Real-estate agents are now TV stars as big as the homes they sell, according to 2 men who saw potential 20 years ago

• TV producers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato created "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" almost 20 years ago. 
• It launched a genre of shows following the professional pressure and personal tensions of real-estate brokers' lives. 
• Bailey and Barbato break down the appeal of the genre as their latest show, "Owning Manhattan" with star broker Ryan Serhant premieres.

One Los Angeles real-estate agent might single-handedly be responsible for launching two decades of reality television.