I Survived I Survived A Japanese Game Show
Last night was the premiere of I Survived a Japanese Game Show, and while it's clear that Americans are definitely lacking in the pride and honor department, the 10 contestants chosen to compete are not at all lacking in the being excited to be in Japan department. With the exception of a couple complaints about rickshaw driver outfits, mochi balls, and beds being on the floor, everyone was enthusiastically taking in the experience of being abroad, and took the competition seriously, even when it meant dressing up as a bug and throwing yourself at a plastic windshield to make the green paint squib on your chest explode.
The premise of the show, if you have not heard about it, is that 10 Americans show up in LA to be on a reality show, only to get whisked away to Tokyo, where they will compete in a Japanese game show for $250,000. There are already a couple of obvious villains, or maybe just one. Cathy Nardone of LongStaten Island raised the ire of her teammates on Team Yellow Penguin by taking hours to get ready every morning. They just didn't understand what it's like to "look perfect". Oh Cathy. It's like you've never seen TV before, which is funny because I know that you watch a ton of TV. It's your second best friend after the guys who hit on you at TGIFridays. I also wouldn't mind if Olga MedvededMedvedev (who creepily just screams "SUSHI!" when they find out they're going to Tokyo, and who is also the worst) got some serious stomach poisoning from a bad piece of anago maki.
But there are clear cut fan favorites shaping up as well. Both Andrew Kelly-Hayes and Donnell Pitman are maybe a little over-competitive, but they are not afraid to look like clowns (because everyone looks like clowns), and they lack the genuine weirdness of Ben, and the aggressive stupidity of Justin (we get it, you're an idiot).
The games are as silly as expected, and the mama-san who has been sent to boss them around their reality house would be a super racist caricature if she wasn't a Japanse woman living in Japan, but she is, thereby turning herself into some kind of racist moebius strip of anti-racism. The fact that the show they're competing on, Majide, is supposedly a real show but is actually just a show within this show, set up for the 10 Trumans is a little weird, but whatever. It's been five years since Joe Millionaire, we should accustomed to these beautiful lies.
All in all it is a promising show, and way better than Wipeout, which is basically just American Gladiators without the Gladiators and with John Henson making jokes like "that lady is so fat, this obstacle course must be very difficult for her because of how fat she is." Be very careful with your career decisions, Joel McHale.
I think Romu Kandu and last night's eliminated contestant Darcy Sletager said it best:
Romu: Are you exciting?
Darcy: Yes, I am exciting.
Posted by Gabe at 12:58 PM in Reality TV
Tags: I Survived A Japanese Game Show | Wipeout
Loser. People like Olga actually get off their butt and DO something, rather then sit around and critique people doing something. Try proof reading your work sometime, it's "Medvedev" like the president, not "Medved".
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Whoa, Tom, you're right.
So the sentence should read: "I also wouldn't mind if Olga MEDVEDEV (who creepily just screams "SUSHI!" when they find out they're going to Tokyo, and who is also the worst) got some serious stomach poisoning from a bad piece of anago maki."
I fixed it. Thanks.
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Tom is going to cite videogum.com in his "How To Be The Saddest & Least Popular Commenter" thesis so you've gotta get it right, Gabe.
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Remember when Bobby Flay jumped on the cutting board after his battle with Iron Chef French, Sakai? That was totally dishonorable and embarrassing.
Following in that legacy, these people have a lot of work to do to make up for the damage.
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I'm not from Long Island, I'm from STATEN Island. I mean, Cathy's from Staten Island! And I'm not a big TV watcher either to be honest; I'm a big fan of reading, though, which is how I stumbled upon this intriguing blog! =)
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OMG I love this show!!
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yeah ok "cathy"...
can I be belinda?
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This show is offensive, inaccurate, racist, and cheap. Too bad.... it could have been a good idea if ABC didn’t go the racist bash Japan route.
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More information please.
I was totally prepared for this show to be a Xenophobic Jingoism fest, but I haven't found that to be the case. So while I'm not saying you're wrong, if anything you seem to feel that the show is everything I thought it was going to be, but you can't just say that the show is offensive, inaccurate, racist, and cheap without giving some examples.
Explain.
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One of my students in Japan walked out when we discussed the show in Japan. Thing is:
"Never would this air in Japan as they lead you to believe."
There ARE shows like this that openly make fun of foreigners, such as "Koko Ga Henna Nihonjin" ("Oh! Japanese People are Strange!" - Google it to decipher why that title is racist against non-Japanese people. Its a long story, perhaps). However, when I told my students "if you watch this, then you can then question your OWN media", this was still mixed with outright hostility by at least one (admittedly, weird) student of mine, a middle aged housewife.
Thing is, in Japan, Japanese culture, society, etc are often regarded as taboo subjects and rarely, if any, does the mainstream press or media ever offer criticism of the Japanese government, or culture etc. If it does exist, it is usually far removed from the outspokeness or investigative journalism styles that are in the west (and Im not saying that the west is best in that department either).
Merely offering this as a "have a look for yourselves" discussion point actually made some student/s upset, which, if I remember rightly, might also be due to the "victim mentality" of some Japanese, expecially as I think right now, the nationalists, conservatives etc are hawking on about "poor Japan" in WW2 on TV at the moment (although Im not 100% sure if they are right now. A student mentioned it briefly).
All too often Japanese revert to "poor us" and "non Japanese dont understand us", which isnt helped by the fact that Japanese schools don't promote and/or actively discourage debate about political or social issues. Thus, there is little or noone to discuss problems and so when something else, usually a "selfish" young Japanese with "crazy" ideas, or foreign media lambast something about Japan, it is suddenly "defense stations" by some, more conservative members when "under attack from the outside".
Im not saying the show was great. Mama san seems to be able to speak good English (listen to her intonation. Her Japanese voice seems forced). The host too is good at English and is hamming it up. The audience are obviously media students (where are the housewives and Japanese grannies saying "ehhhhhhhh?!!! that so frequent Japanese TV shows?) and the Japanese things even the losing team has to do are not really bad (in fact, HIS Travel offers similar things for foreigners to do on special tours of Japan).
Some of my students (the non-crazy kind) have commented "but we dont drink homemade green tea in the morning!",and I agreed.
However, some think its ok to depict foreigners as "silly" etc on Japanese TV and express amazement when foreigners like "natto" or can "use chopsticks" or even speak Japanese, and yet think nothing of this while saying "that TV show is bad and foreigners shouldn't be so ignorant about we Japanese".
I think the irony isnt lost here, is it?
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