Madelyn (00:05)
Hello, happy Monday. It is our Monday mini-sode full of industry news with none other than Emily Wilson, and we have a lot to talk about today. Welcome, Emily.

Emily Wilson (00:15)
Thank you for having me so much to discuss.

Madelyn (00:18)
Yes, we even considered an emergency pod to cover all of the up-fronts. We were both going to text each other and we did it. So we've got to get all the up-fronts here. I mean, there's so much programming to discuss.

Emily Wilson (00:30)
There is a lot of renewals, a lot of new series, and we were kind of talking about this through line of just an overwhelming amount of reality spin-offs right now. A lot of celebrity-focused formats as well.

Madelyn (00:44)
Yes. Yeah. And lot of, ripped from the headlines, true crime, not a single thing without a celebrity or a reality celebrity in here. So a lot of nothing too terribly risky, right? A lot of IP that we're working with, a lot of renewals of beloved series, but it's still good to see nonetheless that the industry is, bringing some, bringing us some new programming and

You know, we love to see it.

So our friends over at Warner Brothers Discovery have a lot going on. HGTV, their new slate is kind of loud and very lifestyle-y. We've got Extreme Buyers Club, a Fixer Upper return with Fixer Upper. We bought a Money Pit, Main Cabin Masters, and my favorite probably of the upfront announcements in the lifestyle category, Roast My Rental with Leslie Jones. I love the...

bringing comedy now into the home format. I think that was really, really smart. And then they're also leaning into the holiday lane eventized programming with a very haunted renovation and house shock. It makes sense. Listen, they're sisters with the ID network

We've got game day murders, bodies in the water, Jersey legends.

Alright, speaking of ripped from the headlines true crime, Can you walk us through what's going on over with our friends at Versant?

Emily Wilson (02:02)
Yeah, so a lot happening in the Vanderpump universe. We have Lisa Vanderpump who is hosting Snapped the Rich Bitch Rampage.

And also on oxygen, have killer DNA with Mori.

Madelyn (02:16)
Maury, Emily? Okay, so I have to, so him being the host and being attached to Killer DNA so much sense. So Maury was this daytime television show that came on right after you came home from school. And a lot of his programming was like,

Emily Wilson (02:18)
No.

Madelyn (02:37)
DNA tests and his famous line was like, you are the father or you are not the father. And that's like his whole thing. So him hosting a show about matching DNA is kind of perfect.

Emily Wilson (02:50)
amazing how it's just evolved from something he was known for into a full-blown series.

Madelyn (02:56)
anything.

Emily Wilson (02:56)
We also have a renewal of killer grannies.

And E is bringing The Golden Life to premiere in January.

Madelyn (03:04)
The Golden Life, where is that set?

Emily Wilson (03:07)
The Golden Life is a lot of Real Housewives of New York legacy stars who are reuniting in Palm Beach.

Madelyn (03:13)
I mean, just the amount of Housewives stars that we are getting in these headlines. mean, Prime Video just announced Reality Retreat, right? Which is a mix of reality stars, the majority from Housewives, some from Bachelorette, have Selling Sunset, but it's all, it's this group of women who have been sort of villainized or misunderstood in the media. They're all coming together to this sort of

wellness retreat where they're supposed to detach themselves from their public personas and really confront their issues. So that interesting choice from Prime Video, think, but again, mean, gosh, that Housewives franchise is just so incredibly strong. And I feel like Housewives stars are just peppered in like every single upfront headline that we've seen.

Emily Wilson (04:00)
Very true. I think it's interesting how Amazon are bringing all of these stars together, as you mentioned. But there is so much monetization within this space, so much IP around these stars, as you mentioned. And I think that has also come through the Sony headline this week about Sony Media Entertainment acquiring a majority stake in 32 flavors, which produces Vanderpump rules and the Valley.

Madelyn (04:27)
Yes, in this acquisition of 32 flavors, they are now bringing their non-scripted division underneath Sony Pictures Television and under that leadership. When you and I were discussing this, I had to ask you if you knew what Baskin-Robbins was, because they are an ice cream empire in the States with 32 flavors. I said, there's no way that these things aren't connected. In fact, they are. Alex Baskin.

very prolific producer at this point responsible for huge shows like Vanderpump Rules, The Valley. So yeah, so now that'll be under Sony Pictures Television Studios

And it looks like the companies also come on board for Hulu's second season of Love Thy Nader, which follows the five Nader sisters as they navigate New York. One of the more compelling sort of reality series I've seen come out in the past year or so. Let's see, what else with our upfronts here? What, Fox, let's talk about our friend Fox. Plenty of renewals, very heavy on the renewals rather than maybe big swings.

