Mediacorp is set to undergo a review of operations in the face of people watching practically everything but free-to-air TV. To help our national broadcaster return to its golden era when hits like The Pyramid Game, Under One Roof and Growing Up were all the rage, here are five show proposals for their consideration.
ACTION DRAMA
SPF: Petty Crimes Unit
From the heights of Triple 9 to the depths of VR Man with Heartlanders, Code of Law, Point of Entry and Mata Mata along the way, uniformed people dealing with crime has always been a hot seller. But no series has ever matched the staying power of the ageless, enduring Crimewatch. After thirty years it’s time to make it a weekly show focusing on the criminals that everyday Singaporeans care about – illegal otak-otak sellers, confidence tricksters and shady masseuses.
SITCOM
Fresh off the Plane
Being a migrant family in a new city is always a challenge; what more in the world’s most expensive city for expats. Fresh off the Plane charts the ups and downs, the trials and tribulations, the thrills and spills, the sacrifices and sufferings, of one family forced to live on the paltry sum of $29,000 a month.
FANTASY/DRAMA
Game of Temasek
A knight from a foreign kingdom arrives in a land across a narrow sea. There, the knight meets a prince who lost his throne to his younger brother. Sensing an opportunity for a mutually beneficial alliance, the knight assists the prince in regaining the crown while assuring glory for his own kingdom. It sounds like something from the pen of George RR Martin, but really, we’re talking about Sir Stamford Raffles and Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor at the founding of Singapore in 1819. When you play the Game of Temasek, you win or you die.
SURVIVAL
Drag vs Wild
We get it, stereotypical tough guys can survive the harshest environments even if they’re dumped there naked. But we’ve grown tired of this trope. What we want now is something a little more… fabulous. Let’s take the glamorous queens of RIOT!, led by Becca D’Bus, and have them stage their revues in the middle of scorching deserts, snake-infested rainforests and Asia’s most conservative cities. Drag vs Wild practically writes itself.
SUPERNATURAL DRAMA
The Hantu Galah Diaries
Whether it’s vampires, werewolves or zombies, TV shows and movies about supernatural characters with a romantic element have been a hit for a while now. With so many ghosts and demons to call our own, Mediacorp could go global with a hit like The Hantu Galah Diaries, Teen Pontianak or Warm Pocongs.
