Japanese TV Part 2

Japanese TV is so dumb… Most of the shows that are on in prime time are variety/clip shows. They have a panel of, like, D-list Japanese celebrities (people with minor roles on TV shows, people in commercials, people that have just become sort of famous for being on these clip shows) watch clips of random subject matters (ranging from human interest stories, to short dramas, to cooking segments, to comedy skits). Sometimes, a person from the panel will have a clip that they star in (like, one woman took some kids to Brazil to capture and eat an electric eel in order to see if it was “delicious”). Throughout the clips, there is a little corner of the screen that is devoted to showing the reaction of the “celebrity” panel to these clips (the JETs have affectionately called it “the emotion box”). So, the show is half about these random clips, and half about what low-level Japanese TV personalities think about the clips. Its weird.

Another popular format is the “D-list celebrities doing wacky things – mostly eating, though” type show. A panel of semi-recognizable Japanese TV personalities play weird games against one another. Most of the games involve eating (almost all these variety shows involve food in some way – every time a turn on the TV I see I shot of food, someone eating, or someone talking about eating). For example, one show had each member of the panel receive a different dish, and then they talked about the food and rated it. Another show had two teams compete in an eating competition where one person tried to feed the other from behind (the hands are trying to feed the face, but the hands belong to someone else, and that someone else can’t see). I guess its equal to (or slightly dumber) than American television.