THE GL•BAL CAN•N

Eric Hoyt is a Ph.D. candidate in the Critical Studies Division of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.

Keeping it Real Watching the World Watch TV Eric Hoyt

Ewa Mularczyk remembers the electrify- 2001. To date, she has worked on “Hell’s ing first season of “Big Brother”—the Kitchen,” “Dr. 90210” and “I Survived a show that entombs ten strangers for three Japanese Game Show.” months in a house wired with hidden cam- Cultural critics and highbrow couch eras and microphones—in Poland. When surfers routinely deride reality (or unscript- a housemate on Polish “Big Brother” was ed) television. Reality TV is, the argument broadcast bathing nude, the nation reacted goes, shallow trash—a guilty pleasure at with horror and fascination. “It was the best. While shows like “Mad Men” or “The first time we ever saw anything on TV like Wire” are lauded for their depth, they that,” Mularczyk says. At that moment reinforce the notion that reality TV should she became, like millions of other viewers be viewed shallowly, or not at all. When watching their own country’s versions of it comes to the club of artistic, canonical the show across the world, a “Big Brother” works, reality television doesn’t make it addict. When it first premiered in the past the erudite bouncers at the door. But Netherlands, in 1999, the show gener- recall an older definition of the canon, be- ated many viewers and much controversy. fore it was a collection of essential works. Within three years its production com- A canon was a set of ecclesiastical laws, or pany, Endemol, had licensed or produced a secular set of codes and rules. Appropri- the format in 42 countries. But Mularczyk ately, the most important document that went further than most “Big Brother” fans. is exchanged between a reality TV-show’s She became a reality television producer, creator and its adapter is frequently re- moving from Poland to Los Angeles in ferred to as the “Format Bible.” The Bible

© 2010 World Policy Institute 47 lays out the program’s structure, essential a barbie-que and a more laid back tone to elements and production timeline. The make it more Aussie. Unscripted formatted Bible’s writers try to anticipate and answer shows, then, react to global cultural and every question that a producer adapting a social realities while acting locally. format could imagine. Think of a format, It would be a mistake, however, to then, as an emerging Global Canon, one in praise reality television as some sort of which the meaning is generated through global utopia. Though the flow of televi- multiple levels of exchange and adaptation. sion formats is more multidirectional than It is unfair and shortsighted to write cinema, where Hollywood still dominates, off reality television as a vast cultural the titans of the trade are all based in wasteland, particularly when taking this Western Europe. The Dutch company En- canonical view. What if we went further, demol (“Big Brother,” “Deal or No Deal,” and explored reality shows not simply “Wipeout”) and the UK-based Fremantle in terms of what we saw on our own TV Media (“Family Feud,” “Pop Idol,” “[Insert set, but compared that to what viewers in Nation’s Name Here]’s Got Talent”) have other countries saw on their screens, and expanded into global media conglomerates examined what moves them? And what if with offices and production facilities across we looked past the screen itself, into the the continents. In the shows themselves, business and production models behind racial and gender stereotypes are often these shows? What we find is a window exploited as much as they are challenged. into the complexities and contradictions In 2007, British Channel 4’s “Celebrity of globalization. Mularczyk’s story is only Big Brother” created public uproars in the tip of the iceberg. Britain and India when multiple house- mates hurled racist insults at Indian actress Shilpa Shetty. Ultimately, taking stock Juggernaut of the global trade in television formats The format trade is a multi-billion dollar is about seeing the ways that a media (or global business. The Format Recognition medium) can reveal certain truths about and Protection Association [frapa] esti- culture and exchange. mates television shows like “Big Brother” generated some $12.3 billion in world- wide revenue from 2006 through 2008—a Big Brother’s Special Sauce lucrative industry by any standard. In some Formats are recipes. Jon Kroll, who execu- ways, buying and selling television formats tive produced “Big Brother” and “Amazing follows larger patterns in global produc- Race” in the United States, calls a format tion processes, such as the drive to reduce “a series of repeatable elements that were costs through hiring non-union labor and integral to a show’s success in one territory the rise of multinational corporations like and that can be exported and developed News Corp. and Telefónica, the telecom into another territory.” These “repeatable giant that owned Endemol from 2000 to elements” can range widely, encompass- 2007. Yet, on both economic and cultural ing everything from the show’s concept levels, the television format market has and rules to its characters and stories, as also resisted some of globalization’s key well as its visual design. Genres of format- features. Rather than leading to a homog- ted shows vary widely. Formats can be a enization of culture, formatted shows are scripted series, like the British comedy adapted to suit local tastes. The Australian “The Office” or Colombian telenovela “Big Brother,” for instance, gets a Jacuzzi, “Yo soy Betty, la Fea” (I am Betty, the

