A Humble Request for Thought [Long]

I've been contacted by a TV producer of some renown. He has proposed that he produce a television series with me on wine. I've been mulling this generous offer over for some long time, and have decided to pursue it. I'm planning on an upcoming lunch meeting, to see just what he has in mind. In our preliminary discussion, he was just throwing out the idea, to see if I would be interested.

I do not know how, or even if, things will progress on this. My interest in such a project has increased, the more I have considered the initial offer. Now, I need some help. Will everyone send me US$10,000.00 in small, unmarked bills? NO! This is not the type of help I need, though maybe it wouldn't hurt, at least at the start. What I DO need are some thoughts from the NG as to what would make an interesting wine-oriented television program for YOU.

I've seen many, most in the OK range, a few very good, and only a very few that were not either entertaining, or informative. Probably the best, in my experience, was Spencer Christian's Wine Cellar. There were several episodes taped, and I think I have seen most, at least twice. For those who do not recognize the name, Spencer Christian was the weather person on one of the major US network's early morning news programs. I have to admit that I had never seen him, nor did I know of him (my wife did), when his program aired on Home & Garden TV in the US, many years ago. We received this program on Saturday afternoons. I caught maybe eight episodes, before the network began re-running them. I'd guess they spanned a two year period, judging solely by the vintages that were tasted. The Food Network picked up this program and I caught only a few new episodes, and mostly re-runs. The format was often a lighter wine-travel piece, often to a winery, or region, internationally. Several wines were presented and discussed by Christian, and there was often a guest sommelier on-hand for this segment. Usually Harvey Steiman and Jim Laube (The Wine Spectator) would have a more analytical tasting segment near the end of the program. Sometimes, the wines and travel would be themed, but more often they did not directly relate to each other. I became a fan of this program and campaigned to the Food Network, in vain, when he was replaced by two episodes of Emeril Live, back-to-back. The only complaint that I had, was that there was never a line-up of what would be tasted on the program. I'd have gathered a few bottles of the same, or very similar wines, Haut-Brion, Stag's Leap, whatever, though a more recent vintage in all probability, and sipped along, even at 1:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon.

In the US, PBS (Public Broadcast System) did a two-part (?) series, Wine 101 with the actor David Hyde-Pierce. I had not expected much, but found this to be an entertaining, and informative series. Part of it might have been Hyde- Pierce's delivery, but the program was well produced and didn't "talk down" to wine geeks, such as myself, at all. I have not caught John Cleese's wine series, but hear that it is also very entertaining.

What I would request from you is a little thought. If you were to be presented with a television program focused on wine, what would YOU find entertaining, enlightening, worth watching, enjoyable? What would make you grab that bottle and a couple of glasses and plop down in front of a TV set and how could such a program entertain and enlighten you? How could such a program entertain you and your spouse? Omitting such things as very good production values, etc. what would it take for you to recommend a televised wine program to your friends, your family, your neighbors? What would you NOT like to see? What would turn you off from a wine program? Personally, I enjoyed hearing the discussions on the attributes, and short-comings of the wines that Steiman and Laube were tasting, but didn't really need to see them spit, and then the numerical values were a bit of a turnoff. The discussions were all I cared for in that/those segment(s).

I would like to think that anything I would be a part of would be directed to the demographic represented by most of this NG - folk who know quite a bit about wine, always want to know more, enjoy it at many levels and work very hard to find wines that offer them the greatest pleasure and enjoyment. Now, it could turn out that some "bean-counter" someplace, might decide that there are not enough serious, or at least semi-serious wine afficionados out there in TV land. If it came down to doing something for the "lowest common denominator," then I don't think I would be able to fit into the scheme - I ain't no David Hyde-Pierce, or John Cleese.

I am also hoping that, with the international nature of this NG, some of you can also relate programs on wine outside of the US, that might provide a basis for thought. I assume that this project would be somewhat geo-centric to the US Southwest, but do not know that yet.

Please, at your convenience, give my request for input some thought. Nothing may ever come of this, but if it does, it is people, such as yourselves, to whom I'd want to tailor any production.

Thanks for your time, and for your thoughts.

