FRIDAY'S ESPRESSO - 5th May

The most followed newsletter about international formats

1. THE REBOOT (AND SPIN OFF) ERA

The super-trends of the reboots continues relentlessly throughout the world (and not only in the unscripted, of course). Just to give some recent examples, in the last days 2 new reboots have been announced: in Mexico on Tv Azteca a new edition of the gameshow Password (1961 on CBS) after 10-years break, and Split Second (1972 on ABC) will return in US on Game Show Network after 36-years (!) hiatus.

The similar phenomenon of spin-offs follows the same logic: the hope (often only illusonary) of reducing risks. Among the various examples, NBCUniversal-owned US streamer Peacock has recently ordered Love Island Games, a spin-off from the classical Love Island (2005).

But the peak of this trend was reached with the announcement of the reboot of the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera (that premiered in 1948, in the early days of television) on the American cable channel TV Land, from Village Roadshow Unscripted Television and Candid Camera, Inc. Was there really a need to resurrect a 75-year-old program? How many people will remember the original show?

2. THE GOAT AND THE “REALITY SQUARED”

“Reality squared” - i.e. formats whose participants come from other realities - are growing in number, maybe for the same need of reassurance of the “already seen” underlying the reboots phenomenon. Recent examples of “realities squared ” are All Star Shore, on Mtv (see Friday’s Espresso 1st July) and Perfect Match, on Netflix (se FE 17th Feb: in this case it is a “dating squared”).

Now, the last product of this trend is The GOAT, a new competition series that will soon premiere on Amazon Freevee, the ad-supported streamer of the group. Hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, this brand-new format will see reality TV stars (from The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars, RuPaul’s Drag Race and other shows: see the complete cast in the pic), take up residence in “GOAT Manor”, where they will face a series of mental, physical and social challenges, in order to be crowned “the Greatest Of All Time”.

Amazon Freevee has also greenlit a returning content (yes, again…), the new version of the long-running U.K. television series Mock the Week (on air from 2005 to 2022) -a comedy program that combines elements of panel shows, stand-up comedy and improvised games- in addition to other projects, unscripted and scripted.

3. A TRIO OF BRAND-NEW FORMATS FOR MITÚTV

The US Spanish-speaking market has been growing in leaps and bounds: by 2050, one in three Americans will speak Spanish, and the producers who are first to market will profit from this seismic demographic shift. This young generation (20-35) has been defined with the expression “200 percenters”, because they identify themselves as both 100% American and 100% Hispanic. 

With this in mind, it is not surprising that NGLmitú, the digital media and entertainment company super-serving the US Latino marketplace, announced the launch of streaming platform mitúTV, with a slate of over 120 hours of original English and bilingual Latino-led programming.

Among them, Three Gs in a Pod, is a video podcast where hosts Erik Rivera, Sasha Merci and Jesus Sepulveda discuss relevant topics and share childhood memories and dating horror stories. Girl, Let Me Tell You has hosts Jessica Flores, Ivana Rojas and Gorelys Mora telling personal stories about things women are tight to keep to themselves. Finally, Spill the Chisme is a gossip game show (“chisme” means “gossip”) designed to put players in the hot seat with increasingly personal questions and awkward answers.