TBI Weekly: Reliving the ’90s and the ‘everything that came after’ in Formatland

Gladiators (Source: BBC)

As 2023 nears its final month, TBI’s format expert Siobhan Crawford relives her youth by reflecting on her sofa-hurdling antics of the 1990s and contrasting it with the on-demand world we live in today.

Another year is whizzing past us. So naturally it is a time for reflection.

A ’90s thread on Instagram keeps popping up, it gets me every time – the “ITS ONNNN” post.

It reads: “I feel sorry for the Netflix era kids. They will never know the high stakes adrenaline of running to the bathroom/fridge/bedroom in a single ad break with the beckoning call of a sibling screaming ‘it’s onnnn’ to send you hurdling over furniture to get back in time.”

Instead of the sofa-hurdling ad-breaks of two decades-plus ago, we now have the ‘Netflix and chill’ magic with binge viewing

I can feel that stress in my body like it was yesterday. The idea you physically could not miss an ordinary human get wiped out by Wolf on a foam mountain in Gladiators, it is a kind of magic.

And it had me thinking – are unscripted formats making an impression that we will remember in 10 years time or that our kids will remember fondly in the future?

Try listing the unscripted shows of the last few years that you think will evoke that kind of memory: The Traitors… is that it? Remember we are only talking unscripted. Has a show made a dent in society big enough to remember it? Or to reboot it in 20 years time?

Don’t get me wrong, broadcasters are not taking risks on an abundance of new shows to enable this scenario – we are living in a time where perhaps we are happy to make shows for the now. And when we need a bit of magic, we reboot a show that brings back these core memories and feelings.

Making TV icons & idols

In September, Apple TV+ launched a documentary series The Super Models. The idea was that these four iconic women created something in the 1990s and everything that followed it was the ‘after’. Let that settle in and apply it to our industry now…

The Traitors

The word ‘iconic’ belonged to them and the environment they created, those that followed were the products of these iconic starters. You can find parallels in music with certain artists too: The Spice Girls, for example, or The Beatles.

When we see Survivor, The Mole, Wheel Of Fortune, Gladiators or Blind Date, we in the market are quick to talk about a reboot trend, quite often negatively, but it was our beginning.

The audience remembers fondly where they were in their lives when they watched it, they can tell the next generation about the plot and they want to see the evolution. It creates the water cooler moments, rather than just being the water cooler moment of the episode this week.

Sofa-hurdling vs Netflix & chill

Ultimately, evolution happens. Instead of the sofa-hurdling ad-breaks of two decades-plus ago, we now have the ‘Netflix and chill’ magic with binge viewing.

We have choice due to the sheer number of channels, streamers and FAST services, and most importantly, the creation of catch-up and on-demand means we can have it all, not just one.

On-demand is the main driver of change, for the way we watch but also our measurement of success. Ratings systems with consolidated viewers mean a linear flop becomes a success with the 7-day or 28-day metric.

Primetime scheduling has evolved from waiting all week for that one high-investment weekend primetime show to an everyday mid-budget primetime, second prime and weekend high-investment primetime… buffered with local talk shows to spread budgets.

Survivor

Content has become derivative. Yes, I said it. We have broadcasters counter-commissioning so they each have a version of a format so that audiences have to decide between the talent show on channel 1 or channel 3, scheduled at the same time just because you have to have a talent show on a Saturday.

Another phenomena of the times: international. Are we commissioning to create magic locally or are we turning to the business of commissioning where the internationalisation of an idea is more important than the local experience?

And even the shows we highlighted as having impact will not have the broad cross-generational resonance that the titles of the 1990s did, because co-viewing is a thing of the past. Solo-viewing is more prevalent because on-demand means when you are available – we are not waiting for the whole family to be available. Content is for everyone and for everyone to watch on their schedule.

Scripted vs unscripted

And all the while, scripted content comes along and blows unscripted out of the water with the resonance and quality – and magic.

Daisy Jones & The Six, The Bear, Sherwood, Severance – we are sponges to scripted content. The idea that the US strikes have impacted circa 650 scripted series from reaching our screens in the next five years is enormous. Not just for our scheduling.

Unscripted content has always been seen as the lower budget and quicker turnaround content to scripted. It is how we fill holes left by unprecedented events like the strikes, how we counter budget reductions, how we create vehicles for talent.

Severance

It is why we in Formatland clamber to get the development deals in with the networks before the strikes end. But has this identity as the cheaper younger sibling made unscripted ‘less’? Less quality, less important, less memorable or is that all perception? If you analyse your viewing, how much time do you spend on scripted vs unscripted?

In closing, is there magic still in unscripted? Are we immune to it? Or is it not there?

Is the reason we love reboots because we want the magic back? Or cynically, is it because we want ratings?

The two can co-exist, you know. Ask yourself, when did you last feel the magic in an unscripted show? What was it? Where were you? Did you have to re-watch it?

Can you re-watch unscripted in the same way we find comfort in re-watching dramas? FAST channels would have us believe we can. Does the ‘Suits effect’ work for unscripted?

So many questions and I am looking for magic in my life. Any magicians out there?