A&E and Discovery race to land Sarah Palin's Alaska-themed reality show

Two cable networks are bidding on the reality show Sarah Palin is pitching about Alaska.

According to Variety, it's come down to A&E and the Discovery Networks, companies that recently butted heads over the launch of two shows on Discovery's TLC that appeared to knock off A&E's highly rated "Intervention" and "Hoarders."

A&E and Discovery are said to be finalizing their bids and a decision could be made in the next few days. The trade reports that the show, which is being produced by Mark Burnett, could cost the winner about $1 million an episode. Burnett and Palin did pitch the project to the major broadcast networks, but they ultimately all passed.

Entertainment Weekly's initial report on the project described the show as "a travelogue-type documentary in which the former vice presidential candidate gives viewers an intimate look at her home state of Alaska."

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Sarah Palin addresses National Tea Party Convention in Nashville Feb. 6. Credit: Ed Reinke / Associated Press

Comments

[Carlos]

What are A & E and Discovery thinking???? Palin is such a polarizing figure and thought poorly in the State of Alaska. The only person who will profit from airing her show is Sarah Palin. She gets a lot of exposure/publicity and they get all the viewers who are already turned off by this media whore. Palin will be laughing all the way to the Bank.

[Sabrina]

Sarah Palin doing a "reality" show? No thanks. I'll stick to watching Deadliest Catch. That woman is a legend in her own mind....and no one is interested. Maybe folks who create TV shows should check out the various websites featuring significant Alaska women throughout history...and you'll notice she is noticeably absent from most of those pages. Pretty telling, I'd say....if you want to do a show about women and Alaska, there are plenty of others past and present who are for more interesting and inspiring than Ms. Palin. She's an embarrassment to the 49th State.

[sciencerules]

Maybe VH1 would be a more suitable channel for the show.

[will_in_sf]

if sarah palin were only a legend in her own mind, she would not be earning literally millions of dollars as an in-demand public figure.

honestly she is not sufficiently competent to be our president (and neither is barack obama), but she is perfectly well qualified to be among the innumerable eccentric characters who currently occupy our entertainment media universe.

[george]

I'm sorry did somebody say Sarah Palin and Alaskan wildlife? She has been the most detrimental person to have ever held office when it comes to wildlife. Her board of fish and game were hand picked hunting lobbyists. Her ariel wolf hunting program was based on absolute BS with countless wildlife biologists protesting against it. I could not be more disappointed in a network like discovery for even considering doing a show with that creationist psycho.

[idesign]

If Gov. Palin does feature in a TV docu-drama, the show will quickly become the most popular television program ever broadcast. Sarah Palin has millions of fans, followers, and supporters.

[Cynthia]

As an Alaskan, I cannot imagine this show being anything but a story to illustrate how great the Palins are. Sarah is so good at twisting facts--like when she had the picnic when she resigned and nobody came and the national TV crews were all there to watch her family cook and pass out the hamburgers. She paid for the tourist buses to come to the picnic --got the numbers there to look like the Alaskans liked her but didn't tell the media that almost all of the people there were tourists who had come in on the cruise ships. Or like the Oscars events that the media reported that the Palin family were like locusts and grabbed all the freebies they could get in their bags. Sarah Palin got one of the sponsors to write a letter denying that it happened: the truth came out--Sarah Palin had come twice that day--one time only with a few in her party--and the later time about twenty who certainly took more than their share. Selective reporting--Sarah Palin has a lot of people hired to make her look good and handle damage control. Or like her book--most Alaskans will tell you that Sarah Palin is good at re-writing history and it belongs in the fiction section. If Sarah Palin is going to tell you about her Alaska, you can be sure that she will be very selective about showing only her friends as most Alaskans feel that she is dishonest and a quitter. It makes you wonder why A & E and Discovery would believe her--when the residents of the 49th State don't trust her.

[gahanson]

Whereever Palin goes, she draws huge crowds, and when she's on TV the ratings take a big jump. Over 2.2 million copies of her book have been sold. When she was on Oprah, 14 million tuned in, more than double the number oprah usually gets. Is it any wonder that there would be at least 2 networks competing to get the chance of running a show about Alaska with Sarah Palin in it?

[AKaurora]

As a lifelong Alaskan much older than Sarah, I am disgusted that any network would consider paying her to spread her distorted views which lack substance and fact. She has no analytical ability. She panders to extremists and will say anything to line her pockets. In her delusional mind, the only real Americans are those that swallow her talking points. Alaskans are a diverse group. We often disagree, but she does not represent Alaska values. She quit on our state to cash in for personal gain, and REAL Alaskans never quit.

[Arthur]

Sarah Palin will only use this video to showcase herself. She will have a calendar and mark off all the towns that she is going to come to and speak for $100,000 a pop. She will tell you about how you can have your picture taken with her for $10,000. Sarah Palin does not love Alaska--she quit mid-term as their Governor; she spends no time in the State except when Fox wants her to do a viewpoint from the studio they built in her home. Alaskans know the lies she will tell about our State--just like she lies about how great her family life is but she spends absolutely no time in Alaska with her special needs child or her troubled daughters. There is only one person that this celebrity wantabee loves--and that is Sarah Palin. Her book was full of lies to make her look good and this film will just be more of the same. It is amazing how many people in small town America feel that a visit from Palin is like a Diva coming--and they are willing to give her all their money so she can hide it away in her trusts. Sarah Palin's next book should be called the Fleecing of America because she is laughing all the way to the Bank. Even the folks at FOX and Glenn Beck are so dumb that they don't realize Failin' Palin has wrapped them around her little fingers.

[Northwest Girl]

@wil_in_sf and idesign, I can't believe you two sycophants can't face the truth about your loser quitter heroine. EX-gov. Palin is not all that popular with the general public, only with the wingnut rightwingers out there who are celebrity worshipping blind cult followers! MOST real Alaskans can't stand the woman, and nearly every person I've met from Alaska doesn't want to claim her at all. Palin is nothing but a grandstander and an opportunist whose 15 minutes of fame were up a loooong time ago. If she had the kind of "family values" she espoused, she'd be at home taking care of her down syndrome child and making sure her teens don't get knocked up rather than traipsing all over the country with all her self-promoting.

[John Larson]

Is it April first already?

[Charlie]

Sarah Palin has every right to do what she wants, its a free country. Sarah Palin was Alaskas first female governor,the first republican woman to be on a party ticket,and the second woman in us history to be on a party ticket. Its alright to disagree with her on issues but its not ok to degrade her and call her sexist names. There must be alot of people that do like her or they would not be all this attention payed to her. I will be watching as well as alot of other people.

[Jeff]

A show about Alaska hosted by ex-Gov. Palin might have some value...but if A&E and Discovery are worried about money, why couldn't they co-produce the show and "repurpose" it?
That is, air the show on one channel one night and the other the next or a few days later. Then they wouldn't have to fight over it with one ending up licking its corporate wounds.

[Jamey]

If it's really reality, Palin will quit half way through the first season.

[jo]

I wonder why it's not a reality show on the responsibility of parenting....oh that's right, somebody else is doing that. And it's tough to resign from that job.