1. ANOTHER BOARD GAME TURNED INTO TV GAME
There is a number of Tv games derived from board games: to mention only the Mattel brand, we can remember Guess Who, some formats inspired by Cluedo and others by Taboo (the official one with the same title, plus other “unofficial” ones).
Some of them worked (even though none has ever become a hit), but in other cases the operation is a bit of a stretch. Pictionary - a new game show set to premiere in the U.S. on September 12 on Fox-owned stations in major U.S. markets (produced by Fox First Run along with Bill’s Market and Television Production and hosted by Jerry O’Connell: pic) - seems to belong to the latter category.
The rules are as the board game, in which teams must try to guess a secret word, object or idea based on a teammate’s impromptu sketch. The series will pit two teams of three against each other, with each team to be led by a celebrity captain. Very funny to play, but maybe less effective to watch “passively”.
2. BRITISH CLASS STRUGGLE
The contrast between 2 opposing groups of contestants always provides material for tv programs and not only. For example I’m thinking of the German State of Hate (challenges & cooperation between rival groups: pic) or the Korean The Society Game, where a group modeled as a democracy challenges a group modeled as a totalitarian state (pic).
Now British pubcaster Channel 4 has commissioned a new interesting social experiment exploring the gap between the rich and the poor titled Rise & Fall (produced by Studio Lambert and Motion Content Group). The rich live in an opulent penthouse while everyone else lives in a basement workplace. Through a series of games and challenges, those in power will make decisions affecting those who have none, while those without power will compete to build favor with those at the top.
Players will have the chance to rise and fall, going from having everything to having nothing. The cash prize starts at zero and builds only when challenges devised by those in power are completed by those who are not, as those at the bottom try to find a way to make it to the top.
Studio Lambert (together with Raw TV) is also co-producing the new reality competition show Edge of Paradise, which will premier in Netflix in spring 2023. In the show, contestants begin their journey camping in the wilderness and must rely on strategy and alliances to win a place in a luxury villa. Those who secure a ticket to paradise by the end of the game have a chance of winning a huge cash prize.
3. COMBAT FORMATS
Last Wednesday Aug. 24 Combate Global Exclusivo ViX+, a kind of “combat reality” about a group of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighters, premiered on Spanish-language subscription streaming service ViX+ (which TelevisaUnivision launched last month in the US, Mexico and across Latin America).
The show pits members of four MMA training gyms from Mexico, the U.S. and Spain against each other. Each episode culminates with a MMA match that pits fighters from the different camps against one another. Points will be awarded to the gyms based on their fighters’ performances in each match, and the gym that earns the greatest number of points over the course of the series will win a $50,000 prize.
In the meantime, Gladiators, the U.K version of American Gladiators, which aired on ITV in the early 2000’s before being briefly revived for Sky in 2008, is getting a reboot produced by Hungry Bear Media and MGM Television UK and will premiere in 2023 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
The new series will follow contestants as they compete against each other in an array of challenges, testing speed and strength and include brand new games alongside some of the original classic challenges, culminating in the classic head-to-head race, The Eliminator.