48 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL • FALL 2010 Ugly), which were adapted and remade for watch it in a foreign hotel room or at the American television. Formats can also be multiplex in “Slumdog Millionaire” (also unscripted. Game shows like “Wheel of co-produced by Celador). The language Fortune” were some of the earliest formats may not be recognizable, but the televisual to be traded and emulated worldwide. style is the same. Today, unscripted “real- ity television” dominates the global format trade in It is unfair and shortsighted to no small part because the write off reality television as a genre is so amorphous, combining elements of the vast cultural wasteland. game show, the soap opera, the talk show and the documentary. Above More often, licensees of TV formats all, reality TV tends to be cheap to make require some latitude in adaptation. The and easy to market. early licensees of “Big Brother” closely Formats exist to mitigate risk and adhered to Endemol’s original. For the most make money. In an uncertain marketplace, part, the strategy worked. “Big Brother” they add a degree of predictability. If a turned into a sensational hit during its format was a hit in Holland, it might be first seasons in Belgium, Britain, Ger- a hit in Germany, Turkey, New Zealand, many, Italy, Poland and dozens of other or anywhere. By licensing a format, Kroll nations. The original format appeared to be says that producers gain a sales tool to a universal blockbuster—until it reached pitch networks. They can show what a the United States. When the first season completed program from its country of of the American “Big Brother” generated origin looks like and how the series per- mediocre ratings, Endemol and CBS real- formed where it first aired. Producers and ized it needed to be revamped for American networks sometimes license formats even sensibilities. Kroll was part of the second when there is no legal obligation to do so. season production team that reshaped the Television formats are not copyrightable, show. “The idea was to make it much more since copyright does not protect ideas, only summer fun, more like ‘Melrose Place’,” the expression of ideas. he says. CBS and the American produc- Although formats include behind-the- tion team also sought to “make the show scenes expertise that goes beyond the shell more of a power struggle,” Kroll says, by of the show, most courts around the world changing the way housemates were evicted. have ruled against plaintiffs in copyright While the original format had viewers vote cases regarding unscripted formats. Still, on who they wanted evicted, the Ameri- since litigation is costly and reputations can team created a position called Head are at stake, many networks license formats of Household, which one contestant wins even with no legal imperative. And some each week. The Head of Household receives formats are stricter than others. U.K.-based immunity from eviction for the week, gets Celador Productions, for instance, requires to nominate two housemates to get kicked licensees of “Who Wants to be a Million- out, and spends the week sleeping in the aire?” to follow the format very closely. house’s most luxurious suite—sometimes The questions change depending on cul- snuggled up alongside a “showmance” (an ture, but the lighting, music, stage design on-show romance) companion. CBS went and lifelines (ask the audience, 50-50, even further, scaling “Big Brother” back phone a friend) remain the same. You can from five episodes per week to three, giving

