Slate profiles Mark Burnett, producer of The Apprentice, Survivor, The Restaurant.
The Apprentice, which ends its run on NBC Thursday, is a celebration of one of America’s savviest tycoons. His name is Mark Burnett. Donald Trump plays the show’s playboy, but it’s Burnett, the executive producer and reality-TV mogul, who’s the real icon. Burnett emigrated from London at 22 and has assumed the role of Hollywood’s reigning Brit. He styles himself as the latest in a long line of his country’s gentleman adventurers—the Allan Quatermain of network television. Burnett sees reality TV not as a vehicle for sleaze and humiliation—à la Joe Millionaire or American Idol—but as something noble and heroic. He thinks he can save the world one reality show at a time.
The sun never sets on Burnett’s TV empire. Survivor, which debuted in 2000, still draws boffo ratings for CBS. The Apprentice finale this week will pull down even bigger numbers for NBC (and the reruns on CNBC). The Restaurant, Burnett’s series about the Manhattan dining scene, begins a second glorious season this month. All three shows went “straight to series,” which means they skipped the pilot stage and snagged multiepisode commitments from the networks—a deal reserved for top producers. Burnett claims Survivor draws $425,000 for a 30-second ad spot, the highest rate in series television.