Palin teaming with Burnett for reality series

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and reality TV producer Mark Burnett are teaming up to shop a reality TV series around Hollywood, which would focus on Alaska and the Palin family, according to numerous online reports. Considering a reality show, even if approved for next fall, could spend as much as a year in production and it’s already 2010, the chances of Palin running for the GOP presidential nod in 2012 are starting to look slimmer and slimmer.

No one can begrudge Palin wanting to cash in and make a living for her and her family; but with her job search possibly impinging on the 2012 presidential campaign season, it’s looking like Palin may have her sights set on 2016 and beyond, or has embraced the celebrity life.

The reason a reality TV jaunt could impinge on a presidential run goes not just to conflicting schedules, but to FCC campaign standards. If Palin wishes to run, no broadcast show featuring her could air once her campaign for the White House officially begins, without invoking the specter of “equal time” laws regulated by the FCC. Since it’s unlikely any broadcast or cable net is going to give the green light to a Palin reality show that it would need to clone for some twelve to twenty candidates from the two major parties as well as minor party candidates, the chances of a show getting green-lit by Hollywood would likely depend on assurances from Palin that she’s committed to the show over a presidential run… at least until the first season completes airing.

There are numerous precedents for such situations; in 1980, broadcast TV had to cease airing old movies and TV shows featuring Ronald Reagan until after the Carter-Reagan showdown was over. More recently, in the late 1990s, former pro wrestler and talk radio host Jesse Ventura was forced to step down from his radio gig to run for Minnesota governor.