When it comes to “format hunting” in the television world, one of the first names that comes to mind is undoubtedly Tim Crescenti.
His Q&A panel at Conecta Magaluf 2026 was not just a success story, but also a masterclass in how a format can transform into a brand-new cultural phenomenon when localized. Interestingly, the path to one of the biggest turning points in Tim Crescenti’s career passed through Türkiye.
Tim Crescenti was just a 30-year-old, enthusiastic young format hunter when his path crossed with Türkiye. His mission was to adapt the classic game show “Wheel of Fortune” (Çarkıfelek), which was popular all over the world, for Turkish screens. However, he was faced with an unexpected demand: Turkish television executives wanted this studio show, which was originally 22 minutes long, to broadcast for a full 3 hours in Türkiye.
Although stretching a 22-minute game show into 3 hours without losing its tempo seemed impossible, Crescenti and the Turkish production team took the “DNA” of the format and transformed it into something completely different. They turned the program from just a game show into a massive “Game & Variety Show” featuring live music, sketches, and even belly dancers during the commercial breaks.
The result? The format had completely mutated, but this new hybrid form managed to become Turkey’s biggest, most-watched hit television program of all time for many years. For Tim Crescenti, this became the first major proof that a format grows through the flexibility of local culture, not through rigid rules. Speaking with Crescenti after the panel, I noticed he still keeps the memories of that period fresh. The producer, who is a true fan of Istanbul, expressed that he was very happy to visit Istanbul frequently back then.
A Bridge from South Korea to America: Grandpa’s Over Flowers
Another fascinating story Tim Crescenti shared during the Q&A panel, hosted alongside Chiara Duranti from FormatBiz, was about how he shifted the global balance of power in the format world. It all started when Crescenti visited his daughter, who was studying in South Korea. There, he accidentally came across a program called “Grandpa’s Over Flowers.” The concept of the show was both very simple and very unusual: a group of grandfathers in their 80s put on their backpacks, travel the world, and explore new experiences.
Tim Crescenti immediately recognized the sincerity and the gem within this idea. He brought the format to the West, and this program went down in history as the first format sold from South Korea to America (airing on NBC under the name Better Late Than Never). This sale was a small step for television history, but a giant leap for the Asian market. Because thanks to this success, the door was opened for Asian media giants like CJ ENM and Nippon TV to strengthen their positions as actors in the European and American markets and to be taken seriously in the Western industry. If Korean and Japanese formats are taking the world by storm today, it is those “80-year-old grandpas” that Crescenti noticed during a family visit that lie behind it.
“Not Everyone Who Shoots a TikTok is a Producer”
At the closing of the panel, Tim Crescenti brought a bittersweet critique to the perception created by the digital world that “everyone can produce content”: “The creator economy always feels like a contradiction to me. Because not everyone who picks up a phone and shoots a TikTok video knows how to produce a television show or how to keep it alive. Our job is not just to find an idea, but to keep that idea alive.”
At the end of the day, Tim Crescenti left the stage, proving that passion and patience are the two biggest keys to television broadcasting. He once again demonstrated that a format in television is not just a set of rules, but requires the right vision, accurate localization, and most importantly, the ability to read the cultural DNA correctly. Whether you create a 3-hour entertainment show with belly dancers out of a 22-minute game show, or bring Korean grandpas to American television; it was an industry lesson proving that for a good format hunter, boundaries only exist on a map.
For more Conecta Magaluf 2026 content:
Who Holds the Future of Entertainment? Creators or Broadcasters?
Microdramas: Rowing Against the Current or the New Gold Mine of Entertainment?
A Turkish Miracle at the “Gambling” Table of Independent Distribution
