Parents' Guide to

Planet of the Apps

By Jenny Nixon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Aspiring app makers seek celeb help in dull reality show.

TV Online Reality TV 2017
Planet of the Apps Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

PLANET OF THE APPS is a reality show competition that marks Apple's debut as a TV content creator. The show is available to view via their Music app. A panel of judges -- including actresses/business owners Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba, artist/"idea generator" will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas, and entrepreneur/author Gary Vaynerchuk -- sit with studiously blank faces as contestants spend 60 nerve-wracking seconds pitching their app concepts. In a twist on the "elevator pitch", the show has contestants give their speeches while riding down a giant silver escalator. At the end of each escalator ride, the judges whip out their iPads and vote to give a green light or red light to the project. As long as one of the four judges gives a green light, the contestant is invited to explain a bit more about their pitch, which gives them an opportunity to field questions and try to convince reluctant judges to change their vote from a red to green. If a judge feels particularly passionate about one of the concepts, they may team up and mentor the app creator and help them prepare to pitch to a venture capital firm for a chance at real funding (as in, millions). The winning app will also receive front page placement in Apple's App Store.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Apple is a titan of tech, and they've long been lauded for their forward thinking and beautiful aesthetics -- unfortunately, neither is on display in their inaugural TV show. The best gimmick they have is the corny "escalator pitch", and watching the developers descend from it while begging for cash inspires more secondhand embarrassment than anything. There's a strange filming conceit used here as well, where instead of just focusing on the journey of these entrepreneurs and making sure that's interesting to the viewer, we're treated to "behind the scenes" fluff like a soundstage bell ringing and shots of the camera operators working between scenes. It's an odd choice that doesn't add much.

The real missed opportunity is that Planet of the Apps fails to let viewers know who these app developers are as human beings. Good reality shows know we need some back story, we need to learn more about these people -- What drives them? What inspires them? Here, we've been given a competition without anyone to really root for.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what makes someone a good mentor. Are the judges on Planet of the Apps known more for their entertainment careers or for their business acumen? Do you think they give good advice to the contestants they're paired up with? Why or why not?

  • For kids: Have you ever had an idea for an app? What would it be called, and what would it do? Does Planet of the Apps give you any ideas about how you would market your creation?

TV Details

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