1. KEYS TO UNLOCK AN HEART
After I Kissed a Boy, the gay dating show recently broadcast on BBC Three (see Friday’s Espresso 27th May), now it’s time of the first lesbian dating show, Coming Out for Love (but see also Prime Video’s docuseries Tampa Baes, with a panel of seven lesbian and bisexual women).
The show, that will premier on next Valentine’s Day (14th February) across various digital streaming platforms, will feature 16 queer contestants who live together in a magnificent 8,400 square foot (ca 780 m2) villa in Palm Springs (California). They’ll participate in emotional and physical challenges with the aim to win the highest number of “keys” that unlock the heart of influencer and activist Amber Whittington.
Coming Out for Love is produced from award winning LGBTQ filmmaker Nicole Conn, in association with Just Jo Productions and Pelican Films. Last Saturday (14th January) she personally held a live chat through Zoom, sharing behind-the-scenes secrets about the making of the show, and screen pre-released content. An interesting form of “interactive promotion”.
2. NETFLI-K
The appeal of Korean contents (in audiovisual, music, entertainment…) continues to be incredibly strong and is spreading all around the world. Netflix, in particular, bets very much on Korean IP and has unveiled 34 (!) upcoming titles from this country for 2023. Here is the unscripted slate, consisting of 5 brand-new formats.
The first one is Physical: 100, that will debut on January 24th. As the title reveals, it’s a competition game, where 100 contestants with statuary bodies fight against each other in a series of physical challenges, some of them quite brutal (the references to Squid Game are not casual).
From the trailer it seems a “normal” action game, apart from a very effective visual impact (from the scenographic and directorial point of view).
Zombieverse is a peculiar comedy/reality series. A number of South Korean entertainers, in a set in the heart of Seoul amidst a zombie apocalypse, must fight for survival. They work together searching for food, water, transport and shelter. Every day the contestants are given tasks to complete in order to earn the supplies they need; if any of them are “bitten”, they must be left behind.
I’m personally very curious to know more about this strange mix of horror/comedy and reality, that could be fantastic or terrible (there is no middle ground).
The other 3 shows (of which very little is still known) are the following:
Siren: Survive the Island: a physical competition show where 24 iron women challenge each other in a remote island in teams divided by their professions: police officers, firefighters, bodyguards, soldiers, athletes and stuntwomen (see pic below).
Nineteen to Twenty: the lives of a group of teens that have just turned twenty (when you come of age in Korea), experiencing all the "first times" of adulthood.
The Devil’s Plan: a challenging game of survival, hosted by “the Devil,” where contestants have one week to be crowned the brainiest player and win the ultimate prize.
3. INTER-GENERATION TALENT
Formats focused on the intergenerational clash are currently quite popular. Only in Italy, for example, two shows based on this concept are on air at the same time (Boomerissima and BellaMa’), and there are many others based on the same principle all around the world.
Yesterday January 19th, live on prime time on ICI Radio-Canada, premiered the talent show’s version of this idea: Zenith, produced by Québec’s KOTV and already optioned by Mediawan Productions for all French-speaking European territories.
On a big stage reminding of an arena, 24 famous artists of 4 different generations challenge each other in front of 100 people, public and jury at the same time, divided into 4 generations as well: the Gen Z (born from 1994), Millennials (born between 1981 and 1993), Gen X (born between 1968 and 1980) and Boomers (born before 1968).
Each of these 4 groups is led by a captain: a celeb whose task is to reveal the mood and votes of her/his team.