Can a Reality Show Change Mike Vick's Image?

In April there were rumors stirring around that Michael Vick was shopping around for a reality television gig while he was in prison. The rumors came as no surprise, at the time Vick was no longer in the NFL and he was flat out broke in prison. Why  wouldn't he want to negotiate a deal that would help him crawl out of his hole? Back then his agent Joel Segal denied that the Philadelphia Eagles quarter back was attempting to get a television deal.

" Any speculation of Mike doing a reality show is false," Segal told NFL.com . "He has no interest in that. Absolutely false."

Well, the rumors it turns out were not rumors at all. Along  part of his transition from jailbird to hig-flying Eagle, Vick will indeed  be starring in his own eight part docu-series  on BET.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the docu-series tentatively titled " The Michael Vick Project" will air early in 2010 . It  promises an in - depth look into Vick's past and present as he went from childhood, to  NFL  superstar to imprisoned dog - fighter, and back to NFL quarter back.  The cameras will  take us into Vick's   troubled relationships with his fiancee' and  his  children, and his road to redemption.

"I just want people to really get to know me as an individual," Vick told the 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. .. I just want people to really get to know me as an individual."

While the  dollar  amount that  Vick will make from the show is unknown,Vick's reality television announcement comes at the heels of a  ruling by a  federal judge approving  a plan that allows Vick to come out of bankruptcy and repay creditors an estimated $20 million over six years.

I know it is reality television, but this decision unlike some of the  ones Vick has made  could  be exactly what he needs, financially and  image wise. This means not only  another pay check , but a unique chance at image rehabilitation. Produced correctly , the show may even cause PETA, which is up in arms about the docu-series,  to see the 'real Vick'  and take it a little easier on him.   Nah, that's never going to happen.

- EBONI FARMER