David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe are the principal partners in Renegade 83 Entertainment (REG). Since its inception in 1994, Renegade has staked out a position at the vanguard of contemporary television, helping to establish, then re-invent, the “reality” format that has provided the medium with its most vital successes over the past decade.

Renegade was the first to successfully re-write the rules of television storytelling in 1999, when they introduced America to the hopelessly addictive syndicated half-hour Blind Date. With Blind Date, Renegade mined one of our era’s truly universal social rituals for humor, pathos and sly insight into the nature of contemporary urban relationships. The unique approach to storytelling, aided by a multitude of on-screen editorial zingers, Blind Date emerged as one of the iconic programs of its era, paving the way for several of Renegade’s further successes in the unscripted relationship genre, The 5 th Wheel and Rendez-View.

As “reality TV” proved marketable in the early 2000’s, Renegade found itself faced with the challenge of re-defining its brand amidst the glut of unscripted programming that swamped the networks—most of it highly theatrical and artlessly contrived, sorely lacking the stripped-down accessibility of Blind Date. Its appeal inspired the WB to seek Renegade’s expertise to develop a comedic brand for their network. Their solution turned the reality TV model inside-out, developing the first celebrity reality program, The Surreal Life. Featuring a collection of semi-faded media personalities including Corey Feldman, M.C. Hammer, Vince Neil, Gabrielle Carteris and Emmanuel Lewis, The Surreal Life effortlessly wielded the double-edged sword of celebrity to puncture the pretensions of its genre. (Among the program’s many ironies was the fact that as the “real people” featured on competing programs grew more artificial in front of the cameras, the celebrity cast of The Surreal Life frequently appeared more genuine, relaxed and accessible than their ordinary-people counterparts.) Renegade’s creative development for the WB struck a cord with audiences and established the franchise’s no-frills depiction of celebrity life; The Surreal Life is currently in production on its 5 th season.

Last summer, Renegade demonstrated that its command of storytelling extended beyond the unscripted arena, when its USA Network Miniseries, The 4400, set the standard when it premiered to the widest audience in history for a basic cable series. A provocative science fiction series, The 4400 opens with the sudden and inexplicable reappearance of 4,400 missing persons on a single day, and follows the cosmic consequences of their return to their riveting conclusion. Reminiscent of The X-Files in its taut storytelling and imaginative scope, The 4400 illustrates the same devotion to strong storytelling evident in Renegade’s “reality” work. The second season of The 4400 is now in production, and set to premiere in June.

Renegade continues to build on its successes in the “reality” genre with groundbreaking new series such as The Law Firm, Miracle Workers and Mobile Home Disaster. Produced in conjunction with David E. Kelley for NBC, The Law Firm follows a “cast” of practicing attorneys as they try a variety of actual cases in real courts. As the viewing audience has become increasingly sophisticated with regard to legal procedure, Renegade has responded by eliminating the artifice of the script from the legal drama. What remains is some of the purest storytelling the medium allows: high stakes, lively personalities, and the dramatic immediacy of real-life consequences.

Miracle Workers highlights another highly charged arena of contemporary life as it provides aid to families faced with financial crisis due to the high costs of health care. Health care remains one of the major unaddressed issues of our time, despite being a wrenching day-to-day struggle in the lives of millions of Americans. Miracle Workers puts a human face on the health care crisis afflicting our country, simultaneously providing relief and uplift to struggling families, while also providing viewers with a dramatic picture of their fellow citizens and of the obstacles that so many face in simply maintaining their own health and that of their loved ones.

Starring Blue Collar TV comedian Bill Engvall and an eclectic makeover crew, Mobile Home Disaster is a home renovation show like no other. The show begins with a deserving family living in the mobile home from hell. With Bill's down-home, comedic charm and the crew's expertise, the home is completely reconstructed, making the family the envy of their trailer park. Mobile Home Disaster is a funny and poignant look at good things happening to good people.

Renegade’s many other credits include the updated game show Let’s Make a Deal for NBC, the UPN reality-drama Chains of Love, the FX Comedy series Fast Food Films; the Cable Ace-nominated series The Beef, hosted by Tim Conway; USA Networks’ Alien Voices with Leonard Nimoy; Reel Wild Cinema with Sandra Bernhard; Sports Bar with SCTV; and the reality series The Ultimate Love Test for ABC. As a company, Renegade continues to set the pace for both scripted and unscripted storytelling both now and in the future.