Taniya Nayak, a Boston designer, said the most wonderful time of the year is judging the “Great Christmas Light Fight” on ABC, which debuted Wednesday night.
“You feel like a kid,” Nayak said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday. “It never gets old!”
In each episode, four families from around the country compete for $50,000 by installing the most enthralling holiday light display. A judge — either Taniya Nayak or Carter Oosterhouse — decides the winner. It’s a sturdy performer for ABC. It’s now in its eighth season and sixth for Nayak.
Nayak gets to travel to multiple cities all over the country, having shot in temperatures ranging from 20 below zero to 80 degrees.
The Priem family in Atlanta will be competing during an episode airing 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 23. According to the ABC synopsis, they created “an energetic, megawatt synchronized light show, incorporating larger-than-life presents, Christmas ornaments dressed in lights and a mega tree covered in over 6,000-pixel lights in Atlanta.”
“They were easily one of my favorites,” Nayak said. “It was so clever and creative. It was synced to music. It was like a dance party. The hubby was a technical wizard.”
Nayak visited the display a year ago when this season was shot. The Priem family is not doing a big display this year and does not want curiosity seekers driving by.
Credit: ABC
Credit: ABC
Nayak, who has also hosted shows on HGTV and helped design restaurants on Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible,” said she has seen so many displays now, it takes more to impress her now. And while aesthetics remain the top factor, she said she also takes into consideration the story behind the display, what challenges the families have faced.
“I’m looking at composition and effort. I’m looking for something unique. And it helps if there is a lot of enthusiasm,” she said. “If you’re excited, I’m excited!”
Some displays are super traditional with standard props like Santa, a manger and candy canes. Others go more wildly inventive, to the point that viewers complain. But for Nayak, “the point is about the holiday spirit.”
One of her favorite out-of-the-box displays was from a Chinese family from Houston that created a massive castle made of lanterns in an episode that aired in 2019.
So she admits sometimes her decisions aren’t greeted with universal acclaim from viewers on social media.
At the same time, she said being physically at a Christmas display is different from watching it on TV.
“I get to see it in three dimensionally,” she said. “It’s all around me, and I’m experiencing it. I’m feeling it. There are scents. I can smell it. It’s different on a flat-screen. But the cameras can really soar. They can offer up angles I can’t see. Viewers get a different perspective. So, there are pros and cons for both.”
Sometimes, she admits, the families are so over the top, the $50,000 prize may not even cover the cost of the display. “They really just want the trophy, the bragging rights,” she said. “They become celebrities among their neighbors or even their entire town or state.”
Nayak is shooting the ninth season now, which will air in December 2021. “We’re doing it under COVID restrictions, which is definitely a different experience,” she said. “But I don’t think it will appear that way when they watch.” It helps that the shoots are largely outdoors.
ON TV
“Great Christmas Light Fight,” 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Dec. 16 and 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Dec. 23, ABC.
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Credit: Jamie McCarthy
Credit: Jamie McCarthy
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, executive producer of the former hit Starz show “Power” and current spinoff “Power Book II: Ghost,” is working with the pay-cable network again on a new drama series “Black Media Family.”
The eight-episode first season will soon be shooting in metro Atlanta.
According to Hollywood Reporter, this is “a longtime passion project for Jackson.” It’s inspired by the true story of two brothers who rose from the rough streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980s and became part of one of the most influential crime families in the country. Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory extended beyond drugs to hip hop and will focus on love, family and capitalism. There was a 2010 best-selling book on the subject written by Mara Shalhoup based on a three-part series that Creative Loafing ran in 2006.
The casting has not been announced yet.
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Credit: Jeff Spicer
Credit: Jeff Spicer
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has enough sway in Hollywood to demand that he shoot as much as he can in metro Atlanta, where he now has a permanent home.
He moved the second season of NBC competition show “Titan Games” to Atlanta Metro Studios earlier this year. He recently finished shooting the Netflix film “Red Notice” starring him, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, also based out of Atlanta Metro Studios. He now is working on a new sitcom he’s executive producing called “Young Rock” on NBC.
The show is about the Rock’s younger years. It first began shooting in November in Australia but is now moving a part of its production to Atlanta.
The new show is executive produced by not only the Rock but also the creators of ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat.” The Rock himself will appear in each episode in some way.
The cast features Adrian Groulx as Johnson (aka Dewey) at age 10, Bradley Constant as Johnson at age 15 and Uli Latukefu Johnson from ages 18-20.
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