Circling back to the show... two things I've been contemplating - what hooks the audience in and what does Meghan get (aside from meeting contractual requirements)
Audience first - I love cooking and have tonnes of cook books and am a regular on one of the running food threads on here. I get the lifestyle influencer vibe so there will be a bit on cooking, a bit on production (gardens, bees) and a bit of va-va-vooom with candles and flowers and what not.
However, each episode is only 35 mins long so you don't really get enought of any of the portions (pun intended) I felt this when watchting a series recommended on here - forgive me as I can't remember the title but it was about the royal gardens/palaces. So each episode gave us some insight into the gardens/cooking from local ingredients/history of the palace.
Every single episode I was left wanting more - like tell me more about how the garden is adapted to the environment, or cook more from the garden produce but it felt like snip/cut/snip/cut and I do worry that Love, Meghan will have the same structure and therefore embedded flaws. It may be that this structure can be delivered succesfully by an engaging host (in the tv sense - ie talking directly to viewers [which M may well do, who knows]) but the shows that I can think of that are succesful in that format are things like Hairy Bikers exploring a country, Stanley Tucci's Italy series' (which brought an interesting dynamic around social politics/justice)
Perhaps the multi strand approach works better on TikTok/insta - am thinking of the likes of ballerinafarm here, where you can better fit the snip/cut format?
The other cooking show format that I think M could have gone down was the 'journey/learning' format. These formats can really connect with audiences as they recognise themselves. But they need a presenter/host who is open to being vulnerable and showing their 'failings' - am thinking here of Selena Gomez's programe. Would a 'learning how to garden through the seasons' programme work for Meghan?
So, if viewers feels a bit discombobulated, will they stay for duration. As I understand it, Netflix don't disclose viewing numbers but persumably one positive outcome for Meghan is stellar viewing numbers and a re-commssioned series. But would more of the same work or would it neeed a new spin - journey across places or a journey in time - as outlined above, and would Meghan be a good fit for host or would it be a pivot to production.
The other obvious gain for Meghan would be sales of related products. The obvious one is a tie in cook book. But again this would need to be substantial. Nigella's last series was i think 'Cook Eat Repeat' and in book form that runs to 350 pages.
An easier tie in may have been goods/products. Whilst ARO is suffering with trademark delays there is an obvious challenge here. I suppose the programme could feature hardware in the form of pans, bowls, mezzalunas (still use my Nigella branded one!) with a hope that they can be marketed later. however, i do wonder if the era for chef/celebrity branded products has moved on and now chefs/celebs/influencers now market/promote other brands - think 'our place' or the hexagon thing that Gordon Ramasay promotes.
So, (thank you for attending my Ted Talk) I guess i'm interested to see the show but can also not see an obvious (easy) next steps to progress on to...