Utah'' in 1995 Burnett first produced the expedition race show
Eco-Challenge in 1995. This led to the hit reality show
Survivor which premiered in the summer of 2000, and was the most watched summer series since
Sonny & Cher.
Survivor was named the Number 1 reality series of all time by Entertainment Weekly in 2009. In 2004,
NBC premiered
The Apprentice, a reality television series in which contestants competed for a job under
Donald Trump. Burnett has produced several other television franchises including
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?,
Shark Tank,
The Voice,
Beat Shazam,
Coupled, and
TKO: Total Knock Out. Past shows include
The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC),
Bully Beatdown,
Combat Missions,
The Contender,
The Contender Asia,
Expedition Africa,
Expedition Impossible, ''
How'd You Get So Rich?, Martha Stewart, My Dad Is Better than Your Dad, On the Lot (a collaboration with Steven Spielberg), Pirate Master, The Restaurant, Rock Star, Sarah Palin's Alaska, Stars Earn Stripes, Starmaker, Toughest Cowboy and Wedding Day''. Burnett and his wife, actress
Roma Downey, produced
The Bible, a ten-hour
History Channel drama based upon stories of
the Bible.
The Bible became the No. 1 new series on cable TV in 2013 and was the No. 1 series in Canada, Spain and Portugal. In total, with subsequent airings,
The Bible was seen by more than 100 million viewers. After the success of
The Bible, Burnett and Downey started developing more faith-based scripted series.
A.D. The Bible Continues premiered on NBC on Easter Sunday 2015, and
The Dovekeepers miniseries aired on CBS in 2015. In September 2014, MGM acquired a 55 percent interest in One Three Media and
LightWorkers Media. The two companies were consolidated into a new film and television company,
United Artists Media Group, which was then acquired fully by MGM in 2015. In December 2015, Burnett was named president of MGM Television and Digital Group, signing a five-year deal. Burnett's appointment was set up to occur simultaneously with the closing of MGM's acquisition of the remaining 45 percent of Hearst's, Burnett's and Roma Downey's interests in United Artists Media Group (UAMG), which would be absorbed under the MGM Television Group umbrella. MGM Television would now have numerous unscripted and scripted television shows airing on network and cable or in production, including:
The Voice (NBC);
Survivor (CBS);
Shark Tank (ABC);
Beyond the Tank (ABC);
Celebrity Apprentice (NBC);
Fargo (FX);
Vikings (HISTORY);
Teen Wolf (MTV);
500 Questions (ABC); ''The People's Choice Awards
(CBS); LIGHT TV, Lucha Underground
(El Rey Network) and America's Greatest Makers'' (INTEL/Turner). In June 2018, MGM appointed Burnett as Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television. In 2017, Burnett had timeslot winning shows on six nights out of seven. As Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television, he oversaw scripted television shows including,
Fargo (FX), ''
The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu), Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla'' (Netflix). As of 2024, Burnett is the executive producer of five network television shows:
Generation Gap (ABC),
Beat Shazam (FOX),
Shark Tank (ABC),
Survivor (CBS) and
The Voice (NBC). Burnett is also the executive producer of the cable series
Lucha Underground (The El Rey Network) and
The Contender (EPIX). ==Personal life==