"EXTREME EXPERIENCES": the hard side of formats
You Sleep, You Loose goes to France - A Brazialian "role talent" - Smarter than a celeb or a kid?
In previous issues we talked about 'warm shows' (see FE 15 March) and 'vintage shows' (see FE 5 April), reassuring, family-friendly formats based on good feelings. But the opposite trend of 'extreme experiences' is also very popular. These are formats in which participants are put under very high pressure, both physically and mentally, with mechanisms and situations designed to push them to their limits in various ways ("push your limits!" is a kind of mantra repeated throughout the programmes).
The 'adventure/competition reality' in extreme locations (jungle, high mountains, open sea...) is just a declination of this wider trend, but the same goal can be achieved in other ways. For example, in the BBC series Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof, contestants are pushed to their limits by extreme cold; there are also formats and factual programmes where contestants have to spend a certain amount of time behind prison bars and so on.
The German ‘extreme game show’ Wer Schläft, Verliert! (You Sleep, You Loose: broadcast by ProSieben, produced by Fischwillwurm Media and distributed by Red Arrow Studios) takes this trend in a very original way, by putting the contestants through a really tough test: sleep deprivation.
Eight celebrities move into a house and are challenged to stay awake for 60 hours while being filmed 24/7. At the end of the 60 hours, they will immediately take part in a live gameshow, competing in a series of challenges designed to highlight the problems caused by sleep deprivation - such as loss of hand-eye coordination. After each challenge, the two worst performers will face off in a duel, with the loser facing the ultimate test: staying awake while tucked up in a cosy bed. Sleep experts analyse the stars' responses to fatigue and comment on their reactions during the challenges.
Now the format has been commissioned by France's national television channel France 2: the battle against sleep is on again!
A BRAZILIAN “ROLE TALENT”
One of the many sub-genres of the talent show is where the prize for the winner is a leading role in a show, film or fiction. For example, in Britain's Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream, the two winners will get the roles of Sophie and Sky in a new version of the famous musical in West London.
Now NBCUniversal has announced that it will produce the talent/competition show No Jogo in Brazil to select three actresses for the lead roles in (In)Vulneráveis, a medical drama set in Rio de Janeiro that will air on Universal TV.
The unscripted format will feature 12 contestants, with four actresses competing for each of the three roles. Over the course of seven episodes, Brazilian actress and model Juliana Alves (pic) and a pair of judges will guide the aspiring actresses through the process of building their characters, enriched by workshops, activities and preparatory exercises.
These formats (which we can call "role talent") are interesting because, if they are successful, they give visibility and help launch the main content (in this case, the drama). But on the other hand if they flop, they can be very damaging...
SMARTER THAN A CELEB OR A KID?
Three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce is on board to host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a spin-off of the hit game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? for Prime Video.
In this new version of the format, an adult contestant is welcomed into a classroom full of celebrities from stage, screen and sports to help answer 11 questions on a range of topics from an elementary school curriculum in a bid to win $100,000. For the final question, which is always at a 6th grade level (11-12 year old students), the contestant chooses a celebrity to discuss the answer with before being locked in.
In the original version of the show, which premiered on Fox in 2007 and has been produced in 55 local versions around the world, the 5th Grade games are always played by a single contestant who tries to answer ten questions (plus a final bonus question), and the content is always taken from primary school textbooks, two from each grade from first to fifth.
The difference, however, was that the contestants were assisted in answering the questions by a "classmate" of kids (rather than celebrities), one of five school-age cast members. If a contestant gets an answer wrong or decides to leave the game early, they have to declare that they are "no smarter than a 5th grader".
To be honest, this version seems to be more fun (and a more in line with the concept) because of the presence of the kids, who gave the game a fresher feel and made it more distinctive. We'll see if the celebrities can replace them worthily...
NEWS IN A NUTSHELL
The Real Housewives of Rome, based on the international NBCUniversal franchise, premiered in Italy on 24 April, with the first two episodes streaming exclusively on Discovery+ and on Real Time from 1 May.
Sony Pictures Television and Sony-owned TriStar Pictures have struck a deal with Hasbro Entertainment for the TV and film rights to the board game Clue (Cluedo)
Last Saturday, 21 April, the new edition of Adivina Qué Hago (Game of Talents), produced by Fremantle and Mediaset España, premiered on Spain's Telecinco
Warner Bros. ITVP España will produce the reality dating show First Dates Hotel, a spin-off of First Dates, on the Spanish channel Cuatro
The new series of Stranded On Honeymoon Island, produced by Redseven Entertainment, was launched last week on Germany's SAT.1. Czech Republic's FTV Prima has alos recently ordered a local version of the show
The fun “journalist travel show” Hold the Front Page, produced by CPL Productions, is set to return to Sky Max in the UK on April 24 for a second season.
The first episode of the second series of the fun quiz In With A Shout was broadcast on ITV last Saturday 21 April
Hungary's TV2 and Ukraine's 1+1 will broadcast local versions of BBC Studios' The 1% Club. This makes a total of 12 international deals for the hit format
Swiss French-speaking public broadcaster RTS has commissioned a local adaptation of the Belgian factual format We've Got to Walk, called San Detours