Mark Cronin | |
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| Occupation(s) | Television producer, writer |
Mark Cronin is an American television producer and writer.
Cronin grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Upper Darby High School and the University of Pennsylvania. At the former, he earned a degree in Chemical Engineering and was on the cast of the Mask and Wig Club. He spent five years working as an engineer in research and marketing.[1] His first job in entertainment was moonlighting as a freelance joke writer for an Ace Award-winning newsbreak spoof on Nick at Nite called Global Village News.[citation needed]
Cronin switched careers permanently when he joined Howard Stern's nationally syndicated Saturday night television show The Howard Stern Show as a staff writer in 1991.[2] His responsibilities expanded to include scripting entire episodes, producing celebrity interviews, and producing comedic field pieces.[3] He went on to contribute to Stern's national radio show[citation needed] and serve as producer/writer on his television and video projects, including Stern's New Year's Rotten Eve pay per view special[4] — the most watched entertainment pay per view event of all time.[5] Cronin also scripted an entire E! Entertainment special for Stern's book, Miss America.[6]
In 1995, he moved to Los Angeles to become head writer for MTV's dating show Singled Out with Chris Hardwick and Jenny McCarthy. He eventually was promoted to show-runner for two seasons. In 1996, he joined the Fox network, supervising production for their first prime-time game show, Big Deal. In 1997, he returned to late night and served as supervising producer for The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show.[citation needed]
In 1997, Cronin founded Mindless Entertainment with then-partner Gary Auerbach, who left the company in 2001. The inspiration for the company name came from Cronin's mother, who called TV "that mindless entertainment".
Mindless' initial production slate included The X Show and The New Movie Show with Chris Gore for FX; Beat the Geeks for Comedy Central; America's Most Talented Kids for PAX; and Cram and Extreme Dodgeball for GSN.
In 2004, Cronin's Mindless Entertainment teamed up with Cris Abrego's 51 Pictures to form 51 Minds Entertainment — the company that produces VH1's lineup of reality television. Anchored by the "Celebreality" flagship show The Surreal Life, the company went on to create related shows including Strange Love, with Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen; My Fair Brady with Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry; The Surreal Life Fame Games; Flavor of Love; I Love New York; and Rock of Love. In 2008, Endemol USA acquired a controlling interest in 51 Minds in a deal reported to be worth upward of $200 million.[7]
In 2013 Cronin produced and created Below Deck[8] for Bravo (which was the channel's highest rated, new show premiere of the year), Ghost Mine[9] for SyFy Channel (which garnered a second season order[10]), Cash Dome Pawn[11] for TruTV, Heroes of Cosplay[12] for SyFy Channel, and Scrubbing In[13] for MTV.
In 2014, Cronin began producing under a new banner, Little Wooden Boat Productions. Under Little Wooden Boat, he became executive producer of Idiotest on Game Show Network and is currently in the development stage for multiple other projects. Idiotest continues to be renewed by GSN and premiered its fourth season, Thursday, January 19, 2017.[14]
As of 2016, Below Deck has had continued success[15][16] with its audience and has completed four seasons. Season 4 is considered one of Bravo's fastest growing series [17] and season 5 is set to return to production in 2017.
With Below Deck's popularity, Cronin sold a spin-off show to Bravo called, Below Deck Mediterranean.[18] This series premiered May 3, 2016 and the season's ratings permitted Bravo to renew the show for a second season that premiered in 2017.[19]