Continuing the "everything old is new again" philosophy Hollywood has embraced of late, not only will NBC be reviving Fear Factor...they'll be bringing Joe Rogan back to host as well. TV Guide got the exclusive story and interview with Rogan, which you can check out right here. I guess my snarky comment about Rogan waiting for the phone to ring proved to be accurate after all...
As we mentioned back at the beginning of June, the new life for Fear Factor is a result of the show's solid performance in reruns on NBC's sister cable channel, Chiller. According to Fear Factor exec producer Matt Kunitz, this new incarnation will somehow make use of modern social networking. Does this mean there will be challenge that involves actually logging on to MySpace? The horror...the horror...
Kunitz further adds that the show and the stunts will be bigger and bolder since "the stunt world has evolved significantly in the last seven years." However, the core idea of a competition between pairs of contestants will remain the same. As Kunitz puts it, "When you have pairs, there's so much more at stake. You're relying on your partner to get through this stunt."
So there you have it, folks. Sometime soon your languishing desire to watch complete strangers get buried under piles of mealworms will once again have an outlet that won't get you arrested. And a show that hasn't even been gone for a decade will be back on the air, with its original host, doing the exact same kind of stuff.
NBC was unavailable for comment regarding rumors of a revamped Tonight Show starring a vat-grown clone of Johnny Carson. Although I, for one, would rather watch that than Leno...
