In fact, you could describe "The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best" as another of those hybrid television series in which a network executive had the brilliant idea of merging two or three already used themes into one.

This is how the pitch meeting at Fox must have gone:

Young executive: "I've got this great idea. How about a cross between 'The Apprentice' and 'Fear Factor' with a little of 'The Amazing Race' thrown in."

Network president: "Brilliant. Let's do it."

See, even you could be a television exec.

But "The Rebel Billionaire" feels so borrowed, it just doesn't have the same spark as that smash hit about the other flashy entrepreneur.

In "Rebel," the chief executive of Virgin Group of Companies, which includes Virgin Records and Virgin Airlines, takes 16 young - good-looking, of course - contestants and asks them to take on daring challenges. The winner gets a shot at running his company, though they don't say for how long (read: probably for about five minutes). At least they also get a million bucks.

Among those contestants is 27-year-old Spencer Nelson, of Salt Lake City, owner of the LoveSac Corp., which makes elaborate beanbag chairs. In the premiere episode, which airs Tuesday at 7 p.m. on KSTU Channel 13, he gets himself into a little trouble on the first day.

Branson's idea of managerial leadership must have something to do with physical moxie rather than business skills because many of the challenges will be stunts a la "Fear Factor."

In the premiere episode, there is, admittedly, a hairy exploit. Half of the contestants climb into two hot air balloons (Branson was the first to cross the Atlantic in one) and, once in the air, are required to cross a 15-foot, 3-inch-wide girder between the baskets in midflight. Those who can't make it have to do something even worse.

That alone makes it light years ahead of the other "Apprentice" clone, ABC's "The Benefactor

billionaire Mark Cuban, a tired and unimaginative reality show. But neither have the spice or the production value of "The Apprentice."

At the end of the show, everyone then climbs into Branson's jet to be flown around the world to the next adventure while the loser stays on the tarmac to board a plane for home.

Fox has been hammered this season for its copycat mentality - "Trading Spouses" from ABC's "Wife Swap" and "The Next Great Champ" from the as-yet-to-be-seen "The Contender" on NBC. Those failed shows, along with "Rebel," prove that original ideas have a better chance of spawning decent television.

It sounds like a simple and obvious notion. Yet it's something Fox executives don't seem to get.

Allie's back

Allie Mac Kay, the once-popular features reporter on KSTU Channel 13's morning news show, has returned after a stint at a Sacramento TV station. She is now a features reporter for KUTV Channel 2.

Mac Kay left KSTU in May 2003 for Los Angeles to try to break into national news. Instead, she ended up at KMAX, the UPN affiliate in Sacramento.

Mac Kay, who started Thursday, will be doing the same irreverent feature stories as she did for the local Fox station. She can be seen on 2News This Morning from 5 to 8 a.m.