Disney-ABC’s FABLifejumps into the daytime fray on Sept. 14 with a panel talk show touching on all points lifestyle—food, fashion, beauty, interior design and do-it-yourself.
The show is cleared on the eight ABC-owned stations as well as major ABC affiliates, including station groups owned by Tegna, Scripps and Media General, which is soon to merge with Meredith.
The show stars Tyra Banks, who previously hosted Warner Bros.’ The Tyra Banks Show, along with a panel of lifestyle experts the show calls FABLife stylists. They include supermodel Chrissy Teigen, who takes on food and cooking; fashionista Joe Zee; interior designer Lauren Makk; and YouTube do-it-yourselfer Leah Ashley.
“When I saw the pilot, I was blown away by the chemistry of these five people,” says executive producer Shane Farley, whose previous work on daytime shows includes CBS Television Distribution’s Rachael Ray. Expressing a long-held belief of the genre, Farley adds, “If you are going to spend time with any television show, you want to spend time with people who feel like your friends.”
Each episode of FABLife will start with a little host chat, a la Disney-ABC’s Live With Kelly and Michael, although the chat will be less about the news of the day and more about whatever lifestyle topics suit the panel’s fancy. “It gets deep,” says Farley.
From there, each episode will transition into short four-to-five-minute segments on the show’s chosen verticals. Occasionally, a celebrity might show up as an expert in that field, but the celebrities mostly driving FABLife are its hosts.
Those segments include “Life Hacks,” in which the hosts give viewers information on how to make things simpler and better. At the end of each episode, the hosts will test out various lifestyle hacks to see if they really work.
“We feel this is an underserved market that wants this information,” says Farley. “I think this show will be different than anything else out there. So many shows in the past would have hosts and then invite people on who are experts in those areas. Our hosts are the experts. The audience trusts them more because they are accountable for their information.”
Disney-ABC has constantly made the point that FABLife’s hosts are very socially active, with huge followings, and Farley intends to make good use of that. The show’s social and digital producers are embedded in the production, planning content along with producers. They will also be on the set, coming up with ideas of things to tweet or post on Instagram while the show is being shot.
“Often, we’ll shoot a segment, go to commercial break and then keep shooting to get more information,” says Farley. Zee also serves as Yahoo’s style editor, and the show has a content-sharing deal with the site.
“If you want to live a more fun and beautiful life, we’re here to curate all of the information you don’t have time to find and give it to you,” says Farley.
