综艺节目 (Chinese Reality Shows and Variety Shows)

[feihong]

Let's use this topic as a springboard for general discussion about the 综艺 programs we love (or hate) to watch. If people want to talk in-depth about any particular show, you can create a separate thread for it.

[feihong]

舞林大会 (Let's Shake It)

One of the most surprising shows for me this season was 舞林大会 (Let's Shake It). You can sort of describe it as the Chinese clone of "Dancing with the Stars", but actually that comparison is rather unfair. This show is superior to "Dancing with the Stars" in almost every single way, mostly because it doesn't try to copy the formula wholesale.

舞林大会 features a much larger number and variety of celebrity contestants. I think this season probably featured more than 100 contestants. There are only three elimination rounds, so the most that any contestant can perform is three times (you don't get too tired of seeing annoying contestants). The calibre of the stars isn't terribly high -- for example you'll probably never see Jackie Chan on this show (although his son did compete last year). However, instead of a bunch of over-the-hill performers, the show is mostly populated by younger, up-and-coming stars that are still pretty hungry for the spotlight. Also, the range of dance styles is pretty good: hip hop, latin ballroom, modern ballroom, contemporary, and even a little bit of ballet.

If you prefer near-professional-level dance competition shows such as "So You Think You Can Dance", you'll be slightly disappointed by the quality of the dancing as well as the camerawork. However a good number of the contestants do have some dance background, so after the first round there aren't many terrible performances. Also, the judges are thankfully not attention whores. 金星, the main judge, has serious dance credentials, gives fairly useful critiques, and throws in the occasional bon mot.

Even though the show has its own page with embedded videos, it seems like the best place to watch it is on Youku. Make sure to always watch it on 高清 (although even on that setting, it's going to be a bit blurry).

http://www.youku.com/show_page/id_zcbe14b94647111e1b318.html

[tooironic]

Isn't 综艺节目 more like a variety show? My understanding was that reality TV was 真人秀.

[feihong]

Yeah, 综艺 literally translates as "variety", but in practice all reality shows are lumped into this category, including talk shows, game shows, singing competitions, travel shows, etc. It seems like anything that doesn't have professional actors in it is considered 综艺.

[skylee]

I agree with #3.

[WestTexas]

Are there any proper reality shows in China? Like Flavor of Love, The Ultimate Fighter, The Bachelor etc. where the people all live in a big house and argue all the time (or actually fight, as in The Ultimate Fighter)?

[大肚男]

does 非成勿扰 count? it's the only show that I could keep on watching.

Might give 舞林大会 a chance.

[feihong]

@WestTexas:

I haven't heard of any shows like that.

@大肚男:

Yes, 非成勿扰 is in the 综艺 section of various sites. If you like 相亲 shows like that, you might want to give 百里挑一 a shot. It's an unholy mix of talent show and dating show that somehow mostly works.

[xiaocai]

Are there any proper reality shows in China

Very unlikely. Even the word "reality show" may be censored by 广电总局.

[frankwall]

I'm not a fan of reality TV but I think it could work quite well in China,given the large and diverse population. I have lived in smaller countries like Ireland and the Netherlands it was terrible, the same boring people all the time

[feihong]

一站到底 (Who's Still Standing)

This trivia game show debuted in early March of this year. The basic setup is that there is one challenger who stands in the middle, and she is surrounded by ten defenders. The goal of the challenger is to defeat all the defenders so that she can win all the prizes (each defender is "defending" a given prize). The goal of the defender is to defeat the challenger and take her place. Before each round the challenger is allowed to choose one defender and engage in a trivia duel with them, in which each player takes turns answering trivia questions of increasing obscurity. Whoever loses the duel falls through the floor.

Honestly, this show doesn't get many points for originality. But it does rate pretty high on style, and has a few quirks that help make it one of my favorite Chinese shows ever. First of all, the two hosts, 李好 and 郭晓敏, are a married couple, and I actually enjoy the banter between them. Second, unlike some game shows where everyone is polite to each other, the contestants are encouraged to trash talk, and some of it is quite funny. Third, the show likes to do a bit of stunt casting, throwing in some internet celebrities every once in a while. My favorite two episodes thus far are the ones where all the contestants had appeared on 非诚勿扰 (the beloved 刘婷婷 and the quick-talking 吴瑜 both make an appearance).

The difficulty of the language in this show generally isn't too high, since so much of the dialogue is just banter -- each contestant spends a bit of time introducing him- or herself, and of course they allot plenty of time for trash talking. The questions themselves are ridiculously hard if you haven't spent much time in China. There's an awful lot of pop culture, historical, and geography questions, and I'm absolutely terrible at them (in Chinese). This is a great show to exercise not just your listening comprehension skills, but also the speed of your comprehension, because each question must be answered within 20 seconds.

[Yelrihs36]

What about

快乐大本营 (Happy Camp)? Does it count as a

综艺节目?

[feihong]

Do you mean 本山快乐营? Yes, that show is always in the 综艺 category on video sites. I think it's a sketch show, right?

[xiaocai]

快乐大本营 is not 本山快乐营.

[Alta]

#12 Yelrihs36 of course 快乐大本营 is a 综艺节目. In fact, it's one of the most popular variety shows