The format factor

Eight scripted formats from the international market went into broadcast pilot season this year: two sitcoms and six dramas. Only three – ABC sitcom The Family Tools and dramas Mistresses and Red Widow – made it through to series for next season.

That’s not actually a bad exchange rate, given that 91 scripted pilots were made for the five top US networks and 37 got picked up for series. The Family Tools is based on the BBC sitcom White Van Man, which debuted last year but was axed at the end of April after two seasons. Two weeks later, ABC confirmed its US remake.

But the two shows are very different. The BBC3 original followed a Jack-the-lad streetwise Mr Fix-It and was almost Confessions of a Handyman, given the often rather adult capers the lead protagonist got involved in. ABC’s show, on the other hand, casts the lead as a bit of a loser and has been cleaned up considerably, reflecting the different target demographics of BBC3 and ABC. Another example of a broadcaster paying for a format and re-developing it into something very different.

Mistresses seems very similar to the three-season BBC1 original, perhaps minus some of the darker tones. I seem to remember the BBC show has suicide and death that ABC’s doesn’t look to have inherited. Red Widow also looks similar to, perhaps more action-packed than, the 2010 Dutch original Penoza and the greenlight has certainly given a boost to Endemol Studios’ scripted production plans.

ABC seems to be the network that is borrowing most from international markets for its drama and comedy ideas: As well as Family Tools and Mistresses, the net had another BBC sitcom, Only Fools & Horses, is development but passed on it. In drama, ABC also had Mexican telenovela Ellas son la Alegría del Hogar being reworked as Devious Maids by Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), but passed on that too.

The other scripted formats in contention at the broadcast Upfronts last week were The CW’s Joey Dakota, based on the Israeli format Danny Hollywood, and NBC’s Isabel, a fantasy drama based on French-Canadian series Le Monde de Charlotte, and Bad Girls, adapted from the ITV1 prison drama from the UK. None were picked up.

In the unscripted space, there was also much to report from Upfronts week. NBC’s president of alternative and late-night programming Paul Telegdy showed his love of nostalgic British formats by commissioning ITV Studios to make Surprise With Jenny McCarthy, a US version of the UK production studio’s long-running series Surprise Surprise, which aired on ITV1 for 14 seasons.

Like the UK show, NBC’s one-hour feelgood series will feature a celebrity host who orchestrates various family reunions, tear-jerking announcements, good-humoured pranks and other emotion-packed events. Arthur Smith (Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares), head of LA-based prodco A Smith & Co, and ITV Studios America’s president Paul Buccieri are executive producers of the NBC show.

The show is confirmed for next season and will join earlier commissions for gameshow Howie Mandel’s White Elephant, celebrity obstacle course show Stars Earn Stripes and dating format Ready for Love. This was amid a clearing out of unscripted formats at the network that saw the demise of Escape Routes, Fear Factor, The Sing-Off, Minute to Win It, The Marriage Ref, Who’s Still Standing?, It’s Worth What? and Who Do You Think You Are?

But the big news from NBC was that it would be double-dipping The Voice next season, going over two nights plus having one cycle in the fall and another in mid-season. Most commentators saw this as treading dangerous ground – the show is one of NBC’s few bona fide hits and they’re risking over-exposure along the same lines of ABC and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? all those years ago. But not only might this risk killing off The Voice, the move might even hurt audiences for talent shows across the board, especially given Fox’s positioning of X-Factor in the fall and American Idol in mid-season. Talent show overkill?

Over at ABC the big franchises were renewed, Dancing With the Stars for fall and The Bachelor for mid-season; Shark Tank is back for fall; and Wife Swap was renewed for mid-season after a while on the bench. “After the six episodes of Celebrity Wife Swap earlier this year, we’re going to do 13 more episodes, a mix of celebrity and non-celebrity shows,” says Zodiak USA’s acting head Natalka Znak, evidently happy that the firm’s flagship format is back.

The big Fox franchises were also renewed at Fox, with American Idol getting its 12th season and X Factor getting a second run despite not delivering the 20 million viewers that a somewhat bullish Simon Cowell once promised. At CBS, the net took a punt on Michael Davies’ new entrepreneur format The Job for mid-season and renewed stalwarts Survivor, The Amazing Race and Undercover Boss, and likewise America’s Next Top Model was at The CW, when perhaps it should’ve been dropped like H8R.