Pioneering reality TV producer Mark Burnett has become the latest MGM executive to depart following Amazon's $8.45 billion purchase of the studio earlier this year. 

Burnett is known for creating influential non-scripted TV hits including Survivor, The Apprentice and Shark Tank, among many others. 

“After months of collaborative transition efforts, we have thoughtfully reorganized our teams so that they all have the opportunity to prosper under the leadership of Mike Hopkins, Jennifer Salke and Christopher Brearton,” Burnett wrote in a memo to Amazon staff Monday. “In these days of media layoffs I am proud to say that everyone in the TV division has been offered a way to continue to contribute. No one was left behind.”

Also read: Amazon Just Paid a 40% Premium to Buy MGM — What’s It Really Getting?

Burnett, who said he expects to return to a hands-on creative producing role, follows film executive Mike De Luca, who departed MGM earlier. 

Burnett joined MGM in 2014, when the studio purchased his One Three Media and LightWorkers Media companies. He became president of MGM Television and Digital Group in December 2015 and moved up to chairman of the studio’s Worldwide Television Group three years later. 

He had a significant equity stake in MGM at the time of Amazon’s purchase. ▪️

Kevin O’Leary is on Shark Tank, analyzing products and services alongside fellow Sharks Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec and Daymond John, and deciding if he wants to invest. O’Leary has made a bundle of smart investments in his career, including selling a climate-controlled storage facility business for $110 million and a software company for a cool $4.2 billion. 

O’Leary answers to Mr. Wonderful, the moniker reflective of an occasionally charming manner mixed in with his austere assessments of products and the entrepreneurs standing next to them. 

Shark Tank debuts season 12 on ABC Oct. 16. It airs in syndication on CNBC. O’Leary spoke to Multichannel News about how the show captures the American dream. An edited transcript follows. 

MCN: Do you make money on most of the entrepreneurs you invest in on Shark Tank?

Kevin O’Leary: I have, actually. What people don’t understand about the Shark Tank platform, if you look across the continuum of venture capital today, the No. 1 issue for startup companies is customer acquisition costs, because the majority of them have done the digital pivot to online. A typical startup company in America, 20-25% make it and the rest die over three years — they’re never able to get their customer acquisition costs below the lifetime value. 

That’s the big advantage Shark Tank has. You get 3 or 4 million people seeing the show and you get eight minutes of exposure for your product or service. 

Then it goes into syndication. It’s continually brought forward year in and year out on TV, in addition to the millions of [social] followers that each of us Sharks has. We change the equation completely. We can get companies zero customer acquisition costs and they really, really, really thrive with that. Our returns are significantly higher than the industry’s because of this weapon, if you want to call it that. 

I would argue we’re the most successful venture capital firm that ever existed. We have capital, we have Sharks, we have fantastic products, and we have tens of millions of people watching the show all over the world. 

MCN: What has been your most successful investment on Shark Tank?

KO: The largest in history was actually a Shark deal [involving all Sharks], when [meal-kit business] Plated sold to Albertsons for over $300 million. That was extraordinary for me, and paid for a lot of mistakes. 

My assumptions are always wrong. What I think is the hottest deal of the season doesn’t necessarily end up that way. Some crazy things I did like Potato Parcel — putting people’s faces on a potato and mailing it to them — who would’ve thought that would have such an extraordinary return? During COVID it went crazy. How about cat DNA? Basepaws. You swab your cat’s cheek — why would that be a business? It’s huge. There are 100 million cats sitting at home with people beside them, wondering, where did you come from? 

That’s why you have to do a bunch of deals, because you never know the outcome of any single one. 

MCN: Give us a teaser for the new season. 

KO: No. 1, and I say this practically every season — I can’t believe how big the deals are getting. Valuations over $50 million coming into the Shark Tank. Five years ago, I would’ve said, that’s insane. I actually invested in one this year. It’s such an incredible project that it deserved that valuation. I get criticized all the time for being the mean Shark. I tell the truth. When I see a great value, regardless of the valuation, I invest in it. 

No. 2, I call it the Great Digital Pivot, America 2.0. Everything we saw this year had a digital strategy, ship direct to the customer anywhere in the U.S. or abroad. They’re starting to realize the world is shifting and people want the convenience of having products and services delivered right to their door. Every entrepreneur gets that. All of these new deals talk about that channel. They’re not abandoning retail, but they’re focusing most of their energy on direct-to-consumer. 

