French format talks Turkey

MIPTV: A Turkish broadcaster has greenlit a local version of French fake fiancé format My Parents Are Gonna Love You from Banijay International.

An initial 13-episode series has been ordered by ATV, with production going via the channel’s in-house unit and Konsensus Productions. Shooting is already underway and the show will air “several times a week” during primetime from May 2012, said Banijay.

“What we really like about My Parents are Gonna Love You is that it’s almost a sitcom with eight players plus the parents,” said Ibrahim Eren, deputy general manager at ATV.

“In each episode the audience is entertained by a different scenario and well-known celebrity playing an extreme version of themselves. And the parents, chosen from different socio-economic groups, of course react uniquely to each script and celebrity too.”

Devised by Banijay Productions in France, where four seasons have aired on DTT channel NRJ12, local versions of the format have aired in Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia and Romania. The format was also piloted by Fox in the US, which once aired a similar show called My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé.