I think that documentary, reality and lifestyle are all crossing a little bit. I believe the traditional doc buyer is also expanding their horizons, and that applies in particular to networks rather than specialty channels. Networks have the flexibility and the bigger budgets. I believe they have the ability to be flexible and to go into different genres. I would have assumed before it began that it was special interest.
Networks are the big guns.
They have the ability to be flexible and try something out and to do so with money and marketing muscle. And they have the flexibility to pull it off if it's not working, where specialties need to put more time into building audiences. This apparent merging of docs and reality programming does not sit well with all. Temptation Island is producer-driven. The producer comes up with a crass idea, casts to fit that crass idea, dangles an incentive for contestants and the hook is the base instincts.