1. YOU TUBE THERAPY
The borders between traditional broadcaster and streaming platforms, and between linear and on demand channels are becoming more and more blurred. On one hand traditional broadcasters spread their contents in various platforms (just to give an example, the full ITVX experience - the UK ITV’s streaming service - is available on over 22 different platforms), on the other hand streamers’ contents sometimes go to traditional channels.
A good example of this last trend is Blue Therapy (w/t), an original YouTube series launched in 2021 as a six-part reality show that quickly became an online hit, averaging over 2 million views per episode, across 15 territories. It will soon be on air on E4, the British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned by Channel 4.
This social experiment explores the modern relationships of five young, diverse and aspirational couples via therapy sessions. Set in a country house, the couples meet with relationship coaches to face up to the conflicts in their partnerships surrounding topics, including race and interracial relationships, class, children, careers and gender role expectations. The format is produced by Luti Media and distributed worldwide by All3Media International.
Let’s see if the adaptation will modify the original “language” and spirit or if it will conserve the You Tube approach, bringing these two worlds even closer.
2. “HOSTILE” REBOOTS
Harsh times for originality and creativity. The rampant trend of reboot is reaching levels never touched before: broadcasters from the same country are “stealing” hits and old classics from each other. This trend of “hostile reboots” has started in the UK: ITV took over Big Brother from Channel 4 (then Channel 5), BBC took over Survivor from ITV and so on…
Now the same phenomenon happens in Germany: RTL, the free-to-air television broadcaster, took over 2 game shows -created by the producer, businessman and former entertainer and television host Stefan Konrad Raab- from rival network ProSieben, both Schlag den Besten (“Beat the Best”) and Blamieren oder Kassieren (“Shame or Cash”).
Both games result from the original show Schlag den Raab (“Beat Raab”), on air on ProSieben from 2006-2015: in each episode a contestant challenges the host himself (Raab) in a series of games in order to win a huge cash prize.
In Schlag den Besten, that will be on air on RTL next year, different celebrities (since Raab withdrew in 2015) compete against each other in various duels over four episodes.
Blamieren oder Kassieren, which will also be on air on RTL this autumn, is a kind of spin off of the Schlag den… series, because it’s one the most popular games that has now become an autonomous format. Two celebrities compete against a studio contestant in witty quiz rounds. The peculiarity is that all questions have a long introduction and the contestants can interrupt the host when they believe to have guessed the question and the answer as well.
3. A JOURNEY FOR 5
California-based prodco 44 Blue Productions has landed the exclusive U.S. rights to Channel 4’s Strangers on a Plane format (launched as a stripped format in April on Channel 4) from UK prodco Strawberry Blond TV.
Strangers on a Plane takes five strangers, flies them to Benidorm and tasks each to curate a whole day of entertainment for the others: accommodation for everyone, where they eat, group activities, evening entertainment and so on. At the end of these five days, the group votes on who planned the best day and the winner will win another week in the sun with a friend or family member.
Interesting concept (it earned nominations for Best New Show and Best Social Experiment Show at the 2023 National Reality Television Awards), but definitely too similar to My Trip is Better, on air last year on KAN11, Israel’s Public Broadcaster: see Friday’ Espresso 18th February. Judge for yourself clicking here