Hunt, he ain't no Hyde-Pierce or Cleese.

Reply to
Hunt
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Pfft! Lucky I'm not drinking any wine at the moment.

I'm an irregular reader here, but have several thoughts.

I would be most interested in programs profiling individual regions or individual varietals.

Especially in programs concentrating on wines for those of us who aren't starting at $45 per bottle. So perhaps not featuring Napa or Bordeaux, but featuring, say, the wines of Alsace or the Loire. Or Oregon Pinots or New Zealand Rieslings. Or chenin blancs. Or sherry.

It would be nice to see individual wineries visited and individual wines tasted which are examples of good values between (say) $10 and $30. Watching TV shows about wine is hard, because you can't smell or taste what is being discussed, but discussing characteristics particular to the varietal or to the region is interesting.

Within such guidelines, what makes for good TV? I think if you bribe the winemakers to eat maggots, and reward the vintner who consumes the most maggots...

Seriously, many wine regions are quite beautiful (including the examples I mentioned above). Certainly some part of making good TV is the travelogue aspect. Some part is showing the vines and the wine-making and the winery. Some part is local food and how the wine is combined with that.

OK, that was my fantasy about the high-budget wine TV show _I'd_ like to make. A low budget fantasy involves tasting moderately priced (my $10 to $30 guideline) wine and pairing it with food. Commenting on what works well, what doesn't and why.

To make this into a TV show, one might want to cook the food on the show - I don't know.

Reply to
Doug Anderson

Haut-Brion,

entertaining,

Reply to
Joe "Beppe"Rosenberg

That would be interesting. Hmm...maybe more movies like Sideways.

Reply to
miles

Well, I think first you have to decide what you're doing the show for, and more importantly *who* you're doing the show for.

If its soley for your own entertainment, do what you like. If you'd like it to rate, you have to consider who you want to pitch it to.

I find more and more there are short segments on other shows that are sort of "Wine for beginners" type things. Lifestyle shows etc.

There is a massive and growing market for ppl who want to learn about wine but wouldn't buy a book or spend too much time on it. Wine 101 guides, good ones, are gold.

Personally, I quite enjoyed say that John Cleese show [I know I know you're no John Cleese] where he went to a few Californian places. That was light and refreshing. I learnt maybe one or two things, but wine novices would find a few interesting things.

However, although I enjoyed it, I found it wasn't really anything of a wine course, more a pleasant hour or two looking at wineries etc.

There was a show on SBS television called the Wine Lover's Guide To Australia:

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, not so long ago.

That wasn't bad. I think you can buy it, but its $$$$, coz I looked into it.

Jancis Robinson's Wine Course I didn't mind. In places it was pretty dull though, and it really wasn't all that informative. But again, it was nice to see the countryside etc.

I think the most important thing is to develop a target audience. That will help a lot in formulating the whole thing.

I personally would like pretty much a bit of everything. Not centred on any one region or country, with tastings, food matching, price, maybe some funny anecdotes. You could probably bypass the need for basic explanations by doing it as a "pop-up", you know a little bubble graphic, although that might annoy some ppl.

I say not centred on one region or country, but I assume it will be made in America, so you'd have to target that audience.

I think if its too high-brow you'll have a very small audience, and I think a lot of wine quasi-experts would avoid it anyway. But on the otherhand you don't want it *too* stoopid.

Reply to
Mat

Personally, I think formatting it liked a themed X vs Y tasting would capture a lot of wine lovers attention.

For example, one show could explore the differences between California Cabernet and Left bank Bordeaux. Tuscany vs Piedmont. German Riesling vs Alsace Riesling. Northern Rhone and Australian Shiraz. Even different vintages from the same region.

You could talk about different laws and wine making techniques for the different regions, look at the range of prices then have a panel that tasted some examples and (plainly) discussed the similarities and differences.

Andy

Reply to
JEP62

Sounds interesting.... Another idea. Look into making wines @ home. Alot of people make their own wines. They are very impressive and can compete with the best of commercial wines. Personally I belong to the South Jersey Winemakers and we meet monthly at someone's home. There we discuss various wines and processes. And of course, tastings. Tom

Reply to
Tom

[...]

