Microsoft ramps up TV production efforts with reality TV hire

Newsbrief: We all remember the TV-heavy unveil event for the Xbox One. In it, former CBS exec Nancy Tellem spoke broadly about the importance of original programming for Xbox. Microsoft has drawn closer to delivering on that promise with a new hire -- Ari Mark, who worked at U.S. network AMC on its foray into reality and other unscripted shows, has joined the company. Mark was involved with AMC shows including Talking Dead, the talk show companion to its popular scripted drama The Walking Dead, and Comic Book Men, a reality TV show focused on movie director Kevin Smith's comic book shop. What Mark will work on for the company is not immediately clear; however, Xbox Entertainment Studios is currently producing, among other things, a documentary series which will investigate the story surrounding a large cache of Atari 2600 cartridges long thought to have been buried in a New Mexico landfill by the failing company.