Friday's Espresso - 10th MAR
week from 3rd to 10th March
1. CRYPTO WARS
It was just a matter of time. This spring also one of the last (for now) barriers will be broken down in the tv world: bringing cryptocurrency to a mainstream television audience.
Insight Tv (the global network of 178 platforms, including linear channels, FAST and OTT, in 55 countries, particularly focused on Gen Z) and Los Angeles based prodco bspoketv are going to produce The Next Crypto Gem, a new competition show where crypto project leaders compete in order to be crowned “The Next Crypto Billionaire”.
The production features well-known crypto influencers Brian D. Evans, Layah Heilpern and George Tung as judges (see pic); furthermore there will be other “crypto stars” as special guests.
An interesting starting point -at least on paper- but let’s wait and see how the mechanisms and dynamics will be: for what we know so far, it’s too early to judge.
2. MORE FOR LONDON SCREENINGS
We already wrote about many formats presented at the recently ended London Screenings. For example, ITV’s My Mum Your Dad (very nice: the second season is commissioned by NINE in Australia, see Friday Espresso 11th March 2022), Scared of the Dark (FE 20th May) and I Kissed a Boy (FE 27th May); Banijay’s Love Triangle (FE 16th Sept, but without explaining the twist, which, to tell the truth, is not so surprising), Cover Night (FE 9th Dec), The Summit (FE 23rd Sept); All3Media’s Rise and Fall (FE 26th Aug)...
Among others, it’s worth mentioning Tempting Fortune (commissioned by Channel 4 and Roku, produced by Voltage TV). The concept is promising: 12 strangers will spend 19 days in an exotic place and, in order to win the substantial cash prize, will have to resist the temptation to spend any of it, in a test of willpower. That’s not easy at all, because, while the contestants battle increasing hunger and exhaustion, they will come across lots of tantalizing comforts, all offered at the world’s most exorbitant prices (for example, a vending machine has chocolate bars at £400 each). And every time someone craves, there’s that much less for everyone to share.
As stated, it’s an interesting concept, but unfortunately almost the same as Mtv’s Stranded With a Million Dollars (2017); judge for yourself: https://gameshows.fandom.com/wiki/Stranded_With_a_Million_Dollars
Simple but touching is The Piano (on air on Uk Channel 4 from 15th February, from Love Production and globally distributed by Fremantle): amateur pianists are invited to play on public pianos in train stations without knowing that they are secretly watched by classical pianist Lang Lang and popstar Mika (pics, together with the host Claudia Winkleman), who will choose one performer from each station to play at The Royal Festival Hall.
Finally, the Korean hit Sing Again (3rd series on JTBC channel and on air also on Discovery+) was presented from WBITVP (Warner Bros. International Television Production), which distributes it. The format, a mix of reality and singing competition show, is based on ‘forgotten’ singers, artists who were once celebrated and now get a second chance at fame. The winner gets a prize of 100,000,000 of won (about 72.000€) and a recording contract.
3. THE TWIN TWIST
Luckily also in the super crowded genre of dating shows there is something with a new twist, or better, in this case, a “twin-twist”: Twin Love is produced from ITV Entertainment and will premiere on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee this summer.
The format explores the love lives of identical twins. Ten sets of twins will be split up and placed into two houses of "identical" casts, where they'll begin a compelling search for love in order to discover if their inherent similarities extend to their romantic desires or not. When separated from their twin brothers and sisters—some for the first time ever—will they pursue the same identical partners? Or will their choices be different?
The hosts can not be that twins: in this case the WWE Hall of Famers and TV personalities Brie and Nikki Bella (pics). Promising.