MCN: What keeps viewers watching? 

KO: I was there when the show was made. I love to see how the editors take an hour pitch down to eight minutes. I’m glued to the TV like everybody else. It’s the essence of the American Dream. It’s the visceral power of success and failure and drama and human desire — all those things are encapsulated in eight minutes. 

We don’t see those cameras anymore. Every Shark, we are so engrossed in the competition, the pitch, the deal, what’s happening in front of us, we forget we’re making television and just go after it. 

Every year it gets more intense. You really have to hand it to Sony and ABC and Mark Burnett and MGM. The first year, people said, this will never work, nobody’s interested in watching a business show. How wrong were they? Look at it now. It’s insane. I get pitched every single day, everywhere I go: I want to get on Shark Tank, how do I do it? Can you look at
my deal?

I’m not talking about just adults. I’m talking about 10-year-old kids who are inspired by this and want to pursue their own deal. I think it’s fantastic.

Epix will step into the sports competition ring tonight (Aug. 24) with a reboot of the boxing docu series The Contender.

The Mark Burnett-produced series – which previously ran on ESPN, NBC and the now defunct Versus channel during the late 2000s – journeys into the lives of 16 up-and-coming boxers as they compete in an elimination-style boxing tournament. Former light heavyweight boxing champion Andre Ward will host series.

I recently spoke to Epix president Michael Wright to get the premium channel’s take on its version of the series. Here’s what Wright and Epix wants you to know about The Contender.

It’s all about the drama: There is such a marvelous element of human drama in this version of The Contender. We know the show’s been on before and it’s always been a good show, but we had to be able point to something distinctive about it. What we all leaned into was the human drama; every episode is a little Rocky episode.

More character-driven storylines than in previous The Contender versions: The show is really about these young men and it's beautifully cast, and by the sixth episode you find yourself saying ‘I want that guy to be OK.’ There's a greater emphasis in this version of the show on the individuals, and a greater attention paid to that guy's wife, or his mother or the father that he promised he would change his life around because of this show. There's a lot more emotion in this version of it.

The series still packs an action punch: The [in-ring] contests are still there -- it's 16 fighters and there will only be one contender standing at the end, and that's great for the series. [The fights are] the black velvet against which the diamonds that these fighters are can shine. I actually love boxing and I think there's still a connection or an association between boxing and the premium networks.

MGM Worldwide Television has promoted Mark Burnett to chairman, and the long-time television executive has agreed to extend his employment deal with the company to 2022.

Burnett, who made his name first as a producer of reality hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, has been president of MGM Worldwide TV since 2015, when his production company One Three Media was acquired the movie and television studio.

“Mark is a one-of-a-kind creative individual with an incredible eye for talent and content and a long track record of success,” said Kevin Ulrich, CEO of Anchorage Capital Group and chairman of MGM’s board of directors in a statement. “We are confident that under Mark’s leadership, MGM Television’s best days are ahead.”

Burnett has added a huge number of scripted and reality series to the MGM slate over the years. Earlier this week premium channel Epix – owned by MGM – added his boxing reality series The Contender to its lineup. 

“In the past four years at MGM we have renewed all our television franchises and have added a lot of new hits,” Burnett said in a statement. “This is the most fun I have had in my career and I know we will continue to build on these successes. I believe so strongly in the future of MGM and the team that surrounds me and it was important for me to extend my involvement well into the future.”

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 Netflix has greenlit a religion-themed drama series Messiah executive produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.

The series will chronicle the modern world’s reaction to a man who first appears in the Middle East creating a groundswell of followers around him claiming he is the Messiah. Burnett and Downey (The Bible Series) will executive produce the series, which was created by Michael Petroni (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

“Messiah promises to be a fascinating series for viewers of every faith, and a thrilling drama filled with multi-layered characters set on a global stage,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President, Original Content for Netflix in a statement.

Downey and Burnett added: "Messiah is a series that will have the audience asking big questions. What if someone showed up in 2018 amid strange occurrences and was thought to be the Messiah?  What would society do? How would the media cover him? Would millions simply quit work? Could governments collapse? t’s a series that could change everything."

MTV will look to attract millennials with a different beat, adding more music-themed programming – including the network’s first live music show in two decades -- to its lineup of scripted and reality fare, the network said prior to its upfront presentation Thursday in New York.

