A New Reality Show Will Pay Cash if Players Can Convince Experts the Earth Is Flat
Conspiracy theorists, have we got the show for you!
A new reality series called “Flat Earthers” will pay its players cash if they can convince a panel of (actual) experts that the world is flat. Good luck with that.
IndieWire can exclusively reveal that the recently launched streaming service The Network is in active production on “Flat Earthers” and will launch all 10 episodes this December.
“Flat Earthers” is described as part docuseries, part competition show, and it will follow five families who each genuinely believe the Earth is flat. But rather than just document their exploits, the families will each be given $50,000 worth of resources for research and will ultimately present their findings to a panel of scientists, theologians, and cartographers. If they can convince a majority of the panelists that the Earth is in fact flat, they’ll be awarded a cash prize. The amount of the cash prize was not disclosed. It probably doesn’t even have to be decided upon.
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There may not be a “winner” of the series — we’ll bet against it! — but the idea is to highlight the growing subset of Americans who believe the Earth is flat. The series aims to shed light on how theories like this gain traction in the U.S. and around the world. Mandela Effect-ers, you may want to sit this one out.
“As we continue to deliver audiences free, premium content we are excited to announce this daring and genre breaking docu-series,” Aram Rappaport, creator of The Network, said in a statement. “The Flat Earth phenomenon continues to grow on a global level. ‘Flat Earthers’ will provide a fascinating view into the psyche of the human condition and what drives belief systems worldwide.”
If you’ve yet to hear of The Network, it’s a new streaming service that just launched on April 30 this year. The Network is a free, ad-supported streaming platform — but with a unique strategy. Rather than chase volume to fill out a library, The Network will launch just two new shows at a time. Episodes of each series are released once a week — dramas on Tuesdays and comedies on Thursday — and the streamer is only going after original and what it identifies as “premium” shows. Their theory (not the flat-Earth one) is that there may not be more than two pieces of content that a household will love at any given time.
Currently The Network has just two shows, “The Green Veil” starring and executive produced by John Leguizamo, and “Chivalry,” which was created by, written by, and stars Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani. Both series have their first seasons available, and the streamer already picked up “The Green Veil” for a second season. John Leguizamo is even a sleeper contender in the Emmys race, with IndieWire listing him among our “In a Perfect World” wishlist of nominees.
The Network was created by filmmaker Aram Rappaport, who is the founder of the creative advertising agency The Boathouse. The streamer is available across Apple, Android, Roku, and Amazon Fire devices, as well as on the web.
