FRIDAY'S ESPRESSO - 15th December
The most followed newsletter about unscripted in the world
1. ENGLISH TALENT SHOWS FOR SPAIN AND CANADA
2024 will open with 3 new localizations of 3 classic British talent shows.
The first one is Bake Off—Famosos al Horno (The Great Celebrity Bake Off, by UK-based prodco Love Production, distributed by BBC Studios) on RTVE’s (the Spanish public broadcaster ) La 1 channel. Produced locally by Boxfish and presented by actor and host Paula Vazquez, it will feature 14 celebrities from the world of music, sport, acting and gastronomy.
The series is a spin-off of the baking competition The Great British Bake Off that has reached its 15th edition on BBC One and BBC Two.
The Great Sewing Bee (9 series on BBC One, with talented amateur sewers who compete to be named "Britain's best home sewer”) is also going to be adapted for La 1 with the title Maestros de la Costura.
On the other side of the Atlantic, The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, is going to premiere in February 2024 on the Canadian public broadcaster CBC. The original British format is The Great Pottery Throw Down (6 series on BBC Two and Channel 4) and - also in this case - was created by Love Productions and is distributed by BBC Studios. As the title says, the participants are amateur potters who compete in various pottery challenges.
This is further confirmation -if we needed it- that also 2024 will be a conservative year, full of adaptations, reboots and spin-offs of ultra-classic shows, with only a few new and original formats…
2. TRUST OR GREED
Psycho-formats - i.e. formats (not only of the reality genere) with a psychological touch - is one of the most interesting trends of this period. The credit is mainly due to the great success of The Traitors, that has accumulated prizes on prizes (the Rose d’Or of the categorie “Best Reality & Factual Entertainment” 2022, “Format Of The Year” of 2022 for the prestigious magazine K7 and many others).
In this case - and in other similar ones as Rat In the Kitchen (FE 1st April), Is She the Wolf? (FE 18th August), La Caza - the aim is to discovers traitors / saboteurs / deceivers among a group. The Trust: A Game of Greed, produced by Grandma’s House Entertainment and Lighthearted Entertainment, that is going to premiere on Netflix next 10th January, follows a different path.
"In this game - the official synopsis reads - everyone starts as winners and they can all leave as winners – if they choose to share." Actually, this psycho-reality will bring a group of strangers together and give them the opportunity to either split a quarter of a million dollars evenly or vote each other out and keep more for themselves.
But contestants will also be given the opportunity to anonymously vote each other out, increasing their individual share of the total prize plot. Only one vote is needed to eliminate a contestant. The contestants will also take part in a series of tests designed to prove each player's loyalty. And at the end, will loyalty or greed win?
3. MISSION BUSINESS
Business-talents are definitely becoming very popular in Asia. The Big Spark has recently been announced in Singapore (see FE 24th November). Now the Indian business-talent Mission Start Ab, produced by Endemol Shine India, is going to premiere on Prime Video on December 19th.
The formula is always the same. Ten grassroots Indian entrepreneurs, chosen among thousands (so says the trailer), are assessed by three of India’s most knowledgeable and experienced investors, who not only act as judges and investors, but also step in as mentors to nurture contestants to sharpen the skills needed to scale their startups. After each challenge one of them must leave, until the announcement of the winner.
Like The Big Spark, also in this case the program has an extra-television purpose: the series has been developed in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, with the objective to nurture promising enterprise from diverse corners of India.
Maybe not an unmissable show, but a very interesting social/economic experiment (if it works).
