Two SMU alumni land Showtime series pickup

This Thursday, two SMU alumni will appear in the Showtime series Reality Show, an eight episode, half hour comedy recently acquired by Showtime from Sony.

Reality Show follows Mickey Wagner (Adam Rifkin), a down-on- his-luck reality show producer, as he crafts a sensational comeback.

Fed up with how staged and phony reality shows are, Mickey hatches a revolutionary idea to pick an average American family and put them under all-encompassing surveillance without the family’s knowledge.

Rifkin is the writer, director, executive producer and star of the show. Rifkin’s eclectic career ranges from broad family comedies, to cult classics to dark and gritty urban dramas.

Rifkin has written such movies as MouseHunt, Underdog and last year’s Showtime series, Look.

The concept is to let real life unfold before the cameras. However, the family is numbingly boring.

And the studio wants more sizzle. So Mickey starts to introduce drama into the unwitting family’s lives.

With temptations at their disposal, the family becomes much more interesting and, of course, chaos ensues.

Scott Anderson, class of ‘92 and Kelley Menighan Hensley class of ‘91 play husband and wife in this very dark comedy.

Reality Show begins Nov. 1 at 11 p.m. EST.

The remaining seven episodes will air each week at 11:30 p.m. EST.