"You Chase": the tele-digitalisation

A sustainable fashion competition - An intriguing "pokercooking"

YOU CHASE

The ‘teledigitalisation’, i.e. the inevitable process of the gradual shift from linear channels to the digital dimension, is meant to become one of the most important global TV phenomena of the coming years, perhaps of the next decade.

The first step obviously is the increasing of their streaming services: ITVX, BBCiPlayer (that, according their execs, has to be recognised as streaming destination rather than only a catch-up service), TF1+ and many others go (or try to go) exactly in this direction. But traditional broadcasters can also implement other strategies.

A special edition of ITV’s most iconic quiz The Chase (on air since 2009, almost 2500 episodes produced) is available to be watched from February 11 on The Sidemen’s You Tube Channel (here the episode), while clips and behind-the-scenes footage will also be shared on The Chase’s official social media channels. All seven members of The Sidemen, the Europe’s biggest YouTube creator collective, feature in the episode, while fellow YouTuber Stephen Tries will step in as host (however, there is a special appearance of the renowned host of the ‘classical’ Tv version: Bradley Walsh).

The operation had already been done in 2019, but now this ‘hybridisation’ makes more sense than ever, and the numbers prove it: 2.2 million views (presumably from young target) in the first 12 hours; and the total keeps growing…

A SUSTAINABLE FASHION SHOW

The fashion competition show OMG Fashun is going to premiere on E!, the American cable television, on May 6th. The format is hosted by the Italian-American actress and model Julia Fox, and produced by Scout Productions (Queer Eye).

The structure is quite classical: in each episode three wannabe fashion designers create bold new looks from unlikely materials and unconventional techniques that will be judged by Fox herself, the ‘image architect’ Law Roach and another weekly rotating guest judge. Each week’s winner is awarded a $10,000 cash prize.

To be pointed out the focus on the sustainability and the creative upcycling (although we do not know yet how important they will be within the program: from the trailer, the ‘provocative’ aspect seems prevalent), which makes it part of the rising trends of ‘formats for a better world’ (see also Re-Fashion, FE July 28th and December 22nd).

POKERCOOKING

Cooking and food in general are one of the most popular topics (perhaps the most popular ever) in formats and factuals all around the world. Almost always, however, the 'ingredients' and the way they are prepared are too similar to each other, resulting in programmes that look (almost) all the same and fungible.

Wildcard Kitchen, set to premiere on March 12th on the US cable channel Food Network and produced by Lando Entertainment, is an exception, blending the thrill of poker with the artistry of cooking.

The host, the Top Chef finalist Eric Adjepong (pic), invites 3 chefs to bring $5,000 to play across three hands of his culinary poker game. The chefs / poker players must create dishes based on the cards they are dealt, with additional wildcards introducing unexpected challenges.

A nice twist indeed, especially if, as we understand, chefs really do lose money out of their own pockets: but the official network note is not very clear on this point…