During her session she talked about some much-loved scripted formats such as Fuji TV's successful Silent; tailored reality shows for Gen Z such as CJ ENM's dating show Skip; versatile IPs that transform between scripted and unscripted worlds like wavve's Love Alarm Clap! Clap! Clap!, as well as gaining a peek into the Metaverse, where iQIYI's latest metaverse Memoon Player was featured.
Michelle explained that a very florid genre is the guessing game: "My Boyfriend is Better from CJ ENM proves that musical guessing formats are still going strong in Asia. Launched earlier this year, the format sees girls betting on their boyfriends’ singing abilities. It places a fun and dynamic twist of love and money on top of the familiar guessing game, expected to be the next hit from CJ ENM after its best-selling I Can See Your Voice".
While that CJ ENM show has a familiar musical focus, Kansai TV’s Matching House and Something Special’s You Picked The Wrong are examples of how the guessing mechanism has now expanded to other genres. "The former is a dating show which matches people based on their homes, whilst the latter sees a contestant picking one of 10 opponents for a physical challenge without knowing their opponent’s hidden abilities. dI turn’s paper format Two Doors also puts players in a fight-or-flight dilemma and if they choose to fight, then they have to guess which of the two rooms in front of them is easiest to escape from within 89 seconds. Around the market for a while, but remaining relevant is MBC’s Mystery Ranking Show 1,2,3!, tapping into the same notion of whether our prejudices and judgements are valid".
Moving away from the topical guessing game, another important genre is the cooking one - said Michelle Lin: "cooking is an integral part of Asian life and culture, and has always been a staple of Asian TV ". Among some titles, she mentioned: " YTV Rolling Kitchen has been adapted in Mongolia and Brazil, brought to the market Uprising Kitchen, a gamified approach to the classic debate – whether the chef or the quality of ingredients is more important in cooking. In Discover Japan In Your Fridge, ABC TV shows off Japanese cuisine using ingredients found in the fridges of random households elsewhere in the world. On the same Chefs Without Borders theme, The First Recipe from TV Tokyo challenges star chefs to cast their spells on unknown ingredients that they have never seen before.
Michelle explained that a very florid genre is the guessing game: "My Boyfriend is Better from CJ ENM proves that musical guessing formats are still going strong in Asia. Launched earlier this year, the format sees girls betting on their boyfriends’ singing abilities. It places a fun and dynamic twist of love and money on top of the familiar guessing game, expected to be the next hit from CJ ENM after its best-selling I Can See Your Voice".
While that CJ ENM show has a familiar musical focus, Kansai TV’s Matching House and Something Special’s You Picked The Wrong are examples of how the guessing mechanism has now expanded to other genres. "The former is a dating show which matches people based on their homes, whilst the latter sees a contestant picking one of 10 opponents for a physical challenge without knowing their opponent’s hidden abilities. dI turn’s paper format Two Doors also puts players in a fight-or-flight dilemma and if they choose to fight, then they have to guess which of the two rooms in front of them is easiest to escape from within 89 seconds. Around the market for a while, but remaining relevant is MBC’s Mystery Ranking Show 1,2,3!, tapping into the same notion of whether our prejudices and judgements are valid".
Moving away from the topical guessing game, another important genre is the cooking one - said Michelle Lin: "cooking is an integral part of Asian life and culture, and has always been a staple of Asian TV ". Among some titles, she mentioned: " YTV Rolling Kitchen has been adapted in Mongolia and Brazil, brought to the market Uprising Kitchen, a gamified approach to the classic debate – whether the chef or the quality of ingredients is more important in cooking. In Discover Japan In Your Fridge, ABC TV shows off Japanese cuisine using ingredients found in the fridges of random households elsewhere in the world. On the same Chefs Without Borders theme, The First Recipe from TV Tokyo challenges star chefs to cast their spells on unknown ingredients that they have never seen before.
Regarding the solid trend of Japanese wacky formats - Michelle Lin said: "we’re living in a world in which the unexpected can happen anytime, and sometimes last much longer than expected – think about the pandemic. To get through hard times, it’s important to remain positive and remember to laugh. That’s why formats that are suitable for family viewing and likely to bring us a good chuckle always have a place on television.
Japan, with the likes of Masquerade, Silent Library and LOL, has built up its reputation for ‘wacky’ but effective approaches to the genre. This year, ATF welcomed the country’s freshest comedic titles – from Fuji TV’s travel-meet-prank show Prank Journey to Yoshimoto Kyogyo’s latest iteration of the no-laughing trend with You Laugh You Lose, Chukyo TV’s investigative We Can Answer Your Question!, TBS’ Totally Outnumbered which sees a professional trying to beat a group of ordinary people in a limited time, and TV Asahi’s Sneak n Shop featuring players sneaking into a large electronics store and carrying the appliances to the checkout while avoiding drone cameras.
All of these amusing formats are expected to meet the appetite of not only Asian buyers who share the same passion for comedy, but also Western participants at the event who are looking to adapt the next surprisingly ‘out there’ Japanese formats.
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