Job Discussion Forums

[JimDunlop2]

HG is disgusting. I find absolutely no humour in a guy dressed in black hot pants asking a 7-year old what vegetables he dislikes and then proceeding to perform pelvic thrusts repeatedly in that child's face! It's obscene, and should have been pulled off the air the day even before it aired. What the hell were they thinking when they produced this crap?

Anyway... On a lighter note, my wife and I were sitting at the local a few weeks ago, half-watching the variety show that just happened to be on the TV that was going in the corner (as were some of the other patrons). It was something having to do with hot wax being poured all over the (mostly) naked bodies of some hairy Japanese men, and then having the wax torn off of them -- especially from sensitive areas like their armpits. We were just sitting there shaking our heads thinking: WTF?! WHY?!?! And obviously the other people watching it were thinking the same thing... So, just for $hits and giggles I got up, walked over to a table where a couple of Japanese guys were sitting, watching the show and said to them (in Japanese): "So.... I guess that's Japanese culture, huih?" They looked at me completely bug-eyed, started shaking their heads and yelling: "NO! No! No! Really! This is not our culture! You've got it all wrong! We're just as shocked at this as you are!"...... But we all got a good laugh out of it and had a long chat over some beers after that.

Hmm.. I guess the moral of that story is... uhh.... variety shows do make good conversation-starters at the pub or at a party....

[Venti]

You know what the sad thing is, Jim? Little kids adored HG throughout the end of last year and the beginning of this year. I had classes of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade elementary school boys running around the classroom, each thrusting his pelvis like crazy, and yelling "fuooo!" I guess by Western standards, he's a perv, but lots of little boys in my classes used to grab each others crotches and kancho each other. I wanted to haul off and slug those those that kanchoed me. And while the kids did this, the Japanese teachers would laugh about it. I wish boys here were a little more hazukashii about that kind of crap.

[blueboy]

I've developed a mini crush on Yasako Mitsuura. Probably because I have a thing for women who look nerdy and smart.
And yes, Family Guy is crap. For real American comedy, check out old episodes of Mr. Show and the Upright Citizens Brigade.

[wolfman]

[SeasonedVet]

Some of the variety shows here are interesting, some are funny but what I can't understand is why there are so many all the time every day and night. I watched some of them occasionally and found them funny or interesting but I woud pick and choose the ones I was interested in.

Now I am going to draw some fire on myself by writing what I am going to write.
We see variety shows as mindless garbage but we find watching the "game" on tv alot better. I have found that sports shows (back home wherever that may be for us) are quite similar to variety shows in one way, and that is to keep an audience night after night, for ratings, for ads, for money, for entertainment.
Variety shows here as well as sports shows/broadcasts (back home in our respective countries) seem to be the "opium" of the people to some extent.
Same goes for talk shows, and recently news programs have been getting into the act. News is no longer news. News is now a "show" (check out how MSNBC has changed and other news "shows" too)
These different genres target different groups of people but are quite similar.
As for American ( or any other country's for that matter) live comedy shows: I think that comedy is skill. Some people are naturally funny but they still have to know the boundaries, how far they can go, and they have to know how to work the audience.
Some people are naturally good at it others have to practice hard. Some shows are better than others but what person B likes person C might not like.

What I find about Japanese TV though is that more than 70% of it (maybe) seems to be dedicated to variety shows on channels other than NHK. I think it's a bit much.
If you ask your students what they watch on tv they are most likely to say variety shows.
NHK is different. I used to enjoy watching the Project X series as well as the Silk Road series.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a documentary about Mahalia Jackson on NHK.
I don't know what cable has done to change anything but now when I ask students what they watch on tv the response is split between Variety shows and Music videos.

[gaijinalways]

Good points, I am one of those people who doesn't normally watch sports (so I am less popular with the fanatics at some of my universities), the world cup matches being an exception. I am one to watch dramas, mostly crime/detective and sci-fi. Alot of Japanese dramas tend to be more the romance triangle types, though some good parodies are done on office culture in Japan (one currently on temporary workers is funny, sorry, forget the title).

'Kekkon dekinai otoko' this drama featuring Ken Watanabe is quite funny, with constrasts with the movie '40 year old virgin'. Watnabe plays a tactless man who often dines alone and doesn't seem to really need a woman in his life. "CA" meaning "cabin attendant" is also kind of fun, as it shows the training that flight attendants go through as well as some of the annoying passengers.

As to the variety shows in Japan, I generally don't watch these in the US, though some of the talk shows in the US border on this type with some other activities featured besides just interviews or discussions of current events.

[Venti]

[sidjameson]

Wolfman mate, after watching your utube links I don't think you have any right to say what is and isnt garbage.

[gaijinalways]

Venti, that is Abe in the show. I think he is excellent in that role. You should take a look at it before passing judgement. Of course, it's no last samurai, but he has built a career on this kind of understated humor in Japanese TV dramas.

[Venti]

Actually, gaijin, I didn't mean to sound as if I thought the show was crap. I just meant that Watanabe doesn't do that kind of TV much these days. I've seen the Abe show and thought it was entertaining. I like Abe. He's a cool guy.

[gaijinalways]

This is true, but in Japan many actors and actresses flick between movies and TV. Actually in the US, there is a less of a separation between the two as there used to be; some TV stars now make as much and are as well known as movie stars.

[Eva Pilot]

Takuya Kimura and Ueto Aya come to mind.

They have both been in high profile films, but more commonly associated with their TV work I have found.

[johncanada24]