Love on the line
> A new generation of programming is using technology to make watching television more intimate and compelling
American management experts.
These “guardian angels follow their subject through the camera and give them the benefit of their support in all sorts of situations”, Mouseler said.
“The only catch is that they must never reveal even to their nearest and dearest that they are being helped,” she added.
Yellow Card, a new Japanese show from Fuji Creative, goes one step further and employs a range of experts – from doctors to lawyers and etiquette experts – to follow participants and point out their failings. Rather than giving them a shoulder to lean on, experts are there to give “a yellow card to bad habits”, the company said. A financial expert ticks off a woman as she shops, scoffing at her naive bargaining skills, while a lawyer intervenes to stop a girl from giving a V-sign on a selfie because her fingerprints could be stolen from the picture. As well as stern dressingdowns, the show “contains useful life-hacks and advice”, Mouseler said. German TV channel RTL2 pulled on the heartstrings when it brought in health experts earlier this year to come to the aid of children of obese parents in Help! My Parents are Fat! The hit show features an overweight father who had not eaten salad in 20 years, but signed up to change because of the emotional pressure from his children. The self-help theme continued in the new Swedish show Sold!, which follows people trying to sell their homes online without help from estate agents. If last-minute repairs are needed, they could do worse than turn to the controversial show Denmark versus Eastern Europe, which pits local tradesmen against migrant workers from poorer former Soviet states. Mouseler said the show has sparked huge debate in the Scandinavian country where immigration has become a hot political potato. The quality, price and safety of the work are ruthlessly compared, she said, with hidden cameras showing how differently both sets of workers are treated. – AFP-Relaxnews