‘Out of the boob-tube box’ shows offer wider range of viewing options

“Rivals In Law”

Many “new” TV shows this season are actually mere variations on old formats and productions that reek of rote and predictability. In search of less derivative and more original TV formats, we recently sampled other video cultures’ new shows, to see into what other directions producers and directors could go:

A format that really hits the spot because it mines a veritable motherlode of domestic conflict is “Rivals In Law.” In the “combustible” show that feeds off the principle of “generational one-upmanship,” young wives compete with their mothers-in-law in coming up with the best version of the same complicated recipe.

“Is That Really Your Voice?” is a singing competition with a radical twist—the contestants do try to sing, but they’re actually judged on point of their looks alone!

Another novel take on the usual singing tilt is “Be My Back-up Singer,” in which four singing stars mentor and then choose their respective back-up singers after 13 weeks of training and honing.

Even more ambitious is “Soon to Be a Star,” a search for the singing stars of tomorrow that takes talent scouts to six cities in the United States.

A total of 100 hopefuls are made to compete with each other in a long and thorough winnowing-down process. Another twist is that the stellar search is not just for singers, but promising actors and “total performers,” as well.

For its part, “Know It or Lose It” is a game show that allows contestants to choose  the prizes they want—but, they have to work hard and fight to be able to hold on to them!

“My Wife Rules” is a cooking show with a difference: Couples compete, but it’s the husband who does the cooking, while being “directed” by remote control by his more experienced better half.

As for the old “dating game” TV format, it’s been more edgily tweaked into “Miss Perfect,” a daily show in which one handsome bachelor each week gets to date a different girl on different days—and chooses his “Miss Perfect,” in the Friday finale of the weekly search.

“The Legend” is an “empowering” tilt that enables contestants to chart their show biz preferences and destinies for themselves!

“Flying Wheel” is similarly self-actualizing because it enables contestants to compete by hurdling tests and challenges in order to pay off some big debts that have been holding them back from pursuing their best career and life options.

Let’s hope that similarly “out of the boob-tube box” shows make it to the local screens, as well, so viewers here can have a wider, fresher choice of programs to view on a regular basis.