1- THE NETHERLANDS, COUNTRY OF FORMATS
The Netherlands have been a country of formats for about thirty years and continue to be. Only in the last month a number of interesting new shows have been launched and among them at least 4 have to be pointed out.
The first one is The Connection, a quiz show on public broadcaster NPO 1 and produced by BNNVARA, where everything revolves around one answer: the final connection. In an impactful virtual scenography, over the course of four rounds three famous candidates face off against each other as they try to answer correctly. And at the end they have to find out the word or the concept that ties together all the answers given in order to win a prize.
Also the second one, Think Inside the Box, is a game with celebs, on air on SBS6 and produced by Talpa Entertainment Productions. The show revolves around a large box made of LED screens containing all kinds of cryptic clues and the contestants have to guess who or what is inside.
The third, Domino Challenge (RTL4, produced by EndemolShine Nederland), is a studio-based game as well. It’s the local version of a format developed in 2020 by EndemolShine North America: a knockout competition pitting eight pairs of domino-building enthusiasts against each other in a harsh tournament of dominoes.
Finally, Race om de Ringen (Race for the Rings) is an adventure contest on location: six wedding couples compete in a race through the desert of Jordan to win the honeymoon of their dreams. However, as beautiful as the country is, conditions in some areas are extremely difficult. Also in this case the broadcaster is RTL4 and the producer EndemolShine Nederland.
2- INTERVIEW WITH DEAD CELEBS IN FRANCE
Last month on France 3 premiered an interesting experiment: Hôtel du temps (Hotel of time), hosted by the famous presenter and producer Thierry Ardisson. This original interview format uses new technologies to recreate long-lost legends (like Dalida, Jean Gabin and others) and have them tell about their lives.
In particular, Artificial Intelligence is used to give the celebs’ real faces to some actors, and a new technology (Voice Cloning) to give them the celebs’ voices.
The first episode didn’t quite live up to the expectation, but the channel believes in the project and will revive it in the next season with some adjustments.
3- NOTES FROM NEM
NEM (New Europe Market) ended yesterday 9th June. Chiara Duranti from Formatbiz wrote a brief note.
“NEM Dubrovnik, Croatia, is considered the "Market with a view" for the incredible location of the Palace Hotel in Dubrovnik (pic below), gathering people from Central & Eastern Europe and offering a point-of-view about the TV landscape of this region. The event was joined by more than 800 participants.
Regarding the unscripted, most formats adapted in the CEE are the giant's hit shows like The Chase, Pekin Express, Jeopardy! etc. but there are some originals that we’ve found so far. In Romania the musical travel reality Romania Are Roast, broadcast by Antena, sees two teams of stand-up comedians travel around Romania, giving musical performances that pay tribute to the country's various local traditions. In addition, viewers will see the participants mocking each other's performances and performing comedy sketches and improvisations based on their experiences across the country.
In Albania, TV personality and singer Luana Vjolica launched a project on YouTube channel after leaving the linear TV: the social experiment show Say It. In each episode, music releases and personal stories attempt to raise awareness around bullying.
Anyway, NEM is more focused on scripted series. Beta Film launched the Cardamon Coffee produced in Ukraine (Star Light Media) with the aim to support the industry with a very emotional evening premiere at the suggestive Vala Beach at the sea.