Keeping it Real 49 the producers more time to edit the enor- how these defenses, couched in economic mous pool of footage into dramatic, engag- rather than moralistic terms, are endemic ing story arcs. The American overhaul paid pieces of the political landscapes of Bah- off and ratings went up. Now in its 12th rain and the surrounding Arab states. Yet season, “Big Brother” routinely wins the the relationship between on-screen cultur- summer ratings for CBS. al representations and off-screen economic When the Middle East Broadcasting consequences is a crucial dynamic in real- Center [mbc] licensed “Big Brother,” both ity television throughout the world. parties knew the format would require Some territories remain out of reach substantial adaptation to succeed among no matter how much the format attempts the 150 million Arabic speakers and many to adapt. “Big Brother” has traveled to nations that mbc’s satellite reaches. In his 42 countries, but it has never cracked one outstanding new book “Reality Television of the world’s most lucrative TV mar- and Arab Politics,” Marwan M. Kraidy kets—Japan. Some Japanese producers analyzes the controversial pan-Arab “Big believe that the back-stabbing, win-at-all- Brother”—retitled “al-Ra’is” (The Boss). costs spirit of “Big Brother” deviates too Although mbc is Saudi-owned, the satel- far from the nation’s collectivist culture. lite network chose to shoot “The Boss” on a Other producers think that Japan has such resort island belonging to its more socially a rich history in unscripted television—the permissive neighbor, Bahrain. mbc execu- nation created talent competitions and tives also decided to satellite broadcast the outrageous game shows decades before they show on mbc 2, a slightly edgier satel- reached primetime in the West—that any lite station than the family-oriented mbc foreign format inevitably feels old hat. 1. The network completely redesigned Formats themselves can change. In the “Big Brother” house to try to make it 2001, Endemol introduced a new twist to palatable to conservative Islamic audiences. Dutch “Big Brother.” The house split into The house in Bahrain featured gender- two areas: rich and poor. Periodic competi- segregated sleeping areas, bathrooms, tions determined which group lived where. and prayer rooms. Men and women inter- Several other nations quickly adopted the mingled only in a shared living room. “We rich house/poor house innovation, but destroyed the format,” one mbc executive Argentina did not. As media scholars Silvio told Kraidy. “No touching, no kissing, no Waisbord and Sonia Jalfin observe, “this was sex… two separate prayer rooms!” not considered funny, fictional or exotic but Yet these makeovers proved insuffi- rather offensive in the Argentine context” of cient. When “The Boss” debuted six years massive poverty following the nation’s 1999 ago, the show aired for little more than financial collapse. Additionally, “foreign a week. mbc abruptly pulled the plug versions of ‘Big Brother’ featured a scene amid public protests from groups who at the beginning of the season in which decried the show as “a threat to Islam.” As participants were kidnapped by a gang of Kraidy points out, however, the show also hooded people who proceeded to rip their had its defenders. “Many members of the clothes before dropping them off in a house Bahraini parliament rose in defense of the where the show took place.” Local producers program,” writes Kraidy. These officials immediately rejected this piece of the for- “argued that the program would boost mat. “Given the history of dictatorships in tourism, promote foreign investment, and our country,” said one local producer, “you create new jobs, therefore contributing to cannot do that.” national growth.” Kraidy demonstrates

50 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL • FALL 2010 Endemol has flown out more than 5,000 contestants to face challenges like the Sweeper and the Sucker Punch on its Buenos Aires set.

©Endemol

Falling—a universal entertainment.

The Global Obstacle Course Extra Small), where contestants scrub the In 2001, Endemol established a produc- floors and perform other everyday chores tion hub in Buenos Aires to film the in a house built for a giant. show “Fear Factor” for several different The company’s most widely used territories. Building one central studio production hub, though, is the sprawl- for “Fear Factor” saved Endemol and its ing set of obstacle courses for “Wipeout.” partners the cost of building elaborate According to The Times of London, Endemol sets in Egypt, Germany, Turkey and the has flown out more than 5,000 contes- other nations where the show would tants since 2008 to face challenges like the travel. Buenos Aires presented an ideal Sweeper and Sucker Punch on its Buenos locale due to the city’s temperate climate, Aires set. Despite the transportation and experienced production crews and deval- lodging costs, Endemol can produce epi- ued currency. Although the Argentine sodes of “Wipeout” for just 30 percent of peso has stabilized since the early-2000s what it would cost to build sets and film and the cost savings to Endemol have locally in the 23 nations where “Wipeout” shrunk, the company has only expanded airs. (The United States is the only nation its Buenos Aires operations. Endemol re- that doesn’t film “Wipeout” in Argenti- cently built production hubs in Argentina na—the U.S. domestic market can sustain for its new formats “101 Ways to Leave a its set in Southern California.) Game Show,” a quiz show where losers are By having a single set and cycling blasted out of cannons and sent careening hundreds of contestants from dozens of into swimming pools, and “XXS” (Extra different nations through it, Endemol

