Friday's Espresso - 3rd MAR

Week from 24th February to 3rd March

1. THE RISE OF LONDON SCREENINGS

Among the markets and events born during the covid time, the London Tv Screenings (inaugurated 3rd March 2021 on the initiative of 5 independent prodcos / distributors: Banijay Rights, All3Media, Fremantle, eOne and ITV Studios) seems to be the most successful one and has already become a “classic”. This afternoon, 3rd March 2023, the 3rd edition (with 25 exhibitors, 5 times more compared to 2 years ago, and not only from UK) will end.

Among the unscripted contents, Sony presented the reality competition Self-Made, a kind of “extension” of the program - that was only focused on food - launched last September in Brazil. In this new version, four emerging entrepreneurs (of a different business area each season – from food products and clothing to gadgets and e-commerce) get the opportunity to redevelop their products with the help of a team of industry experts.

In each episode the entrepreneurs pitch their products and receive feedback to improve them across four different rounds – the pitch, product finesse, business advice and branding make-over. If they don’t excel at each stage they are eliminated. Once their product is finally market-ready, the two remaining entrepreneurs re-pitch to the judges for the chance to win a cash prize and entry into a mentorship program.

Fremantle, that will close the event, will present this afternoon a line up of 4 formats.

The first one is The Second Chance Ex-periment from Fremantle Portugal: divorced or separated couples are reunited and given a chance to repair their broken relationships. The ex-couples move in together for seven weeks and take on personalized challenges, carefully designed by therapists to help them overcome their issues. At the end of each week, the couples are asked during a symbolic ring ceremony if they would like to continue the experiment or go home alone.

The Beatbox (co-developed by Something Special + Blue Circle and Naked, both from Fremantle group) is a musical game-show where two celebrity teams compete by recreating iconic songs with nothing more than household objects.

The Big Celebrity Detox (produced by Thames, a Fremantle label, for E4 in the UK and not to be confused with Channel 4’s Extreme Celebrity Detox: same concept) which sees eight celebrities travel to a wellness resort, to help them cleanse their bodies and change their lives for the better. Under the guidance of a spiritual guide and other treatment experts, the celebrities will undergo some of the most extravagant detox treatments in the world.

Finally, there is DNA Singers (which has already been mentioned: see Friday’s Espresso 4th February 2022), that was launched in Korea and then in the Netherlands. In this guessing game, a family member of a famous singer -whose identity remains secret till the end- performs on stage in front of the judges who have to guess which celebrities the singers are genetically related to.

In the next issue we’ll see other London Screenings formats.

2. COLOMBIAN LOVE

Last week we pointed out Belgium as a very interesting country for formats: see Friday’s Espresso - 24th February. Also Colombia has a strong tradition in this field: to confirm this, there is the recent news that Caracol Televisión (the free-to-air television network, that started it’s activity in 1954) has inked a deal with Golden Media Polska to provide production services for the Polish versions of the reality shows Hotel Paradise and True Love.

The first one has a long and complex history, intertwined with that of Paradise Hotel, which premiered in US on Fox in 2003: a group of young people will travel to the island of Barú to compete with each other, fighting for their love and a large cash prize. Their task is to remain couples as long as possible, eliminating other participants until they reach the finale.

Vice-versa, True Love is recent and -as far I know- the Polish one is the first international version. A group of singles will check into a romantic resort for a chance to win prizes, if they can find true love. In the end, their love must pass a lie detector test and one final question: are you really in love? Couples who pass the final test not only win each other’s love, but also share the prize money.

3. PLEASE, SAFE US FROM REBOOTS!

Let’s face it: we’ve had enough of reboots. According to a FRAPA report, from 2021 to mid 2022, 77 reboots of “old classic” unscripted formats have been relaunched in 30 different countries. And in 2023 this trend seems even stronger. The last one is Jeopardy!, the classic (launched in the US in 1964) game show that is going to be revived in UK on ITV and ITVX, with Stephen Fry as host (see pic), after a 27-year hiatus: it premiered on Channel 4 in 1983, then was on air on ITV (from 1990 to 1993) and finally on Sky One in 1995 and 1996.

Before that, only remaining in UK, Big Brother is going to be back on ITV2 after a 5-year hiatus; Deal Or No Deal always on ITV after a 7-year hiatus; Gladiators will be returning on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, after a 15-year hiatus; not to mention Family Feud, Password, The Weakest Link, Fear Factor, Star Academy... And the list can go on for much longer.

It’s understandable that the broadcasters in these uncertain times seek reassurance in the hits of the past. But society and tastes have changed and it’s not at all certain that what was successful yesterday will be successful even today (and to prove this, many old formats that have been relaunched haven’t been renewed for a second series). The only way to tackle the crisis is to use some more courage investing in creativity and new ideas and not just revive old formats endlessly with the hope that they still work.