Endemol to Highlight New Shows at MIPTV

HILVERSUM, March 27: Endemol International has unveiled a diverse slate for this
year’s MIPTV that spans formats, documentaries, factual-entertainment series,
reality shows, dramas and digital content.

The company
has added five new factual-entertainment series to its roster for MIPTV,
including Channel 4’s first 8×1-hour
season of Supersize vs. Superskinny.
Exploring people’s dysfunctional relationship with food, the series will also
be available as a format. Meanwhile, the new ITV2 series Coleen’s Real Women will be showcased as well. Coleen’s Real Women is based on Endemol UK’s format Real Women, which will also be
available to buyers. The format sees a celebrity challenging stereotypes by
putting everyday women into high-profile advertising and modeling jobs. Other factual offerings include the 13×1-hour Crime
Museum: New Scotland Yard, a new
documentary series that is due to premiere soon on the Crime &
Investigation Network; The History Channel’s Forbidden City, produced by Kunhardt productions and IBM; and Endemol
Argentina’s productions for El Garage.

On the entertainment
front, the 6×30-minute Filthy Gorgeous, which is due to launch soon on BBC Three, will be showcased, as well
as Endemol Southern Star’s comedy series Monster House for Nine Network in Australia. Reality shows
available for the first time include Endemol USA’s production of Queen Bees for The N and True Entertainment’s Battle of
The Bods for Fox Reality. Joining
this year’s drama lineup is Endemol Argentina’s production of Don Juan and his Fair Lady: Songs from the Heart for Telefe and Endemol Netherlands’ Don't Miss
the Ferry for Avro.

For the first time,
Endemol’s portfolio will include dramas for online and mobile platforms,
including Endemol UK’s production of Cell, a thriller originally commissioned by British mobile operator O2,
and BBC Online’s interactive series Signs of Life.

In addition to Real
Women and Supersize vs.
Superskinny, Endemol’s format
lineup features The Best Years of Our Lives, a history-based variety format that sees two
decades face-off against each other. Endemol Italy’s production of the show
notched up strong prime-time ratings for Rai Uno. New to the market is the
talent-show format Your Big Day
from Endemol Spain, which is set to be re-commissioned for a second season on Telecinco
following a successful first run.

Three
new game-show formats from Talpa Media will also make their debut, including Divided, a show where the cash
depends on making fast unanimous decisions with people you’ve never met; I
Love My Country, which tests contestants’ knowledge of all the things that make their country
great; and Blind Love, an all-new dating show where the dating takes place in absolute
darkness.

Two
more formats, which made their debut at NATPE 2008, will also be available: the Rose D’or-nominated talent show The One and Only…, from Endemol UK, which has aired on BBC One, and Ultimate
Mind Quiz,
a family game show from Endemol France that challenges mental dexterity with
visual questions. The format premiered on TF1 in October 2007 and delivered
audiences of 6.2 million viewers and a 43-percent share. The show has also been
picked up by TVE1 in Spain.

Other
Endemol highlights for this year’s market include established game-show formats
1 vs. 100, Balls of Gold, Set for Life, Show Me The Money, The Last Passenger and The Fever; entertainment formats The Kids Are All Right and Circus of the Celebrities and Talpa Media formats Let’s Go Shopping and M/F.

Additionally,
the company has made a new appointment to its distribution team, with Nuno I joining Endemol
International as sales manager for Asia. Based in Hong Kong, he will report to Matt Creasey, the director of sales for
distribution, who is stationed in London.

—By Irene Lew