As Sarah Palin makes the rounds in Hollywood, more information has surfaced about the show she’s pitching. EW, which first reported the story earlier this week, has learned it’s a travelogue-type documentary from uber-producer Mark Burnett ("Survivor") in which the former vice presidential candidate gives viewers an intimate look at her home state of Alaska.
Palin is expected to participate in the show — which is designed to run for at most eight episodes — and present stories about Alaska’s quirky denizens and traditions like the Iditarod. At least for now, it doesn’t look like her family will participate.
“It’s a love letter, like Palin’s Alaska,” said one executive familiar with her pitch. “There’s nothing political about it.”
Palin and Burnett have already made stops at ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox and scheduled meetings with cable nets like the History Channel and A&E. Though Burnett’s participation all but assured that everyone would hear the pitch, it doesn’t seem likely that one of the Big Four will order the series (The Wrap, in fact, already reported that ABC passed on the project).
Palin certainly has a following; her memoir, “Going Rogue,” was a huge bestseller and her appearance on “The Tonight Show” March 2 attracted 5.8 million viewers, Jay Leno’s second biggest audience this week since returning to the franchise on Monday. But she definitely comes with a price: a network wouldn’t want to deal with the ramifications of giving Palin a platform — even for what’s being billed as an apolitical show — if she announced her intent to run for president in 2012 during the show’s limited run.
Still, there’s some belief that Palin will find a buyer for her show — just not on a network that carries, say, sitcoms or procedural dramas. “It feels more like Discovery,” says the exec.