Get ready for Foursquare, the reality TV show

Foursquare partners with Los Angeles-based production company Endemol USA to make... some TV series

Hey, if the biggest social network in the world can have a feature film, why can’t a rising location-based network have its own TV show?

Foursquare announced Thursday a partnership with production company Endemol USA to develop a television series that “meaningfully integrates” the location-based check-in service, according to the two companies.

No, this isn’t a joke. Welcome to the 21st century, where Web sites and services can form the foundations of TV entertainment.

Endemol USA, the Los Angeles-based branch of international production and distribution company Endemol, has produced such well-known TV programs as Fear Factor for NBC, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for ABC, and Big Brother for CBS. Basically, don’t expect a drama or sitcom in which the main character just checks into Foursquare when she’s at her favorite bar. Make no mistake, these companies are talking about a reality TV show that uses Foursquare.

What that could entail, we can only posit the foggiest notions. An amazing race to see who can check into the most places? Some misguided dating program where lovers must find each other for the first time by using Foursquare? A bunch of misfits stranded in a third-world country where they don’t have Foursquare?

Unfortunately, both companies have remained tight-lipped thus far, which makes one suspect that not even they really know what to make.

No matter what the show ends up being, however, it will be great publicity for Foursquare, which is already set to hit five million users next week

“We hope that working on this project with Endemol will expose even more people around the world to the benefits of Foursquare,” co-founder Dennis Crowley told Variety.

Loads of people still don’t really understand what a location-based social network is and how it works, so a program of this type could easily and quickly bring the technology into the mainstream. And especially since competiors are always nipping at its heels, Foursquare would love to have its brand be the household name for location.

Foursquare was not immediately available for comment.