So talk to me about what Fox is looking like.

Emily Wilson (05:26)
So many renewals here. have second series of 99 to Beat from Initial and Synac TV. We have a lot from Studio Ramsey. So next level Baker, renewals of Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service, Kitchen Nightmares, next level Chef. All of this joins the previously announced marriage market, which we've discussed, but also those...

big shiny four titles that we usually see on Vox. So The Masked Singer, The Floor, the eighth season of Beat Shazam, and then Celebrity Name That Tune, Celebrity Weakest Link, and a second series of Fear Factor, House of Fear.

Madelyn (06:05)
Wow, yeah, yes, they are just doubling down on everything that works for them. And certainly the Ramsey universe is one of them. Fox is also responsible for...

like the new Baywatch that's coming out and a few other things on the scripted side that I think will be really interesting to see if they end up spinning off some unscripted formats because of sort of what's happening in their scripted division.

One thing that I really want to talk about that I want people to know about is this unscripted pitch accelerator that NBCU is putting on. Always love an opportunity like this, especially for emerging creators. Talk to me about this pitch accelerator. I know that the deadline, I think it's June 12th.

Emily Wilson (06:46)
Yeah, so I believe it's the second edition and it allows independent creators and producers to pitch an original television concept directly to NBC, Bravo and Peacock and up to five winning pitches will receive a $20,000 development deal.

Madelyn (07:02)
incredible opportunity. Yeah, it looks like anything from shiny floor in studio to game shows, social experiment, or even character led docu and ocusobe. So you have an idea I've talked about this in the podcast before. I have a lot of people that follow me that have ideas and aren't sure what to do with them. This is an incredible opportunity. I will make sure that I include the link in my show notes for this. And you know, we've covered lots of gaming IP on this show. We've talked Monopoly.

And we have one more, which is no surprise here. The New York Times viral sensation. I know people who play this every single day without fail. It's part of their routine. NBCU with host Savannah Guthrie.

Emily Wilson (07:49)
produced by Jimmy Fallon and Universal Television Alternative Studio. Fallon will be executive producing. I've heard rumours that it's going to be filmed in the UK.

But exciting to see the New York Times moving into this part of entertainment and

seeing the success of Jimmy Fallon's password, which is also on NBC. It's not a surprise that they are trusting him to produce this new format.

Madelyn (08:15)
No, 100%. I mean, these, we know that gaming IP and game shows right now are still getting renewed and greenlit at a pace you would think that they would feel like their time has run out. But I find that this return to this play along format, something that gets you out of your head, off your phone, you know, I think it's just going to continue to grow and grow as we crave things that are

experiential and interactive. So this makes a ton of sense and love seeing Savannah Guthrie here as well. Okay, I think we covered it. No way we could have gone through every single slate, every single show, but interesting certainly to see the trends, right? Everything has an existing piece of IP, celebrity. And if it doesn't have those two things, it is.

ripped from the headlines. So really it still has a piece of existing IP, something we can anchor it to. seeing a lot of that, not too many risks, not too many things that are out of the ordinary, a lot of things that sort of structure themselves around eventized holidays from Halloween to Christmas. Any other trends that you're sort of observing?

Emily Wilson (09:25)
the celebrity trend is always there, it always will be there, and I'll be interested to see how they may spin that off into other mediums, whether we're going to get Housewives podcasts eventually. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the next step.

Madelyn (09:38)
my gosh.

Emily Wilson (09:40)
That sense of things being familiar, whether it's the same housewives on your screen across two or three different shows, whether it's Wordle, which is something that people are playing every day on their phones. So always a lot of faces, familiar games that we're seeing a lot more of.

Madelyn (09:57)
Yes, absolutely. Well, great to discuss all of these things with you. It's always really, up front are always a really fun time for, you know, you and I again, see what's actually working, what's getting across the line. Congrats to all of these creators and production companies who are getting things across the line. But, you know, always fun for us to sort of witness these shifts in the landscape for the industry. Of course, you can always follow Emily on LinkedIn. Every Friday, she posts unscripted industry news, and you can also subscribe to her sub stack.

where she will send it directly to your inbox at Unscripted TV News. Thank you so much, Emily, and I'll see you next time.

Emily Wilson (10:33)
Thank you.