American TV Not Crazy, Just Japanese
| More news stories on Japan |
|---|
AP, June 24, 2008
A grown man wearing a diaper is spun around until he can barely stand, then is made to try an obstacle course carrying pitchers of milk without spilling any.
Another man, dressed like an insect, flings himself onto a giant-sized “windshield” with a giant-sized “splat.”
Is American television going crazy? No—American television is going Japanese.
{snip}
On Tuesday, ABC is airing back-to-back premieres of “Wipeout” (8 p.m EDT) and “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” (9 p.m. EDT), with a domestic edition of “Hole in the Wall” coming this fall on Fox.
“It’s going to be like nothing that American audiences have ever seen on network television,” says “I Survived” host Tony Sano.
{snip}
“There is a great desire to shock over there,” notes “Hole in the Wall” executive producer Stuart Krasnow. “Ironically, we’re more puritan over here. But the Japanese will shock to any extreme.”
Popular around the world, “Hole” pits contestants against solid walls coming at them with odd-shaped openings. They must mimic those shapes with their bodies to allow them to pass through the walls, lest they get knocked into a pool of water.
Physically challenging, for sure. But for sheer zaniness, “I Survived” executive producers Arthur Smith and Kent Weed have gone all-out weird.
{snip}
By now, you’re probably picking up that the most consistent themes in Japanese game shows are humiliation and embarrassment—sometimes to the point of sadistic—which oddly enough can serve as stress relief for conservative Japanese. “It’s one of the only avenues they have for release, where they can actually let go and not be conservative anymore,” notes Weed.
Krasnow agrees. While U.S. game show contestants are in it for the cash and prizes, he says the motivation is far different for the Japanese player.
{snip}
To make it through such torture also reflects well on one’s family, Smith says of the Japanese. “Their games are all about saving face. When you don’t do good, you’ve harmed your family—you don’t look good in your family’s eyes.”
All this is very different from American game shows, where players are generally treated with respect, no matter how goofily they behave.
{snip}
And unlike Japan, U.S. game show contestants are typically chosen for their likeability. “We place a lot of emphasis on casting,” says David Goldberg, president of Endemol Entertainment, which produces “Deal or No Deal” and the upcoming “Wipeout.” “We think it’s really important to have people playing the game that we relate to and have a genuine interest in seeing them win.”
{snip}
(Posted on June 24, 2008)
Comments
Really, is this material any worse than “Fresh Prince” reruns, “Sally Jesse Raphael”, and “news” which is really just political advocacy masquerading as journalism?
Having additional banal broadcast matter to ignore, when it might on a good day succeed in being drivel does not represent a national or personal tragedy to me. It isn’t possible for me to watch any less TV than I do now.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 6:46 PM on June 24
Anything is better than all of this black television. It makes no sense that on cable, just about every “music” station shows nothing but hip-hop rapping black thugs bragging about their cars, “bling,” criminally gained wealth and white women.
I also can’t say much for the hanger’s-on propaganda family sitcoms showing White families with stupid fathers, snide mothers, and disrespectful, nasty kids.
The Japanese of today remind me more of Americans than American blacks do. If only the black and latino thugs in this country could feel such shame when they do the many horrible things they do to dishonor their families.
Posted by kinship at 6:48 PM on June 24
“A grown man wearing a diaper”… Sounds to me like they are making the Japanese look ridiclous, to them selves and others, as a possible opening gambit in denigrating their culture and scoffing that it might not be worth protecting and needs immigration of others to enrich it.
Am I crazy?!? Or just beginning to learn to look through the mirror at everyone and everything?
Posted by Tim Mc Hugh at 7:26 PM on June 24
It may be a refreshing break from all the shows that portray blacks as saviors and whites as idiots.
Posted by roller at 10:06 PM on June 24
“It’s one of the only avenues they have for release, where they can actually let go and not be conservative anymore,” notes Weed.
Reminds me of an episode of the original Star Trek where Captain Kirk had to fight Spock and was presumably killed during a Vulcan fighting ritual, which all Vulcans were compelled to engage in at least once during their lifetimes. It was explained that it was the price Vulcans had to pay for living such rational, logical lives most of the time.
These silly television programs pale in light of the fact that Japanese men routinely grope Japanese women on subway trains, or so I have read. White manners and morays don’t seem so bad in comparison.
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 10:54 PM on June 24
Maybe the Japanese dont feel as humiliated, as they are homogeneous there?
Its kinda like a prank pulled on you by your sister - big deal, laugh it off.
Or, it might be a form of social malaise as Weed said.
In either case, I dont see how it deserves an article.
Posted by at 3:47 AM on June 25
All I know is I would rather take my chances walking alone at night in almost any Japanese city compared to any downtown area of any big American city. I’ll take my chances in Tokyo over Detroit any day of the week.
Posted by at 8:03 AM on June 25
I don’t know a lot about Japan, but I do know that if they manage to stop their being overun by Muslim immigrants and blacks from Africa, I wanna go there.
Posted by Skip at 8:56 AM on June 25
“These silly television programs pale in light of the fact that Japanese men routinely grope Japanese women on subway trains, or so I have read. White manners and morays don’t seem so bad in comparison.
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 10:54 PM on June 24”
And the fact that they sell soiled schoolgirl’s underwear in highstreet vending machines.
Posted by Ventriloquist at 10:01 AM on June 25
I don’t know a lot about Japan, but I do know that if they manage to stop their being overun by Muslim immigrants and blacks from Africa, I wanna go there.
Posted by Skip at 8:56 AM on June 25
For the record, the Japanese are not being overrun by Blacks nor by Muslims. Most of the crime that is perpetrated by a foreign group would be the Chinese, as they are the largest minority living in Japan. I think you need to get your facts a little bit better organized, before spewing baseless propaganda. I live in Japan and the city where I reside have in the downtown area 9 stores and restaurants owned by Africans and 4 from Muslims and guess what, not a single incident. They do very well and all are liked and respected very much(which in Japan is everything)nice try though.
Posted by at 1:22 PM on June 25
Skip forget about moving to Japan because they’re about 99% Japanese and wish to stay that way. They’d rather make robots to substitute for their low birth rate. We produce robot voters to support illegal aliens to do the work.
Posted by truthbetold at 4:20 PM on June 25
There’s something about Japanese culture that makes their TV shows with the awkward English translations seem weird and not very entertaining. Shows like “Iron Chef” and Japanese anime just don’t make the cut with me.
Posted by at 6:35 PM on June 25
This might just be the programming that enciourages the rest of you to join me in quitting TV.
Posted by Lost in Paradise at 7:55 PM on June 25
The “diaper” is a fundoshi, or a loincloth.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 1:13 AM on June 26
As an aside, I well-know the summer humidity in Japan, and can honestly not understand how anything other than loose-fitting boxer shorts sell to the men there. If wearing something tight in 90-90 (90 degrees F and 90% humidity for our metric-using friends) weather sounds bad, I suppose it must be truly hideous for women in nylons.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 10:37 PM on June 28