NETFLIX's TALENTS

A French naked journey and a Norwegian summer competition show

NETFLIX’s TALENTS

Talent shows remain very popular on contemporary television. Following a period dominated by dance shows, singing competitions have returned to the mainstream. Two recent Netflix formats are proof of this.

The first is Building the Band, produced by Banijay's Remarkable Entertainment and due to launch on 9 July. While formats like this often have a similar mechanism, this one has an interesting twist: the aim is to bring together up-and-coming vocalists to form the ultimate supergroup before the artists ever meet face-to-face.

According to the show’s official logline, “Building the Band brings together talented singers [50 in total] for a truly unique competition show where building the perfect band is all about chemistry. The singers are in complete control as they seek to form their very own bands [6 in total] in individual ‘booths’ without ever seeing each other. All they have to go on is musical compatibility, connection, chemistry and merit. What will happen when the bands finally meet, and looks, choreography, and style come into play? With incredible performances, compelling drama, and one big goal—to find the next great music band—the stage is set for an unforgettable experience.”

The series is hosted by AJ McLean (member of the Backstreet Boys) with Tony Award winner Nicole Scherzinger (frontwoman of the band The Pussycat Dolls) serving as mentor and judge, and musical experts and guest judges Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child and Liam Payne of One Direction. This was the singer's last appearance before his tragic death on 16 October, after which he fell from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires.

The second, which is more hybrid in nature (part talent show, part factual programme) is Hitmakers, produced by by Done and Done Productions and Harvey Mason Media, that will be on air on July 24.

The series features a dozen of the music industry’s top songwriters and producers — who between them have credits on songs by artists like Beyoncé, BTS, Arianna Grande, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and Jelly Roll — assembling for a trio of high-stakes writing camps, with the goal of crafting new songs for stars John Legend, Shaboozey, and Lisa of Blackpink. The cameras are on hand to capture all the chaos (creative and otherwise) that unfolds as the housemates navigate the personal and emotional pressures that come with writing a hit song.

TRAVELLING NAKED THROUGH EUROPE

Nus & Culottés (literally 'naked and bold', but internationally distributed as The Naked Travellers) is a small but successful television factual series that has been broadcast on the French public channel France 5 since 2012 and has 11 seasons, with production by Bonne Picoche and distribution by Can't Stop Media. In each episode, two bold young adventurers — Nans (Nans Thomassey) and Mouts (Guillaume Mouton) — embark on a journey with only a knife, a backpack, three discreet cameras and a drone, and no clothes or money. The aim is to demonstrate that there is solidarity shared by all.

They film their journeys spontaneously, embracing the unexpected and the authentic. Thanks to bartering, favours and the generosity of the people they meet, they find clothes, food and accommodation, and receive help getting around, whether on foot, by bike, hitchhiking, or by car, plane, caravan or canoe.

In each episode, they attempt to achieve a childhood dream located several hundred kilometres away. Examples include having tea with a lord in England, seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland, and flying in a hot air balloon over the volcanoes of Auvergne.

The latest news is that, on 16 July, France 5 will air a new episode of the original series alongside a female spin-off featuring Zoé and Louise, the female counterparts of Nans and Mouts. These two friends were selected by France Télévisions to star in the female version of the travel programme. Bon voyage!

NORVEGIAN VACATION

It's holiday time, and this applies to TV formats with summery, cheerful, fresh and light-hearted settings and concepts, too. A perfect example is 20-star Summer Vacation, which premiered on Norwegian public broadcaster NRK1 last Monday (30 June). Hosted by Silje Nordnes, the show is produced by Magga and Anders, whose ‘speciality’ is holiday shows — they previously created 24-star Christmas Calendar and Easter Crime Stories — and is distributed by Lineup Industries.

In this format - a light, family-friendly reality competition show perfect for summer days - 20 celebrities are invited to a cool summer location where they will participate in summer-themed games. To add an element of 'social experiment', the celebrities first took a personality test. The results predicted how they would perform in the tasks and who was destined to fail. In fact, before the show, they had to answer 250 questions to determine their personality type (the ‘big 5 test’). NRK's website has narrowed this down to just ten questions, so you can discover which celebrity you're most like. Just click here!

The first episode, On the Verge of Singing, was watched by 328,000 viewers on NRK 1 and was also made available on the streaming service NRK TV, making it the most-viewed non-news show that day on the channel: a good start, says NRK's ​​project editor.

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NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

• On Thursday 26 June, French channel M6 launched J'en Connais un Rayon (‘I know a thing or two’), a game show entirely dedicated to consumer affairs. Hosted by Julien Courbet, this new entertainment programme aims to make viewers more informed consumers.

• Premiering on 27 July, Naked and Afraid: Apocalypse is a new spin-off of Discovery's survival show Naked and Afraid. It sees 12 experienced survivalists, divided into four teams, dropped into a forbidding wasteland in South Africa.

  Furthermore, on 28 July, the limited series Animals on Drugs will drop, exploring the strange side effects of human vices on wildlife, from drunk bears to meth-addled gators and even Pablo Escobar's infamous "cocaine hippos".

• Seven.One Studios International’s The Hunt (w.t.) is set to be adapted in Germany by Joyn and ProSieben. Redseven Entertainment and Motion Entertainment are making a celebrity version of the reality competition for Germany to air in 2026. The format was first commissioned by Channel 4 in the U.K.

• Amazon’s Prime Video in India has renewed its local version of All3Media International’s hit unscripted format The Traitors for a second season.

• Sri Lankan free-to-air channel ITN has commissioned a local version of MasterChef. MasterChef Sri Lanka will launch this September with a 25-episode first-season run, produced by Reality TV Production in association with Nilendra Deshapriya Productions.

• The physical game show Catchpoint has clinched its first-ever Asian commission with a slot with Sri Lanka’s SIRASA TV. The deal secured by ITV Studios also sees the renewal of The Voice franchise with the Sri Lankan media group.

• Disney+ has commissioned three new reality series: Jamie and Sophie: Raising Chelsea (w.t.), The Rooneys (w.t.) and a reboot of Blind Date.

• Food Network has brought on boxing champion Laila Ali to front a soft reboot of the culinary competition Superchef Grudge Match, in the wake of the former show’s host, Darnell “Superchef” Ferguson, taking a plea deal in a case involving domestic violence allegations. The new show will debut on August 12, and will see Ali presiding over single-round, winner-take-all culinary battles in which elite chefs sharpen their knives to settle long-standing disputes and bitter rivalries.

Don't forget the SUPER EARLY BIRD PASSES for MipCom in October, offering savings of €610! The offer ends on 7 July.

Further information is available here.