TV legend Frank Elstner turns 80 on Tuesday. That the native of Linz “Wetten, dass…?” invented is well known, but do you know who is behind successful TV formats such as “Millions Show” or “Dancing Stars”? To which people do we have formats like “Do you understand fun?” or “Starmania” owe? And from which countries do hits like “The Masked Singer” or “2 minutes 2 million” come from?
We took a closer look at the creators of the big TV shows.
“Millionaire show”https://www.nachrichten.at/”Who wants to be a millionaire?”:
The quiz show “Who wants to be a millionaire?” has been running on Austrian television since 2000, first presented by Rainhard Fendrich, later by Barbara Stöckl and since 2002 by Armin Assinger. In Germany, the show is broadcast on RTL with Günther Jauch as the questioner. The very first show of this Art was shown in England in 1998 under the name “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” on the private channel ITV 1. The idea goes to the English David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight return.
“Starmania”:
The ORF casting show, which was first broadcast in 2000 and can now be seen again in a new guise, is an invention of the Austrian TV producer Mischa Zickler. He was also responsible for formats such as “Taxi Orange”, “Heroes of Tomorrow” and “Q1 A clue is wrong”.
“Do you understand fun?”
The Swiss had the idea of using a hidden camera to fool unsuspecting people or celebrities KurtFelix (1941 – 2012). The program is a further development of his television program “Teleboy” on Swiss television, which was broadcast from 1974 to 1981 and which already showed films with the hidden camera. From 1980 onward, Kurt Felix moderated “Understand You Fun” on ARD for ten years, and from 1983 his wife Paola was at his side as co-moderator.
“Dancing Stars”
The dance show, which has been on ORF since 2005, is based on the BBC show “Strictly Come Dancing”, which is marketed internationally under various titles such as “Dancing with the Stars” (USA) or “Let’s Dance” (Germany). BBC employee Fenia Vardanis had the idea in a meeting in 2003 to revive an old dance show and this time let celebrities dance. As a thank you, Vardanis is said to have received a bonus of £4,000 from the BBC, a bottle of sparkling wine and a box of chocolates.
“The Masked Singer”
The show, in which celebrities sing unrecognized in full-body costumes, originally hails from South Korea. “King of Mask Singer” started there in 2015. After further branches in Asia and the United States, the show made its debut in Germany in 2019, and “The Masked Singer Austria” celebrated its premiere on Puls 4 in 2020.
“2 Minutes 2 Million”
Start-up shows such as “2 Minutes 2 Million” on Puls 4 and “Die Höhle der Löwen” on VOX are offshoots of the British program “Dragons’ Den” (“Dragon’s Den”), in which potential investors learn from candidates about their ideas, Developments and projects presented. The basic concept comes from Japan, but the international variants are based on the British concept in detail.
Source: Nachrichten