Keeping it Real 51 would seem to have put an end to format plete the same obstacles; their falls, flips localization. If the “Big Brother” houses and spills are replayed in slow motion in in different countries demonstrate how precisely the same way. All the men beat production design can express culture their chests and yell before beginning the (shrimp on the barbie for Aussies, gender- qualification round. Only the accents dif- segregated sleeping quarters for Saudis), fer. British host Richard Hammond heck- then how could a single set express any- les the contestants with a bit more venom thing remotely cultural? than his duller American counterparts, but “Wipeout” is a race around an elabo- even the commentators’ banter is all but rate series of courses, which contestants indistinguishable. As Endemol USA Presi- must successfully navigate despite the dent David Goldberg told The New York ever-increasing amount of absurd obsta- Times in 2008, “The whole idea of watch- cles. The likelihood of a dramatic spill is ing people crash and burn—but not get ever-present. Surely, each nation’s for- hurt—is something that people seem to mat would look similar when the show’s be drawn to.” Perhaps Goldberg is right. contestants all move through this Buenos Maybe there is something universally en- Aires compound like widgets through a tertaining about men hitting themselves in factory. “Wipeout” may present a more the groin while attempting to jump atop a wholesome and family friendly façade than giant banana. And maybe that transcends the shamelessly voyeuristic “Big Brother,” all cultural and national boundaries. (Inci- but the show suffers from its own innocu- dentally, the Tokyo Broadcasting System ous repetitiveness. Since every week of believes that Endemol’s “Wipeout” format the American “Wipeout” is nearly indis- illegally ripped off its obstacle course pro- tinguishable from the last, how different grams “MXC,” “Sasuke,” and “Kunoichi.” could these foreign versions be? The lawsuit is ongoing.) Not very—at least, not the American, Sometimes, what we see on the screen British and Australian versions. All three in the various “Wipeouts” is essentially follow the same basic set-up, where 20 the same, but sometimes it’s different, or so men and women compete and are and those differences are telling. Spain’s gradually eliminated until the surviving “¡Guaypaut!” carries a sexual charge absent finalists enter the Wipeout Zone. In this from the Anglo versions of “Wipeout.” For final stage, the contestants race through starters, the show’s producers collapsed the foamy pits and giant swinging hammers commentator and reporter roles into one toward the cash prize ($50,000; £10,000; bombshell host, Carmen Alcayde. When A$20,000). The show emphasizes hu- Alcayde interviews contestants before mor over competition, adding cartoonish entering the course, the show turns into a sound effects and slow motion replays T&A parade. At one point, a buxom con- to punctuate the spills. Often, the hosts testant dances so hard her bikini top falls (all male) turn it over to their “reporter” off. The network’s censor blur flashes, but (always a young, attractive female) who little is left to the imagination. interviews contestants in the field. This On the Arabic satellite channel mbc goes on for an hour. The next episode 1—the flagship mbc channel whose sister subjects a new group of 20 people to the station mbc 2 killed the “Big Brother” same obstacles, falls and laughs. spinoff, “The Boss”—Middle Eastern audi- The uniformity across the Anglo- ences can watch a woman wearing a hijab “Wipeouts” is striking. The American, headscarf topple over the identical obsta- British, and Australian contestants com- cles, the exact same course, in fact, as Miss

