Hot Picks: Crossing Land, Sea and Air

Banijay Entertainment’s catalogue houses some of the most enduring formats in the business, so breaking into that club is never an easy task. However, the super-indie has high hopes for its latest Dutch entertainment show.

Crossing Land, Sea And Air (Te Land, Ter Cee En In De Lucht) might appear to be a new format but the concept has been around for more than 50 years, with the original show launching on Dutch television in 1973.

Contestants on the show have to navigate a series of off-the-wall and challenging obstacle courses set in different environments: land, sea and air. They must design and build their own vehicles or devices to navigate the obstacles and overcome the challenges, and are judged on speed, agility and creativity, with a special prize awarded for most innovative design.

Banijay Entertainment chief content officer, operations, Lucas Green says: “While reality and social experiment formats are still a hit genre for Banijay and its clients, broadcasters need light-hearted formats that can bring all generations together for co-family viewing.

“The secret to big audiences is attracting a multitude of generations, and this certainly delivers.”

Green cites the success of Banijay sibling Lego Masters as well as popular entertainment formats from rival distributors, such as Gladiators, The 1% Club and Race Across The World. “Crossing Land, Sea And Air is the latest in this club of feel-good, joyful and heartwarming content,” he notes. “It’s the perfect antidote to dark nights and dark news stories.”

However, the simplicity of the premise – ‘build it, launch it, splash it’ – should not be taken to mean “this is cheap”, he adds, noting that the show can be scaled up or down: “Just as Banijay has produced Total Wipeout on a huge range of budgets, the way you scale up can vary, from megacelebrity hosts to bigger courses, bigger venues and bigger engineering budgets for competitors. However, it works just as well with smaller tariffs, not least because it offers live event and brand-funding opportunities.”

Crossing Land, Sea And Air – the longest-running entertainment show on Dutch television, airing from 1973 to 2011 – has been successfully revived by broadcaster RTL, with the opening episode drawing 1.2 million viewers and the second 1.3 million.

“RTL is a great client to have rebooted this format, so of course we will be speaking to the wider RTL family and other commercial networks across Europe, with Banijay Entertainment retaining ownership of this much-loved heritage IP,” Green says. “Aside from the linear giants, this is also an opportunity for the PSBs, given there’s a healthy slice of popular science and engineering in the construction of these weird and wonderful flying machines.”

Linear broadcasters are the likeliest buyers of the format, but Green says “streamers need co-family viewing formats too” and are beginning to “re-imagine the vast array of traditionally successful genres”.

“There’s an opportunity to add a narrative arc and a returning cast if desired,” he adds.