Fox Acquires Rights To New ISIS Reality Show ‘Convert Or Die’

Mosul, Iraq, September 4 – The Fox network sent ripples through the entertainment industry today with the news that it inked a deal with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to produce a reality series focusing on a group of Westerners taken captive by the terrorist organization, all of whom are under threat to accept Islam on pain of death.

“Convert or Die” is slated to be released in time for the Fall 2015 season, but Fox executives are confident they can already begin airing the program by spring if necessary. The “Survivor”-type format has proven popular again and again with audiences in North America and beyond, and ISIS aims to penetrate American living rooms through traditional broadcast media, in addition to its robust and edgy online presence.

The show will follow the adventures and misadventures of twelve to fifteen Western journalists, human rights activists, researchers, and others who had the misfortune to encounter the wrong type of rebel in Syria or Iraq. The humanitarian crisis in both countries, the border between which has become irrelevant thanks to ISIS, has attracted reporters and volunteers from all over the world eager to bring word of the ongoing human disaster in the area and to do what they can to relieve it. The unexpected success of ISIS against both Assad’s forces in Syria and the Kurdish and Shiite forces in Iraq has left many such Westerners suddenly caught in areas under ISIS rule, where forced Islamization and brutal massacres of anyone unwilling to accept the movement’s specific version of radical Islam have become routine.

To leverage both the growing influence of ISIS and the compelling drama in the stories of those Westerners facing arbitrary torture, murder, and psychological abuse, Fox developed the concept for the series, which they expect to run for fifteen episodes or until the last member of the group is beheaded by their captors, whichever comes first.

“We’re very excited to embark on this production project,” said Fox president Prurient Voyeur. “It will give our audiences a window into an area of the world where they could never themselves go, in a way that rivets them. We expect Fox’s proven formula of high drama and high-stakes, dysfunctional interpersonal dynamics, combined with the striking contemporary relevance of people held hostage by a genocidal regime, to resonate with viewers all over the world.”

Indeed, overseas licensing is expected to bring in a significant amount of revenue, and capturing that market is something of a coup, says P. Pingtom, who studies the living room habits of cultures in different locations. “Normally, overseas licensing of a program depends on some affinity for American culture among the overseas audiences, but here, if Fox can pull this off, they’ll be targeting a vehemently anti-Western viewership hoping to watch the characters die horrible deaths, as opposed to the American viewer, who will see the entire thing as just more entertainment.”

“It makes me want to behead every single one of them,” she said.