As 2016 comes to a close, Playback has its sights set on the year ahead. To help make predictions for the biggest trends in unscripted, Playback spoke with experts to hear their thoughts on what will be hot in 2017 – and what will fall out of fashion. Here, Jim Berger, CEO of High Noon Entertainment (the company behind factual series as Cake Boss); Rob Lee, president non-scripted programming, Keshet International (Rising Star); and Harry Gamsu, VP format acquisitions and sales, Red Arrow International (Married at First Sight) make predictions for what will be big in lifestyle.

Jim Berger

With DIY videos and how-to guides ubiquitous on the internet, lifestyle will continue to migrate away from fashion and toward family, said High Noon’s Berger.

“If you want the latest fashion [advice] you could go to your favourite expert blogger on YouTube and or [visit] some cool sites and you can get what you need quickly. You don’t need to watch a 22-minute cut,” he said.

As a result, networks are putting less of an emphasis on fashion and style and instead looking for authentic stories that delve into family and relationships, he said. He gives the example of TLC’s Sweet 15: Quinceañera, which follows cousins who run a quinceañera shop, where dresses, photo shoots and more are sold to help celebrate a girl’s 15th birthday.

“It’s family, but it subsets to relationship. One of the two people in the quin show, she’s not married and forever dating or maybe looking for the right guy,” he said. “But the key is authentic, nobody wants a manufactured format.”

Rob Lee

Keshet’s Lee agrees, stating that networks are moving away from game- and format-style series toward organic romance series that allow couples room to “breathe.”

“[The audience doesn’t] want to be played around with. I think they’re looking for, ‘Is this a real relationship? Is this real love? Is this real attraction?'” he said.

There are, of course, a few exceptions to this. Namely: The Bachelor, which Lee calls the “gold standard” that every network tries to do. Case in point: The W Network is reviving the format in Canada, announcing last week that it greenlit The Bachelor Canada. 

Harry Gamsu

Another trend in the lifestyle space: social experiment. Red Arrow’s Gamsu gives the example of an upcoming Channel 4 series in the U.K., Old People’s Homes for 4 Year Olds (working title) which is based on a study of the benefits of toddlers interacting with seniors. “When you bring in four-year-olds to that space, they start interacting with the old people and they get the love and attention that they may be lacking and the old people start engaging,” he explained. “There are various activities and we follow them through.”

While series like this are based on credible research, Gamsu said, “Anything that’s in that social experiment space also may have to be quite loud and noisy ideas to stand out, particularly in prime time.”

We’re running down the hot trends in unscripted. Check back tomorrow for food, or check out all the trends here. 

 Image via Shutterstock