RELATED:MTV Acknowledges Prince's Passing During Upfront

Under the leadership of new president Sean Atkins, MTV will return to its music roots 35 years after it launched as a music video-based network. The network’s 2016-17 programming slate of 14 new series and specials will feature several shows offering a music/pop culture theme, beginning with the series Wonderland, a weekly show that will feature live musical performances along with comedic performances, according to the network.

“We’re on a mission to reignite MTV with everything that makes it one of the world’s most iconic brands  – its soul of music, its love of pop culture, and its unexpected, groundbreaking creative,” said Atkins in a statement. “What we share today is just the beginning, but it’s a strong first step in the journey and shows how aggressively we are moving to energize the extraordinary promise of this great brand.”

Along with Wonderland, the network announced several other new music-themed, series including a yet-untitled competition series from prolific unscripted series producer Mark Burnett and a reboot of its classic music series MTV Unplugged.

The network will also develop new projects with such music celebrities as rapper Pitbull (Miami-based drama 305) and John Legend (hip-hop comedy It’s the Real).

Among other new shows greenlit by MTV are Sweet/Vicious, a dark one-hour dramedy about odd-couple vigilantes avenging sexual assault victims on a college campus; The Outsiders (working title), a docuseries following families living on the fringes of society; Acting Out, a series in which hilarious stand-up routines are reenacted; Mary + Jane, a comedy about enterprising weed dealers navigating L.A. hipster culture; Shinesty (working title), a docuseries on the outrageous upstart millennial fashion brand; MTV’s The Investigation (working title), which follows the legal cases of the wrongfully convicted; Stranded With a Million Bucks, a reality competition series that employs drone cameras; Loosely Exactly Nicole, a scripted comedy starring and adapted from the life of Girl Code alum Nicole Byer; Going Off (working title), a dance docuseries set in the studio of master choreographer Tricia Miranda; and The Almost Impossible Game Show, a new competition format adopted from the hit UK version.

On the social media front, MTV will bring back its classic series Cribs on Snapchat Discover, one of two new series slated for that service. Artists Mac Miller, Austin Mahone and Travis Mills will be among the first celebrities on the reboot, which will feature a tour of a celebrity’s home in each episode, MTV said.

The second Snapchat series, Pants Off, is an 8-episode series on sex and relationships hosted by MTV Braless host Laci Green.

TBS has slated new comedy series Funny or Die Presents America’s Next Weatherman for Saturday, Aug. 8, at 11 p.m. with host Matt Osberg (The Comedians). Twelve contestants will compete for $100,000 and the chance to appear on CNN’s morning show, New Day. The judges are longtime weather personalities Johnny Mountain (KABC, KCBS) and Jillian Barberie (Good Day LA). It should be entertaining from the physical challenges to the “dramatic vote offs,” TBS said in a release.

“Funny or Die Presents America’s Next Weatherman takes everything we know -- or think we know -- about weathercasters and then uses it to put 12 competitors through the wringer for a chance at the big time,” David Eilenberg, senior vice president of unscripted development, late night specials for TBS and TNT, said in the release. “The results are really something. This series is a fresh and extremely funny addition to TBS’s late-night lineup. We’re especially excited that it extends our relationship with both Funny or Die and Mark Burnett.” Funny Or Die’s Mike Farah and Joe Farrell serve as executive producers, along with Mark Burnett and Dean Houser.

“It’s been such a good time working with Funny or Die,” Burnett said in the release. “This will be the first time I’ve poked a little fun-actually a lot of fun-at what I am known best for. It’s a real wink to our audience as we look for the next great meteorologist. The funniest part is that it turns out that these are actually terrific weathercasters.”

The first 12 competitors are: Jennifer “Jazzy T” Williams of Buffalo, N.Y., Frank Margani of Old Tappan, N.J.; Jeff Forgeron from San Diego, Calif.; Miller Robson from Columbus, Ga.; Jenn Barlow, also from San Diego; Mackenzie Bart from Columbus, Ohio; Ron Hilliard from Detroit, Mich.; Michelle Rotella from Germantown, Md.; Aubrey Evans from Las Vegas, Nev.; Christina Faraone from Walden, N.Y.; David Collins from Deland, Fla.,, and Drew Logan from Westlake Village, Calif.

TBS has ordered eight one-hour episodes.