Interesting question, Hunt. Personally, I would like to see a program that focuses on wines *other* than the usual suspects (Napa/Sonoma Cabs & Chards, Bordeaux) and maybe takes a look at lesser-known regions and grapes. I think it's also important to not get too bogged down on specific wines, given the usual problems with availability and the possible time lag between taping and airing. Some things I think would be fun to see:

The wines of Alsace How to understand German wines Austrian wines What else you can find from NZ besides Sauvignon Blanc lesser known areas of CA (Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, Amador, El Dorado) The wines of Oregon The wines of the Loire Valley Going Beyond Nouveau in Beaujolais

Also, knowing of your interest in food, I think a segment on how to choose wine to go with food could be a very interesting feature. Again, ideally it would be more about general principles than particular matches. You could have a small "tasting panel" assembled for each episode to give different views on the same wines or wine/food combinations.

That's always a danger, Hunt, but it never hurts to shoot for the stars. Also, in my *very* limited experience, producers will respond best to people who have a genuine vision about what they want to do. In essence, your ability to sell your vision to them is what they use to gauge how well you can sell it to the general public.

Have fun! Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

RIGHT NOW the foodnetwork is showing their 'Next Foodnetwork Superstar' series, watch and record it and watch several times. The thrust is what it take to make it, what have the producers learned it takes to bring an audience back.

It's your personallity that is the show, not the wine.

Bill

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Reply to
Wine Lover

There's a guy named Phillips who does a wine show for PBS---his underlying message is wine is fun. There was little covered that appealed to me but that's not the target audience.

About 20 years ago-- a local station did a 10 minute piece for the 11 O'clock news on wine. This was done at Boordy, three wines were poured and I spoke about 90 seconds on each. A fly suddenly landed in the Reporter, Rudi Miller's glass of blush. The camera kept rolling as she screamed "what's that thing doing in my wine?" I said "the backstroke" This was live so they cut to a commercial rather than showing everyone on & off camera laughing.

Reply to
Joe "Beppe"Rosenberg

Hunt, good luck with this. I'll offer no advice, as the surest way to have no audience is to gear it towards the geeks!

Reply to
DaleW

Uh-oh, I smell trouble brewing then! I'll have a look. I tried to locate some of the Spencer Christian episodes on tape/DVD from either HGTV, or Food Network, where they aired, but no luck.

Thanks, Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

snipped-for-privacy@hunt.com (Hunt) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:

I don't know if this will help, but it seems that there is a *radio* show, with previous shows available here:

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I liked Joe's concept of pre-announcing the wines and tasting them, isn't that sort of what those WSJ folks do? And add some food pairing ideas to that?

I think you should find out what demographic the producer is looking for; as nice as in depth reports would be, it would be very easy to garner cries of "Wine Snobs!" from TV critics and the general public...

hth...d.

Reply to
enoavidh

I'll take a look. At the NOW&FE last May, two of the moderators at that event had radio wine shows, one in the East, one in the West. I'm still looking for their bios, to see what I can learn there.

John & Dottie often mention the theme that they will be going for, but I do not recall a pre-announcement. Maybe I just missed it. The lack of a tasting list was my biggest complaint with the Spencer Christian show. Also, one of his continuing guests, a sommelier from Las Vegas was just plain difficult to understand. Seemed to know his stuff and was very personable, but I wish they had done subtitles.

Yes, the demographics aspect has me worried a bit, but this is just getting started at the "talk" stage. We'll see where it goes, but I do agree with you.

Thanks, Hunt

Reply to
Hunt
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Hi Hunt,

Great fun!

My thought would be to stay away from geekiness and too much detail. Also avoid travelogue (we can watch a travel show for that) or turning it into "lifestyles of rich and famous" by talking about bottles the audience can't afford.

Rather, I'd concentrate on introducing solid middle value wines of the sort that folks might actually buy and drink. I know a lot of non-wine-geeks that would be interested in the info. And of course personality of the presenter is paramount.

My $0.02.

-E

P.S. I met David Hyde-Pierce at the Tony's a few years ago, the guy was a total riot in person too.

Reply to
Emery Davis

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