Jann Wenner To Reality TV?



(image via nndb)

Quick: 20,000 words on selling out. Oily magazine mogul Jann Wenner is hammering out a deal to wrap his chubby (The Corsair winces in intense disgust), sweaty, cocktail sausage-like fingers (The Corsair dry heaves) around the Swan-like neck of the budding celebreality tv show genre, and, in the process, hopes to find the next Lester Bangs.

Two words: Highly Implausible. According to Keith Kelly:

"Insiders tell Media Ink the Rolling Stone founder is in early talks with MTV Network to do a reality TV show modeled after Donald Trump's 'Apprentice.'

"It is by no means a done deal, but if it is finalized, the show would have Wenner in a starring role.

"Insiders say the basic plot will involve a team of young rock journalist wannabes who are sent out across the country to cover stories with the aim of getting an article published in the magazine � and landing a full-time editor's job.

"The ones who don't make it get axed, something Wenner knows a thing or two about."

Indeed. Somewhere, deep in the bowels of in Dante's Inferno (we believe it is the Third Bolgia), Hunter S Thompson is rolling around in his own sick, high on ether and Beefeater gin, screaming about "journalistic integrity."

In other related news (link via poynter), creepy smiling mogul and reality tv show failure Richard Branson, who famously once stole Campbell Brown's shoes (3rd item), is in talks to get into print media. Heed the warning, Jann.