Short of an infomercial, what better way to rehabilitate your image than through a reality television show?
Or is it that you have to rehab your image after being on a reality TV show?
Michael Vick is betting on the former.
The current Philadelphia Eagles and former Atlanta Falcons quarterback is trying to rebuild his image after being in jail for 18 months for operating a dogfighting ring and filing for bankruptcy protection, and now a reality TV show will feature Vick from childhood through his prison term in an eight-part documentary-type show on the BET network, USA Today reported.
It's unknown if the show, which will premier sometime next year, will also feature Vick's bankruptcy court battles. Judge Frank J. Santoro of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Newport News confirmed Vick's plan of reorganization to get out of bankruptcy on Aug. 27, but it's not clear from court documents if the plan has gone effective.
Whether or not the reality TV show will be good for Vick's image, it will be good for his unsecured creditors, which could receive 25% of Vick's salary this year under the reorganization plan. The reality show may pay Vick an additional $600,000 on top of the $1.6 million he is expected to make this season, the USA Today story said.
"I just want people to really get to know me as an individual," Vick told the Los Angeles Times. "What I want to do is change the perception of me. I am a human being. I've made some mistakes in the past, and I wish it had never happened. But it's not about how you fall, but about how you pick yourself up."
Vick isn't the only football player to put his life on television. Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens has his own show on VH1, and another wideout, Hank Baskett of the Indianapolis Colts, has been featured on his wife Kendra Wilkinson's reality show. - Jamie Mason
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I think the ideal is really good and should provide a nice insight into Vick and what led to his downfall. Should also be very popular among those that grew up watching Vick playing on Saturdays and Sundays.