TV Real In-Demand Recap

Interest in factual content has remained high amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With our latest In-Demand series, we spotlight two factual genres that are fixtures on programmers’ wish lists: travel and adventure and people and society. If you missed these reports, here’s your chance to catch up and find out key details about some of the best new and returning factual productions available on the market.

Travel & Adventure
With COVID-19-related restrictions and another round of shutdowns, these inspiring travel and adventure titles give viewers the chance to experience the wonders of the world—from the comfort of the living room. BBC Two drew strong ratings with the second season of Studio Lambert’s Race Across the World, which is distributed by all3media international. The show (which is also available as a format, for when travel becomes viable again) pits five pairs of travelers against each other to get from point A to B fastest without flying and all on the budget of a one-way flight. On offer from Off the Fence is The Tourist, in which Cesar Sar embarks on a trip around the world, venturing to 60 countries and across every continent. PBS International’s The Frozen Chosen is a one-hour special that brings you face to face with giant prehistoric fish and shoulder to shoulder with the people obsessed with hunting them. Beyond Rights is delivering a fresh twist on the survival genre with Edges Unknown, in which friends and survival experts Brett Rogers and Cliff Quinn head back in time to challenge themselves to take on the original toughest jobs. See the Travel & Adventure report here.

People & Society
Stories about real people continue to fascinate, and this report featured an eclectic mix, from famous and infamous personalities to everyday individuals on remarkable missions. The Channel 4 commission Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip, from all3media international, sees the Grierson Award-winning broadcaster traveling across the U.S., using his unique artist-anthropologist’s eye to explore underlying divisions of this nation. Produced for INSP, Turquoise Fever from GRB Studios follows the Otteson family as they hunt for the most sought-after turquoise in the world. Terranoa is offering up the 1×52-minute doc Salman Rushdie, Death on a Trail. “Rushdie brilliantly embodies the cosmopolitan mindset of our times and the rise of postcolonial literature as a visionary writer questioning what defines our identity in a globalized world and shedding light on the rise of radical Islam,” says Isabelle Graziadey, the executive director of international co-productions, sales and acquisitions at Terranoa. “Spending an hour with Rushdie is enough to be resilient for a decade.” Meanwhile, Rive Gauche Television’s Very Scary People profiles some of the most notorious killers in recent history. “It sheds new light on them through creative storytelling and archival footage sometimes only available to the HLN/CNN production team,” says Marine Ksadzhikyan, the COO and executive VP of sales at Rive Gauche Television. Boat Rocker Studios is highlighting a unique reality show commissioned by BYUtv/BYU Broadcasting called Relative Race. In it, four teams take a ten-day journey across the country to discover new relatives and compete for a $50,000 grand prize. You can see the People & Society report here.