No takers for new Sarah Palin reality show

Sarah Palin announced in October that she would not run for president, leaving her free to focus on another time-honored important institution: reality TV.

But the Fox News contributor is having some trouble selling a follow-up to the Mark Burnett-produced "Sarah Palin's Alaska," her TLC show that bowed in November 2010 to a record-breaking 5 million viewers.

The Hollywood Reporter reports Palin and Burnett are pitching another reality series, this one more focused on Palin's husband Todd and his career as a championship snowmobile racer.

Sounds like someone is running low on ideas.

But for now, TLC owner Discovery Communications has passed, say sources. And A&E; Networks, which entered into a bidding war with Discovery for "Sarah Palin's Alaska," also is not interested.

The Hollywood Reporter says the networks have balked at the steep asking price -- Palin's "Alaska" went for more than $1 million an episode and sources say Burnett and Palin are asking for a similar payday for the follow-up. Mark Burnett Productions did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another obstacle is Palin's status as a cultural lightning rod could be waning. The former Alaska governor, 47, has been largely under the radar since confirming that she would not seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, as press attention has shifted to front-runners Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and the rest. Says one network insider, "I think it's safe to say her time has passed."