52 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL • FALL 2010 Bikini. One contestant wore a tracksuit Playing for Keeps under her hijab to cover her skin, leav- The most imaginative adaptations of ing only her face and hands exposed, yet “Wipeout” have come from the former no amount of garments could protect her Soviet bloc. The producers of “Cruel Inten- from the blow of the Sucker Punch, a wall tions,” a co-production of Endemol Argen- armed with boxing gloves that randomly tina and Red Square for Russia’s Channel spring out and strike, like whack-a-moles One, built Aztec-themed façades around with a vengeance. Probably two-thirds of all the familiar obstacles. The competitors the female contestants—particularly the on this Indiana Jones-like set are attractive younger women—opt to wear tank tops, Russian celebrities dressed in matching shorts and elastic hair bands instead of the wetsuits. The focus on celebrities rather traditional garb. But the show presents all the male and female contestants more or less the same as they move through the Sometimes, what we see on course. Endemol’s earlier programs “Big the screen in the various Brother” and “Star Academy”—a sort of “Big Brother”-“Pop Idol” hybrid where “Wipeouts” is the same, but hopeful male and female stars live, train, and compete in the same house—both con- sometimes it’s different, and tained ikhtilat, the mixing of genders, that those differences are telling. made the formats inflammatory to moral conservatives when they were imported into the Middle East. than laypeople speaks to the producers’ “Star Academy,” which satellite assumptions about who audiences want to broadcasts from the more socially liberal see onscreen. LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting Corpora- The Anglo versions of “Wipeout” tion), has achieved enormous popularity encourage viewer identification with or- among young Arabic speaking audiences dinary contestants. The classic game show during its seven season run, even as some question—“What will you use the money Saudi clerics denounce it as “Satan Acad- for if you win?”—invites the viewer to emy.” With “Wipeout,” Endemol created root for ordinary participants in the show. a format that could be easily appropriated In other cultures, the idea of watching for family-friendly mbc 1. Every episode ordinary people compete on TV is bor- is a one-off. There are no erotic tensions ing. That everyday folk would publicly to continue among contestants from week humiliate themselves in pursuit of money to week, nor do such tensions ever have seems all the more pathetic. Following the chance to spark in a show where con- the assumption that Russian audiences testants primarily interact with genderless would rather watch celebrities, and prefer moving padded objects. Yet tameness can a display of physical prowess to goofy hu- have its price. The first season of “Wipe- miliation, the producers of “Cruel Inten- out” on mbc 1 generated little of the tions” reimagined the “Wipeout” format audience enthusiasm surrounding LBC’s to emphasize these qualities. Neverthe- “Star Academy.” It is unclear when or if less, even here, contestants wipe out in the next batch of pan-Arab contestants the end—no one, not even the Russians, will fly out to Buenos Aires to face the can escape the wrath of the Big Balls, the Sucker Punch. giant red orbs that contestants must pin- ball between.

