Mike Fleiss

09/23/09 Jeanne Newman calls the brokering of Matt Weiner's tricky "Mad Men" pact with AMC a high point in a year that also saw the attorney's client Ryan Seacrest close a historic $45 million deal (spearheaded by partner Craig Jacobson) and client Endemol's plunge into melding reality and comedy programming, resulting in Jerry Seinfeld's "The Marriage Rep." "(Matt's contract) was one of the harder deals I've made recently," Newman says.  |  Variety

09/14/09 With its high production values, competitive spirit and ability to transform regular people into stars, CBS' "Survivor" premiered in 2000 unlike any unscripted entertainment of the past, be it 1948's prank-driven "Candid Camera," Fox's criminals-busting "Cops," MTV's serialized doc "The Real World" and even ABC's wildly popular 1999 gameshow "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which set the stage for unscripted's return to primetime this decade.  |  Variety

09/14/09 The founder of Next Entertainment and creator of monster hit "The Bachelor," he believes that a reality show format must create a cultural hullabaloo to be a successful.  |  Variety

08/08/09 One wonders if the producers of CBS' highly watchable new reality show, "There Goes The Neighborhood," might have taken as an inspiration the 1960 "Twilight Zone" installment "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."  |  Ain't It Cool News

08/06/09 ABC produced a program called "Welcome to the Neighborhood" in 2005, in which the residents of an all-white Texas cul-de-sac screened minority candidates (including Wiccans!) to join their homogenous little block.  |  Variety