MySpace’s first attempt at original programming, “Roommates,” was a low-rent reality show “about fun, skinny girls in L.A. and their character-building exhibitionism,” as the New York Times columnist Virginia Heffernan put it in 2007. Another tryout, “Special Delivery,” was a hidden-camera series.
But the Web site, which has called itself “Hollywood’s digital playground,” may be moving into higher-quality television territory. Its latest series, “Married on MySpace,” is a production of Endemol, the reality TV production powerhouse that makes “Deal or No Deal,” “Big Brother,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” and other staples of the network schedules.
The glitzy promotional trailer for the series would feel right at home on a TV network, betraying the notion that Web shows are a lesser breed of video content.
“Just as Endemol has consistently delivered high-quality television programming over the years, we view this latest partnership as a wonderful opportunity to extend this type of quality programming to the Web,” said David Armour, a vice president at Endemol.
Similarly, Jason Kirk, the vice president for video and entertainment at MySpace, a unit of the News Corporation, said the Web site teamed up with Endemol because of the high quality and interactivity of the company’s work.
“Married on MySpace,” a 13-episode weekly reality series, will chronicle one couple’s wedding from start to finish and will allow MySpace users to vote on the wedding’s location, the pre-wedding parties, and even the attire. (If the conceit sounds familiar, that’s because NBC’s “Today” show has hosted an annual wedding contest for almost a decade.)
The episodes will be supplemented by MySpace profiles of the wedding party, behind-the-scenes video and blogs. The wedding will be streamed live on the Web site.
Mr. Kirk said the “Married on MySpace” concept came from an “in-house brainstorm.” The series will be sponsored by “The Proposal,” a feature film starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds that opens June 19. Mr. Armour said other sponsorship announcements will be made soon.
So, too, will other announcements about MySpace’s original programming. The site recently joined with Warner Brothers to create a so-called hub for “Rockville, CA,” a new Web series from TheWB.com.
Original videos could keep MySpace visitors on the site for longer periods of time. The measurement firm HitWise found that although visits to MySpace dipped 28 percent in February 2009 compared with the same month in 2008, even as visits to Facebook surged, the users who do come to MySpace tend to linger on the site a few minutes longer.
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