A&E Plans Reality Series on Jacksons

MICHAEL JACKSON29

Two months after the sudden death of Michael Jackson, the cable channel A&E confirmed on Tuesday that Mr. Jackson’s brothers will be the subjects of a reality television series.

While the channel acknowledged that the series had been ordered, it did not announce a format or a premiere date for it. The channel remains in negotiations with the program’s production company, Point 7 Entertainment.

The series amounts to a bet by A&E on enduring interest around the Jackson family, in particular the former members of the Jacksons band.

A&E had announced a one-hour special about the brothers before Mr. Jackson’s death on June 25, creating speculation this summer that the project would be expanded to series length.

The one-hour special was expected to show Jermaine, Jackie, Marlon, Randy and Tito Jackson as they prepared for a possible reunion.

Jodi Gomes, an executive producer at Point 7, said in an interview Tuesday that A&E had already ordered the series before Mr. Jackson died. She said that the expanded series would be about the band “as they reunite as brothers, obviously underneath a cloud of tragedy.”

Filming of the brothers started last January. It is believed that Michael was not filmed for the original one-hour special. Ms. Gomes said she could not comment on any involvement by Michael because of confidentiality agreements with his representatives.

A number of entertainment publications have said that the brothers’ ties to Michael were strained, but Ms. Gomes said the brothers each had “their own individual relationships” with the singer. She rejected assertions by critics that the series was an endeavor by the Jackson family to cash in on the singer’s death.

“To anybody that says the family is capitalizing on Michael’s death, it will be evident in the first episode that that’s not true,” she said, adding that most of the family had yet to talk publicly about Michael.

In a statement, Bob DeBitetto, the president and general manager of A&E, said the network had developed a relationship with the Jacksons “over the course of the last year” and said he expected a long partnership with them.

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