Primitives, the Belgium-headquartered specialist TV formats distributor, has licensed a second season of travel-entertainment quiz format On the Right Track to Slovak public broadcaster STVR. The renewal follows a successful first local run of SVT Sweden’s evergreen format, now in its 37th season on the Swedish public broadcaster.
STVR will launch the 15 x 60’ second season of On the Right Track, locally titled Na Správnej Ceste, on September 4, again in the 20.30 Friday-night primetime slot. STVR’s decision to invest in a second series brings the Swedish TV stalwart back to Slovakian screens just months after its first 16-episode season premiered in January, marking a notably swift return.
On the Right Track — or På Spåret, to give it its Swedish name — is an original idea from the in-house team at SVT and has been nominated this year for a prestigious Kristallen award in the Viewer Choice category. The format, which has been keeping Swedish viewers glued to their TVs every Friday night since 1987, challenges two teams of celebrities to identify destinations based on a series of clues revealed during journeys filmed from the front of a train, car or bus. The format combines travel, comedy, music and general knowledge, with contestants and viewers at home attempting to identify destinations from increasingly revealing visual clues, wordplay, anecdotes and musical performances. The two highest-scoring teams ultimately compete in the season finale.
Beyond Sweden, On the Right Track has also been adapted by Finnish public broadcaster Yle, where it is currently in its fourth season. The Finnish adaptation, known locally as Hengaillaan, is broadcast as a live Saturday-night entertainment show.
Peter Begányi, director of STVR, said: "The format On the Right Track allowed us to bring a genre to Friday night that offers viewers entertainment built on discovering places, music and play. Its structure proved open enough to carry our own subject matter, our own humour and Slovak settings and, for a public-service broadcaster, that is the most valuable thing a strong licensed format can offer. At the same time, the show delivers what we were looking for: a shared family experience that brings generations together in front of one screen, and, with every journey, interesting information that viewers take away with them.”
Emma Gosling, sales and acquisitions manager at Primitives, said: “A second season is always a fantastic milestone for a format, so we’re delighted to see On the Right Track return so quickly to STVR. It’s a brilliant example of how a long-running classic can continue to feel fresh, engaging and relevant when adapted for new territories. We’re confident that the new series will build on the success of the first season and continue its strong momentum.”
The Slovak adaptation is fronted by actor Ján Dobrík and traveller Martin Navrátil, who accompany viewers and competing guests on a series of familiar and unfamiliar journeys. STVR’s version retains the format’s signature combination of travel, clues, music, humour and competition.
The STVR renewal comes as Primitives continues to expand its position in the international formats market. This summer, it has closed licence deals with Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, which has commissioned Mediacrest to produce a 12-episode adaptation of And the Rest is History; France Télévisions, which has greenlit a local version of epic adventure reality format The Expedition, produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production France; and FOX, which has renewed VRT Belgium’s hit competition format 99 to Beat for a second season, following its successful US debut last year. Earlier this month, Primitives also acquired the worldwide format rights (excluding German-speaking Europe) to Terrain: Battle of the Flags, a premium adventure-reality competition from German public broadcaster ZDF and German production company Roses Are Blue.
The Belgium-headquartered independent distributor was recently ranked among the world’s top 10 format distributors by TV trends agency The WIT, marking the first time an independent distributor has entered the global formats ranking.
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