{"id":7617,"date":"2020-05-11T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2020-05-12T09:23:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T13:23:47","slug":"seven-year-switch-puts-relationships-to-the-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/seven-year-switch-puts-relationships-to-the-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Year Switch Puts Relationships to the Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hayley Babcock, head of formats, international programming and production at A+E Networks, talks to <\/em>TV Formats about the social-experiment format Seven Year Switch.<\/em><\/p>\n

The social-experiment format Seven Year Switch<\/em> follows as couples in turmoil make a last-ditch effort to save their marriages. They participate in \u201cswitch therapy,\u201d a radical new idea that sees the pairs\u2014who\u2019ve all reached that pivotal seven-year mark in their marriages\u2014swap partners for 14 days to help them decide if their spouse has the qualities they\u2019re really looking for in a mate, or if they\u2019d be better off breaking it off.<\/p>\n

Viewers follow along with the couples\u2019 histories, learning about how they met, their love story, what went wrong and, most importantly, why they\u2019re willing to put it all on the line for one last chance to keep their relationship afloat. \u201cThere are very recognizable USPs to this format,\u201d Babcock tells TV Formats<\/em>. \u201cYou find couples who are trying really hard to stay together but having troubles, and they’re willing to try a sort of radical approach to keep their relationship together. You find like-minded people to pair them with, so they get to see whether things are indeed better with someone more similar to their taste, style and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the couples aren\u2019t alone during their journey. Two relationship experts\u2014in the U.S. version, it\u2019s best-selling author Charles J. Orlando and Dr. Jessica Griffin, who fans might recognize from the relationship woes of Married at First Sight<\/em>\u2014guide the beleaguered hopefuls as they navigate the ups and downs of their new life with their respective sort-of spouses. They give the experimental couples tasks and challenges to complete so they can get a better feel for each other\u2019s strengths and weaknesses. \u201cThis results in them openly discussing their home-life issues and concerns with their new partners, finding new ways to look at, understand and ultimately resolve their problems at home,\u201d says Babcock.<\/p>\n

The format comes from Red Arrow Studios\u2019 Kinetic Content, which brainstormed the idea alongside Lifetime, where the series ran for three seasons. The two were \u201ctrying to find a way to build a show from the jumping-off point of the concept of a \u2018hall pass\u2019 or \u2018free pass\u2019 in a relationship,\u201d says Babcock. After the original idea went through some fine-tuning processes, Seven Year Switch<\/em> was born, and couples began switching it up on Lifetime in 2015.<\/p>\n

Following the series\u2019 debut in the U.S., Australia\u2019s Seven Network adapted the series, which then ran for two seasons and spawned a spin-off called The Super Switch<\/em>, which saw six couples divided into two different mansions. \u201cNone of the people who were real partners were in the same home,\u201d says Babcock. \u201cIn this scenario, the experimental couples had plenty of time for private interaction with each other but also social interaction with the other couples.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGroup therapy is something else we added to super-size the format,\u201d she continues. \u201cThe real-life partners are not included in the same group, however. Previously we had done only individual couples\u2019 therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original Australian version had some unique beats to it to adapt the format to its audience as well: \u201cWe had all of the women go on a girl\u2019s night out together and all of the men on a guy\u2019s night out together,\u201d says Babcock.<\/p>\n

Seven Year Switch<\/em> has since sold in ten additional territories, including Italy on Fox Life and the U.K. on Channel 4, which commissioned a British adaptation from 7 Wonder Productions. \u201cThis is the type of format that could work in any market!\u201d says Babcock. \u201cIt isn\u2019t about splitting couples up, it\u2019s about working to keep couples together. The themes are truly universal.\u201d<\/p>\n

This interview was conducted prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Media companies are currently shifting their strategies in the wake of production postponements and economic trends.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The head of formats, international programming and production talks about the social-experiment format Seven Year Switch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,69],"tags":[413,2070,678],"class_list":["post-7617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-ae-networks","tag-hayley-babcock","tag-seven-year-switch","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nSeven Year Switch Puts Relationships to the Test - TVFORMATS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/seven-year-switch-puts-relationships-to-the-test\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seven Year Switch Puts Relationships to the Test - 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