''The Sims Spark'd'' is a

reality competition Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...

that premiered on the TBS network on July 17, 2020. The first season of the series, filmed from December 9 to 14, 2019, features 12 contestants, selected from those known to feature ''

The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. The games ...

'' in their online gaming channels, tasked with challenges within ''

The Sims 4 ''The Sims 4'' is a social simulation game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the fourth major title in ''The Sims'' series, and is the sequel to '' The Sims 3'' (2009). The game was released in North America on Septem ...

'' to create characters and stories following the challenge's themes and limitations. Each competitor's creation is judged by a panel consisting of EA

Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by EA in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games, including '' The S ...

developer and ''The Sims 4'' producer Dave Miotke ( "SimGuruNinja" within ''The Sims'' community),

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

personality Kelsey Impicciche (known for her "100 Baby Challenge"), and singer/songwriter

Tayla Parx Taylor is a unisex given name mainly in use in English-speaking countries, including England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The name Taylor also has been well used for characters on American and now some Austral ...

, who is also a voice actress in ''The Sims 4''. The series is hosted by ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...

'' season 14 finalist

Rayvon Owen Rayvon Owen (born June 27, 1991) is an American singer and musician. He is notable for appearing on the fourteenth season of ''American Idol'', where he finished in fourth place. Owen served as the host for the reality competition series '' The ...

. Each episode of the first season premiered on TBS on Friday nights at 11pm ET/PT in the United States, and was later uploaded on

channel

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Multiplayer the following Monday for international audiences at 8am Eastern. Challenges were posted to ''The Sims 4'' website following the series premiere to seek potential contestants for a second season.

Format

At the beginning of the competition, all 12 contestants were assigned to teams via random draw. Each team is composed of a Stylist (handling the designs), Builder (in charge of buildings), and the Storyteller (invents the stories related to Sims). For every episode, they have to fulfill specific challenges as a team based around several scenarios.

Cast

Notes

Challenge Results

Episodes

Each episode premiered on TBS on Friday nights at 11pm ET/PT and on

channel

Multiplayer the following Monday at 8am Eastern.

Development

As a project in planning, ''Spark'd'' had a long lead time as

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

wanted to combine the players' personal stories with a TV reality format filled with challenges. The company decided to make the show in-house instead of outsourcing it to anyone else. EA was worried about the specifics of translating a video game into another medium, and thus tried not to diverge from the main aspects of ''The Sims'' while putting an effort to represent diversity. The initial idea was to develop ''Spark'd'' as a short-length show for the millennials. However, after the initial filming in December 2019, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

prompted EA to retool their marketing plans from scratch. ''The Sims Spark'd'' was found to be a fit for a TBS's ''

ELeague ''ELeague'', shortened as ''EL'', and stylized as ''ΞLEAGUE'' is an esports league and American television show that airs on TBS. It was announced in September 2015 as a partnership between Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG. ...

'' Friday programming block change to include shows that are not just aimed at dedicated gamers. During and following the broadcast of the first season, EA posted ''Spark'd'' challenges on ''The Sims 4'' website for players to complete in-game and upload to the website for the opportunity to be selected for a potential second season of ''The Sims Spark'd''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sims Spark'd, The Reality competition television series Television shows about video games 2020 American television series debuts TBS (American TV channel) original programming The Sims