{"id":1898,"date":"2019-08-14T12:25:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T12:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/?p=1898"},"modified":"2019-09-04T12:27:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T12:27:08","slug":"emmys-how-netflixs-emergence-in-unscripted-races-challenges-broadcasters-cablers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/emmys-how-netflixs-emergence-in-unscripted-races-challenges-broadcasters-cablers\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmys: How Netflix\u2019s Emergence in Unscripted Races Challenges Broadcasters, Cablers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VarietyLogo1\"<\/a>Just a few years ago streaming services didn\u2019t even produce reality series, but this year Netflix landed five Emmy nominations in four reality\/competition categories and sparked buzz (and viewer joy) that may encourage linear networks to take more chances in the increasingly crowded reality space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the amount of shows we\u2019ve rolled out collectively, it felt inevitable that with many more programs to offer, the voters would embrace some of the new programs,\u201d says Netflix vice president of nonfiction series and comedy specials Brandon Riegg. He notes the streamer leans tonally into more positive, aspirational and escapist reality programming. \u201cA lot of what we\u2019ve talked about is there\u2019s so much great content out there, we do need to differentiate ourselves. I think having that mentality allows for these projects to bubble up that might feel unconventional but it fits within the spectrum of what we\u2019re trying to program to.\u201d<\/p>\n

One such program, \u201cTidying Up With Marie Kondo,\u201d which scored a nom this year in the structured reality program category, alongside fellow Netflix feel-good series \u201cQueer Eye,\u201d may not seem like typical American programming on paper. The program sees best-selling author Marie Kondo go into clients\u2019 homes to help them \u201ctidy\u201d their space by encouraging the removal of items that do not spark joy for them. Kondo is not a native English-speaker, which caused some outlets to pause: \u201cBroadcast companies passed on it, as did cable,\u201d says executive producer Gail Berman.
\nBut now, the tide may be turning, thanks in part to the ultimate success of \u201cTidying Up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it will go as far as a non-English-speaking host on a cable network,\u201d says executive producer Hend Baghdady, \u201cbut I do think networks are interested in taking more risks with more premium content and more unique voices because they have to to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jane Lipsitz, executive producer of \u201cTop Chef\u201d and \u201cNailed It!\u201d (both nominated in the competition program category this year), has seen that first hand. After achieving success with the latter series, which \u201ctook something very familiar \u2014 the baking competition \u2014 and reinvented it,\u201d she says her former company, Magical Elves, \u201cdefinitely got a lot of calls from cable networks asking, \u2018Can you create our \u201cNailed It!\u201d?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a strategy those at broadcast and cable do not deny. Many platforms that have multi-quadrant demographics to hit all with one show and are still somewhat beholden to advertising dollars in the way that a streamer such as Netflix is not, like proven programs. They prefer not to set the trends, but instead hope to jump onto one just as the wider audience is realizing their hunger for such a thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do is take what works there and look and see if there\u2019s any way to implement that in broadcast,\u201d admits Rob Mills, ABC senior vice president of alternative series, specials and late night. \u201cIn some ways streaming has become like cable used to be back in the day. We\u2019d see \u2018Trading Spaces\u2019 become a phenomenon and say, \u2018How do we take what\u2019s working here and take it in broadcast?\u2019 That\u2019s the genesis of how \u2018Extreme Makeover: Home Edition\u2019 came about. \u2018Instead of rooms, let\u2019s make it a house.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, though, ABC\u2019s \u201cShark Tank,\u201d seeing its eighth nom in the structured reality program category and featuring a panel of businesspeople who decide whether to invest their real dollars in amateur entrepreneurs\u2019 ideas, is a format that has versions all around the world but is still one-of-a-kind for American audiences and therefore Emmy voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn SVODs you can tear it apart and put it back together in a new way,\u201d says David Collins, executive producer of \u201cQueer Eye,\u201d who notes changes from the original 2003-07 Bravo series, including relocating the show outside Manhattan and allowing viewers to get to know the Fab Five better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you tell a bigger story you can get more depth in the narrative of your show,\u201d says \u201cQueer Eye\u201d executive producer Rob Eric.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just needs to feel real and authentic, so it doesn\u2019t feel like great-aunt Tilly dancing to EDM at a wedding, where you know right away that shouldn\u2019t be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil Rosenthal, whose \u201cSomebody Feed Phil\u201d on Netflix is nominated in the unstructured reality program category, says such things are certainly aided by a streaming home that is \u201caccepting of the artist\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they hire you to paint the house, they let you paint the house,\u201d he says of Netflix. \u201cYou still run things by them and they still give notes, and the notes are wonderful; they\u2019re always helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that is not to imply that such evolution would be impossible at more traditional networks. For example, Food Network\u2019s \u201cDiners, Drive-Ins and Dives,\u201d up for its sixth Emmy this year (for structured reality program), has shifted over its 13 years on-air to put a greater focus on story, says executive producer Frank Matson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a food show, but the stories of people who become an entrepreneur via the restaurant are what we\u2019re seeking out,\u201d he says. \u201cThat resonates with people because it\u2019s truly real.\u201d
\nCourtney White, Food Network president, says a byproduct of the uptick in reality show volume is the necessity to be loud. \u201cHow do we invite viewers to come to something that is exciting and new, and maybe a little unexpected, yet scratches that itch that they come to the network for?\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re going to get it wrong sometimes, and if you\u2019re not getting it wrong sometimes, you\u2019re not experimenting enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Palazzola, vice president of original programming across MTV, VH1 and Logo and an executive producer on \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race,\u201d which is the incumbent winner and once again nominated in the competition program category, agrees, noting it\u2019s important to \u201cflip the script\u201d a little each season.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking something familiar and giving it an unexpected twist is where this show has always thrived,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to jump the shark and feel like we\u2019re responding to what\u2019s going on in the [TV] world. We want to feel like we are forging a new path.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, though, despite having to fight harder to make noise in the increasingly crowded reality space, \u201cit\u2019s not a bad thing that there\u2019s really great competition out there. It\u2019s good for all of us,\u201d as ABC\u2019s Mills puts it.<\/p>\n

View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a few years ago streaming services didn\u2019t even produce reality series, but this year Netflix landed five Emmy nominations in four reality\/competition categories and sparked buzz (and viewer joy) that may encourage linear networks to take more chances in the increasingly crowded reality space. \u201cWith the amount of shows we\u2019ve rolled out collectively, it
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