Televisionation: Friday Fireside: Ex-Viacom President, Doug Herzog, on Launching “South Park,” “The Real World” and More

August 22, 2025

The Friday Fireside presents a special “Inside Television” segment with industry trend-setting innovator and general troublemaker, Doug Herzog, ex-President of Viacom Entertainment Group. Perhaps Doug’s most controversial decision was the launch of “South Park” in August 1997. And Doug was part of the team that developed, and then RE-developed, MTV by paying exquisite attention to an audience that today would be dubbed Gen Z (13- to 28-year-olds). As part of the team that took the “M” out of MTV, Doug explains the reasoning behind the launch of “The Real World” in 1992, widely considered the first modern reality television show.