Randy Jackson is set to create more job opportunities in show business for under-employed has-beens by producing a new reality series, Aptitude Test, set to premiere on VH1 in 2012,
The idea is to send “high profile celebrities” (read: unemployed z-listers) into a job they might have taken if they hadn’t lucked into showbiz. This, after they take a high school aptitude test to decide where they belong.
Said z-listers will wear a disguise, and at the end will reveal their true identity to their bosses and coworkers. Oh. The humanity.
Read the press release below:
LOS ANGELES, CA – October 10, 2011 – VH1, American Idol’s Randy Jackson and Shed Media are teaming up to school celebrities about what life is in the real world for those who didn’t get their big breaks in “Aptitude Test” (working title). The one-hour series will premiere in 2012.
“Aptitude Test” is a show from Randy Jackson and Shed Media where each week a high profile celebrity gets a chance to see what might have happened if they never had their big break in the entertainment business. After retaking their high school career aptitude test to determine their “rightful calling, ” the celebrity will then don a disguise and undergo on-the-job training before revealing their true identity to their boss and co-workers. The show will mix both humor and heart in this fish-out-of-water experience.
“We immediately loved this idea from Randy Jackson as it hits all the right notes for us – celebrities, real-life experiences and good storytelling, ” said Jeff Olde EVP Original Programming and Production. “We get to dive in with a celebrity and learn what their ‘day job’ might have been had the star thing not worked out. But the heart and humor of the show is following the celebrities on that real life journey as they train in a new craft and ultimately get to reveal their true identities to the people training them.”
“Are we where we should be? Are we doing what we should be doing? Everybody wonders these things…even celebrities, ” said Randy Jackson. “The show is a fun look at what could have been.”
Randy Jackson and his production company Dream Merchant 21 Entertainment (America’s Best Dance Crew) along with Shed Media (Basketball Wives) are producing the series. Executive Producing for Dream Merchant 21 Entertainment are Randy Jackson, Abe Hoch, Harriet Sternberg and Joel A. Morgan. Executive producing for Shed Media are Nick Emmerson, Alex Demyanenko, and Jennifer O’Connell. Executive producing for VH1 are Jill Holmes, Tom Huffman and Jeff Olde.