Keeping it Real 53 The most thorough and creative Georgian cities. In the majority of “Wipe- reimagining comes from the Ukraine. In out” adaptations, we feel a bond to our January and February 2010, the Buenos nation’s version of the show not because of Aires obstacle courses played host to “The any hard sell about the virtues of America, Battle of Ukrainian Cities” [bum]. Instead Spain, or Australia, but because the con- of featuring a new batch of 20 contestants testants look and talk like us. The com- each episode, bum developed a series of mentators crack cheesy jokes laced with tournament-style match-ups between our culture’s pop references, and we get it. teams representing Ukraine’s 26 provinces But bum diverges. The national and re- and municipalities. Each five-person team gional bonds are not invisible here, but ex- consisted of two men, two women and a plicit. bum encourages viewers to identify celebrity team captain—pop star Ruslana with their representative athletes and en- and boxing champions Vyacheslav Uzel- courages the competitors to approach their kov and Dmitrij Nikulin, for instance. missions with a seriousness of purpose bum debuted a far more competitive missing from other “Wipeouts,” where and serious take to the obstacle course only a cash prize is at stake. In the time than other versions of “Wipeout.” Humor leading up to the competition, boxer Vy- and competition coexist in the Anglo, acheslav Uzelkov, captain for the small-to- Spanish and Arabic versions of “Wipeout,” mid-sized province of the Vinnytsia, put but the laughter and falls are emphasized his team on an intense training regimen. over athletic competition. bum reverses “We run cross-country races regularly, these priorities. The teams are there to jump, lift weights and improve reaction- represent their hometowns, not look like response time and so on,” Uzelkov told the goofballs. Any moments of humor occur website BoxNews.com.ua. “There are no only to ease the tension. professional athletes on our team; however, bum employs visual and sound aes- physically everyone is well-trained.” The thetics that further emphasize the com- preparation paid off—Vinnytsia dominat- petition and suspense. Consider the way ed all the way to the finals. the show appropriates the Sweeper—a Ukraine competes not simply among rotating arm that contestants on lily pad its own cities, but against the world. platforms must leap over, lest they be On its website, the Ukrainian television knocked into the water. Like all of the network Inter boasts about the nation’s brightly colored, foam-padded props in superior performance in the “Wipeout” “Wipeout,” the Sweeper generally takes format: “In this program world record in on a cartoonish quality, accentuated by the qualification round is broken. One Boing! Pow! sound effects added for the Ukrainian competitor shows the best time show in postproduction. But not here. in the history of ‘Wipeout’... One more Instead, the slow-mo Sweeper replays feel player demonstrates a new way of passing like something out of a war movie. Instead the Big Donuts. Never before have people of cuing cartoonish sounds, the replays run by the rubber rings. And our fellow- use the effect of a helicopter blade revolv- townsman does that easily.” ing in slow-motion, like the beginning of And yet, despite the regional pride “Apocalypse Now.” natives of Vinnytsia may feel about their The show’s title also emphasizes a team, and despite Ukraine’s innovation national consciousness that’s a part of the in dunking the Big Donuts, the obstacle shared Ukranian experiance. It’s the battle course, production crews, even the Big of Ukrainian cities, not Lithuanian or Donuts are in Buenos Aires.

54 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL • FALL 2010 Stay Tuned career tracks, moved to the United States. For years, unscripted TV has represented Sure, there were economic factors involved the low-cost alternative to heavily union- (the same opportunities didn’t exist for her ized, scripted productions. Local producers in Poland), but initially, it was an emotion- could create their own format adaptations al response to this globally formatted show because they were, by and large, inexpen- that made her change her life. sive and would attract audiences who were For producers, television formats are turned off by foreign subtitles or accents. recipes. But for audiences, formats can But now, the recession has intensified become full of meaning that producers pressures to cut costs even further in an can’t control or anticipate. Reality televi- industry already known for its bargain sion helps us see that the Global Canon is basement budgets. The sweeper arm of not a collection of high art that emerges globalization and outsourcing is approach- from singular creators, conveying universal ing unscripted television fast. Adaptive lo- meanings. Instead, the Global Canon is the cal cultures can jump over it, but jobs and threads of shared culture, produced and domestic infrastructures will get knocked reproduced continually, reflecting com- into the pool. As Ewa Mularczyk put it, mon emotions and economic realities while “Of course I would like to have ‘Wipeout’ allowing a diversity of representations. shot in Poland, and have Polish engineers Like the “Big Brother” house or “Wipe- build the obstacles and highlight the Pol- out” course, the structures are vacant until ish countryside. But ultimately, you see, ambitious contestants and curious viewers it’s all about money.” arrive. The “Big Brother” format inspired Mularczyk is right. Financial impera- public protests in Bahrain, media debates tives will accelerate the production hub in numerous other countries and at least model of television formatting and produc- one transnational career change. Endemol’s tion. Ultimately, though, the global sig- provocative formats broke down barriers nificance of reality TV cannot be reduced between public and private space, but only to economics, politics, or any other single through our participation have they so determinant. Mularczyk was drawn to “Big thoroughly touched both.l Brother” for emotional reasons, switched

Keeping it Real 55