Wacky Terebi

[ultragaijin]

Japanzine's latest feature story is on the crazy world of Japanese TV (http://www.japan-zine.com/index.html). Some more info is here on Quirky Japan's TV page (http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/tv.html).

Are there any other must-see shows they left off the list?

[ultragaijin]

Kamome just reminded me to add the Debuya show (what's the title?) and "Jackson" to the list.

[sukebekuro]

well, I wouldn't know where to start, it's all fucking weird. (and besides, I have no idea of what any show is called!).

I do like the "who-can-eat-the-most-curry-rice-or-whatever-in-one-hour" program, also Ai Nori is good for us Real World-deprived Americans (that's the one with young Japanese traveling the world in a van and trying to fall in love with each other).

some observations, or rants (forgive me if these are all obvious and old to the majority, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this stuff):

*what's up with all the fucking commentary, EVERY show has some panel of folks who talk about every segment after it's over, and whose images appear throughout in those little picture-in-picture boxes, I hate that! And I hate there little oohs and ahs.

*everything is subtitled, in Japanese of course. this is great for me the Japanese learner, but still fucked up all the same. what with the subtitles and the little pictures in picture of the studio jacks, there's hardly any of the actual program viewable on the screen!

*what's up with all the food programs, that's all there seems to be; that and home improvement programs. christ, bad enough in the states my wife only watched Home and Garden TV and Food TV all day, here she doesn't need BS for that stuff, it dominates the airways.

*another theme (or is this just the same program, I'm confused), wives who are putting up with unemployed deadbeats or weirdos for husbands. there seem to be a lot of programs about that. not to mention the cheating programs, where they set up some dude to cheat on his girlfriend or vice-versa. of course, as a fan of the american show cheaters I'm in support of this type of programming.

*is there a shortage of talent or what? I don't mean that the tv stars or personalities are not talented (I have no idea of 90% of what they're saying or doing so can't really comment on their individual talents), i mean talent in general, like bodies. I mean the same people show up on so many different shows (usually to sit behind a desk and comment on the segments, as mentioned above), I see that Weakest Link guy everywhere, the Who Wants to be a Millionaire guy everywhere (that show btw is far more interestimg than the Regis counterpart), the Tokudane ("today" show type program) guy, he's everywhere, that guy who's on that weird gameshow Saturday nights (Tokyo) where they have to say things in English, now that guy is fucking everywhere!).

*speaking of talent that show up everywhere, the two most prominent fucked gaijin on tv, dave spector and I dont' know what his name is but he does that segment (on some Sunday night program) with the three black guys who can't speak Japanese worth shit (like me)--which by the way is the funniest fucking thing I've seen in a long time, i'll credit J-TV with that....anyway, i digress, i just wanted to say I can't stand either of those guys fucked gaijin asses. that rico suave dave spector looks like he just walked off the saturday night fever dance floor, and that other guy, well I don't know, something makes me want to pummel him. of course it doesn't help that their Japanese sounds fucking perfect to my ears!

*another thing about talent, there's an overabundance of folks who make me lurch for the remote, but unfortunately I have no idea what anyone's name is.

*what's up with that woman who does a lot of the narration on some of these programs, with that voice so high and grating it makes fingernails on chalkboards sound like Debussy, will someone please take her helium tank away!

*when going to a commercial break, does it always have to be at the most suspenseful part of the program? I thought american tv was manipulative, sheesh.

*does anyone watch NHK's "Getting Along in Japanese" with Katsuya Kobayashi and his "boarding room guests"? Gawd, this show is on the level of sesame street, just because we don't know Japanese doesn't mean we're stupid or children. I would like to seriously maim that Ken Silverberg dude, and while Katsuya's "daughter" Kaori looks like the dumbest J-girl on the planet, I must admit she is quite fuckable. Kaori, you can digital shoot in my neighborhood anytime!

*if the baseball game doesn't finish by 9:24pm or whatever time it is, they cut if off! ah, this is sacreligious.

alright, I'm running out of steam temporarily, forgive the ranting, i now return you to the regularly scheduled fucked up program....

[ultragaijin]

Wicked rant! We need more of this stuff! :alien:

*everything is subtitled, in Japanese of course. this is great for me the Japanese learner, but still fucked up all the same. what with the subtitles and the little pictures in picture of the studio jacks, there's hardly any of the actual program viewable on the screen!


This reminds me, a few years back my Japanese friend tried to convince me that US TV should follow the Japanese model and subtitle every fucking show. I argued with him about how it wouldn't work, since there's no English equivalent to Japanese double meanings and the appeal of Kanji humor, etc.

A couple years after that, the US started doing something really similar. The first being MTV's Pop-Up videos, and now they do it on a lot of dating shows. I couldn't believe it when I realized this was happening!

[ultragaijin]

BTW, nice photo bloggery (http://www.easterwood.org/japan02/). I just added you to the Web Links (http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Web_Links&file=index&req=viewlink&cid=53). Thanks for submitting! (And actually, I was just about to add it myself after I surfed from the WWW button in your post.) :wink4:

[sukebekuro]

just to follow-up on my rant, my wife told me that the name of that other fucked gaijin tv personality that I can't stand is Thane Camus, now I'm seeing ads for yet another program he's going to be on.

and the tv personality that makes me most reach for the remote is named Hisamoto Masami, so my wife says.

[kamome]

Actually the guy you're referring to is Sein (sp?) Camus, who is supposedly related in some way to the famous author, Camus (that's the rumor, at least). In my opinion, Camus is the least irritating of the gaijin on TV for various reasons. Primarily, he doesn't have that irritating haughtiness or fakeness that Dave Spector has. Dave Spector is so fake, he even dyes his hair blonde and wears blue contact lenses to appear more "gaijin-like". You have to respect his Japanese, though, which is equivalent to a native's.

Btw, I saw Dave Spector sitting on one of those shows, anchoring a segment on American movie stars, as if he was the expert on the Hollywood scene. What a jackass.