season premiere will be “White Death,” on Wednesday, August 12 at 10 PM ET/PT and the five episodes include:

“White Death” – Criss takes the “Buried Alive” escape to an unprecedented level as he is shackled and placed in a transparent coffin that is buried in ice and snow. Will he escape or succumb to hypothermia, suffocation or the risk of the ground collapsing on top of him?

“Death Field” – Criss is challenged to safely traverse a field of live explosives in less than five minutes where the risk for serious injury, if not death, is extremely high.

“Terminal Velocity” – Criss attempts to teleport himself twice, first he drops an object from more than 250 feet above the Las Vegas strip and reach the bottom in time to catch it in one continuous camera shot. And in front of hundreds of spectators he attempts to vanish in mid-air and reappear in an impossible location.

“Death Crash” – In his most death-defying illusion to date, Criss will hide in one of five coffins and the spectators, unaware of which coffin he has chosen, will send a merciless driver to smash the coffins into splinters.

“Mass Levitation” – Criss takes levitation to new heights by levitating an entire Las Vegas crowd whose safety he is responsible for.  This demonstration requires intense concentration, should he fail some will fall and face certain injury.

Ex-NFL Player Keyshawn Johnson’s Design Show Airs This Summer

Former NFL star and current TV personality Keyshawn Johnson is looking to score big in a new field on the A&E original series “Keyshawn Johnson: Tackling Design” premiering Saturday, July 11 at 12:00pm ET/PT. As part of A&E’s Saturday line-up, The Big Fix, the series will follow the day-to-day drama as Johnson rewrites the playbook on interior design.

Outspoken NFL veteran wide receiver and ESPN football analyst Keyshawn Johnson may be best known for his plays on the field, but now he’s putting a completely different set of skills to the test in “Keyshawn Johnson: Tackling Design.” Furniture, fabric and finishings used to be just a hobby, but with his football days behind him, Johnson’s “wide receiving” now has more to do with fitting furniture through the front door of a house. Will clients take this former pro athlete seriously as an interior designer? The eleven episode half-hour series follows Johnson as he tries to negotiate exacting clients and a cast of disparate assistants all the while tackling a variety of interior design dilemmas with an eye for subtle sophistication. Given the pressures and personalities, Johnson’s famous temper is sure to be put to the test.

“Style and design has always played a big part in my life and lifestyle,” says Keyshawn. “I’m excited to bring a quality aesthetic to all types of households in the show, and help influence the way people live.”

“Keyshawn is known for his skills on the field, but many will be surprised by his talent as an interior designer,” said Robert Sharenow, Senior Vice President, Nonfiction and Alternative Programming, A&E. “Documenting his process as he attempts to get his own business off the ground fits perfectly with our unique brand of real life drama.”

Johnson’s design team includes assistants, Sabina Vavra, and Baiyina Hughley and interns Chelsea Hernandez and Edward S. Larsen.

From a master bedroom to a gourmet kitchen, a living room to a nursery, Johnson and his team will show clients how to work within their budget to make choices that make sense. As Keyshawn likes to say, “my designs speak for themselves. as long as everyone gets out of my way and let’s me do it right!”

A&E’s Intervention Returns for a Second Season

The new season of the four-time Prism Award-winning series “Intervention” will feature some of the most compelling stories to date including: a fireman traumatized by a fire that nearly took his life and the partner he rescued who is desperate to save him from alcoholism; a young man adopted from India at age 3 who refuses to accept the love of his adoptive family and is losing his life to heroin addiction; anorexic identical twins who would rather die than lose the title of being the thinner sister; and a young man whose picture-perfect suburban life was shattered by the Columbine High School massacre 10 years ago struggling with feelings of sadness and guilt and an addiction to heroin and cocaine.

“Intervention” is a powerful and gripping series in which people confront their darkest demons and seek a route to redemption. The series profiles people whose dependence on drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behavior has brought them to a point of personal crisis and estranged them from their friends and loved ones. Each episode ends with a surprise intervention that is staged by the family and friends of the addict, and which is conducted by one of three specialists: Jeff VanVonderen, Candy Finnigan and Ken Seeley. 

The series has conducted 125 interventions since its premiere in March of 2005, 102 individuals are currently sober. 

Exclusive updated interviews with past subjects from the series first six seasons are available on AETV.com.

Former Tampa Bay Bucaneer Keyshawn Johnson to do an Interior Design Reality Show

Former NFL hotheaded wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson has just signed with A&E to do a reality show that will follow his quest to become an interior designer.

The half-hour show will air on Saturday nights early next year, and will be titled, “Keyshawn Johnson: Tackling Design.” It seems like an off the wall idea, but Keshawn has talent. Check out these pics of his condo.

Say it ain’t so! Dog the Bounty Hunter Back in Production

After an eight month slap on the wrist for saying the n-word repeated in a tape released to the public by his son, Duane “Dog” Chapman will be back on the air with new episodes of his reality show, Dog the Bounty Hunter.
According to E! , cable network A&E decided that all has been forgiven and although a date has not been scheduled for a return to the air, all things are in place to start filming new episodes for the fifth season.

Honestly, you can’t blame A&E for bringing Dog the Bounty Hunter back, because it was their top rated show. After they suspended production indefinitely on Bounty Hunter in October, the only thing they could come up with in the reality show department was the very lame and stupid Parking Wars, which would have viewers believe that 80% of parking tickets in Philadelphia go to African Americans.

With a show like Parking Wars, it kind of makes you wonder if Chapman and A&E share the same  bigoted perspective.