Andy DehnartMaking the Band group O-Town is reuniting, and the Discovery Channel plans a series that’s even more like more Hunger Games than The CW’s version last summer, Capture.
Although it’s April Fool’s Day, and although I once actually satirized TV networks producing a real-life Hunger Games, Discovery’s plans are real. Survival Live strands eight people for 42 days, and the network describes it like this, according to EW, which got the press release before the rest of us: It’s a
“24/7 real time, multi-platform viewing experience where viewers will play a large role in each survivalist’s success or failure. The survivalists struggle will be streamed live, day and night, from the moment they are abandoned into the remote wilderness with only the clothes on their back. Viewers will have the ability to check out the survivalists biometric data to see who is physically struggling, and can elect to help them out. The survivalists will be able to build a relationship with the audience by talking to them through the cameras. That relationship could be the difference between failing to succeed on the first week or making it the full 42 days. To prosper, these survivalists will need the audience in their corner if they want to stay alive.”
Meanwhile, O-Town’s Jacob Underwood, Erik-Michael Estrada, Dan Miller, and Trevor Penick are reuniting more than 10 years after breaking up. They will produce new music, but without Ashley Parker Angel, who is busy acting and taking selfies of his pubes. The group’s new web site says:
“After a crash course in the entertainment industry in their early twenties, the guys have enjoyed branching off into different facets of the entertainment business. Their first experience left them with a desire to become more educated, seeing first hand how incredibly complicated (and sometimes corrupt) the industry can be. And now, after 10 years apart, Trevor, Jacob, Erik, and Dan are reuniting as friends with a renewed passion for making music together again.”
Jacob told Billboard that “We had discussed a summer tour to perform our old songs and finally give the fans what they’ve been asking us for the last 10 years. However, once we began working, what developed was something a little more ambitious. The ideas kept flying and we couldn’t help but start making new music.”
You may recall that they hinted about reuniting three years ago, so we’ll see if this time sticks–or if it was a pre-April Fool’s Day joke after all.