Entertainment, TV, Television - Army Times

MTV’s Sunday night action doubleheader

MTV is giving a big chunk of its Sunday night programming to action sports with two new shows that feature familiar athletes in some wild new formats.

“Nitro Circus” is the latest project of “Jackass” creator and film star Johnny Knoxville, but the star of the show is all-around thrill-seeker Travis Pastrana.

“Fantasy Factory” takes skateboarder Rob Dyrdek of “Big & Rob” fame out of his buddy comedy shtick and gives him the opportunity to make the wildest dreams of his friends come true.

While ESPN can take credit for making action sports into real sports, MTV has made the genre more of a social phenomenon, especially its groundbreaking and bone-breaking “Jackass,” which inspired millions of global fans to create their own absurd stunts and sent many of them into emergency rooms.

“The difference between ‘Jackass’ and ‘Nitro Circus’ is that we were drunks and (the cast of ‘Nitro Circus’) are real athletes,” Knoxville says with a sardonic laugh. “This is a natural progression.”

“Nitro Circus” is centered on Pastrana and a team of daredevil friends who try to outdo each other in performing stupendous stunts that go far beyond the crashing shopping carts of “Jackass.”

“The key to the show is the interaction between Travis and his friends,” Knoxville says. “This is serious stuff. We made 12 shows and probably had at least that many surgeries.”

“Fantasy Factory” also is based on relationships, only this time Dyrdek uses his 25,000-square foot office and indoor skatepark as the stage for fulfilling the sports fantasies of others.

“For me, it was a growth issue,” Dyrdek says of his three-year run on “Rob & Big.” “I wanted to create something rather than stay with the thing I’m known for. ‘Rob & Big’ was a buddy comedy show. With ‘Fantasy Factory,’ I want to take skating beyond the Tony Hawk generation and represent the street-skating generation. We’re developing our own culture. I want to take things so much deeper than just a lifestyle.”

Tony DiSanto , MTV executive vice president for series development and programming, says action sports are a natural fit for his network.

“These guys have that rock-and-roll attitude. They’re people living their dreams. They live their lives to the fullest every day. They don’t want to just get by. These new shows present them as professional athletes at the top of their game.

“They’re not suited up like superheroes, like football players. They’re accessible because their sports are integrated with their lives. There’s no hard line between their lives and their sports. Fashion, music and art are all part of it.”

Knoxville, true to his character, says of MTV’s decision to green-light his show, “Hey, they smelled a hit.”

The shows premier Sunday, with “Fantasy Factory” at 9 p.m. and ‘Nitro Circus” at 10 p.m. ET.