Mars Mission as Reality TV

Photo courtesy of Mars One

With shows like Fox's Utopia and Discovery's Naked and Afraid demonstrating reality TV's evolution into televised social experiment, this new subgenre is glowing red hot. So, when Dutch billionaire Bas Lansdorp announced his plan to establish a Mars colony, it's no wonder industry insiders saw the idea as the pinnacle of televised reality.

DSP, an Endemol company, has now teamed with Lansdorp's Mars One to create an unscripted show documenting these forthcoming 300-million mile one-way missions. According to the press release, DSP is, "the exclusive worldwide production partner for the Mars One astronaut selection and training program

which will see people from all walks of life undergo one of the most extraordinary and challenging assessment processes ever seen."

DSP becomes the exclusive worldwide production partner for the Mars One astronaut selection and training program, which will see people from all walks of life undergo one of the most extraordinary and challenging assessment processes ever seen. - See more at: http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-one-teams-with-endemol-for-worldwide-tv-event#sthash.f3kNTLwG.dpuf

DSP becomes the exclusive worldwide production partner for the Mars One astronaut selection and training program, which will see people from all walks of life undergo one of the most extraordinary and challenging assessment processes ever seen. - See more at: http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-one-teams-with-endemol-for-worldwide-tv-event#sthash.f3kNTLwG.dpuf

Beginning no later than 2024, Mars One foresees sending teams of four trained colonizers to Mars every two years. Mars One has already received to 200,000 applications from team hopefuls around the world. That number has now been shortlisted to 705 "highly motivated candidates" who will be tested and evaluated by a panel of elite scientists, astronauts and adventurers.

It seems that space is the final frontier for reality television and chronicling the human diaspora across the galaxy goes hand in hand. Our first journeys beyond our atmosphere will be televised with a combination of entertaining voyeurism and documentary not dissimilar to the moon landing or the Nasa space shuttle launches.

Endemol is not the only production company taking the leap. Last year, NBC signed on to Space Race from producer Mark Burnett and British billionaire Richard Branson. The show will have contestants competing for a spot on Branson's commercial spaceline, Virgin Galactic.

LeVar Burton Launches Kickstarter for Reading Rainbow

If you just got knocked over by someone racing to their tablet, it's nothing personal. They probably just want to donate to LeVar Burton's new Kickstarter campaign launched only this morning. The star is striving to raise $1 Million to relaunch Reading Rainbow, a show that has been missed by Gen Y and Millenial alike since it went off the air in 2009.

This time around, Burton wants to also make Reading Rainbow available for free to classrooms that need it. As an exchange for Kickstarter donations, the Star Trek icon is offering benefactors nearly irresistible perks. You can hang with him at a Star Trek convention, FandomFest or Wizard World. You can enjoy a private picnic with him and your friends or share a private dinner. Perhaps, the creme de la creme at a $10,000 donation level is a dinner with Mr. Burton where you and a friend get to wear the "Geordi Visor" he made famous on the intergalactic show.

Burton is leveraging his ultra-popular social media status - he's still the the only person Shit My Dad Says follows on Twitter - to spread the word. It seems to be working. In just seven hours, Burton has managed to raise over $570,000 with over 12,000 backers and he still has 34 days to go on the campaign trail.