Just in case you missed it, the FOX network debuted Bonzai, the perfect show for men 18-24 with some post elementary education, median income of $5784.03 and a preference to a James Bond marathon (for the 231st time) on The Superstation vs. Back to the Oscars month on Turner Movie Classics.
Bonzai is one part game show, one part frat house, and one part Jackass (not the mammal, the ABC Afterschool TV special). It is supposed to parody real Japanese game shows where the local population subjects themselves to acts of horror and shame in order to win things like square watermelons or Super Happy Human Power Drink -- Passion Mango Lobster Flavor.
However, in FOX's latest offering people and animals are only subjected to tiny amounts of humiliation, and I don't recall any real contestants or winners. It's more like thirty minutes of Saturday Night Live skits on the topic of Japanese game shows featuring a crazy Kung Fu fighter as the special guest.
Viewers are encouraged to play along via their computer or cell phone. Create an account on the FOX website and your scores will be recorded and posted for all the world to admire.
The show is not without controversy (hello PETA and Asian community) but FOX and the general American population go together like oil and water most of the time. Still, Bonzai was far more entertaining than the latest episode of the Simpsons which is on it's 32nd season — but that's not saying much.
Why they canned Futurama is way beyond me.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Ahhhh the Bonzai. I was curious and watched. It was interesting, but hardly anything worth watching again. I like the way the show was "cheezed" out to the max, but it would have helped not having all Japanese hosts and then Joe Bob white dudes participating in the events. That just made it feel, well, like an American atttempt at Japanese game show humor, which is what it was. Maybe if I had been on the computer at the time I watched, it might have made it more worthwhile, but the "betting" novelty wore off quickly of shouting to the wife, "A!" "A!" "A!"...
Of course the red-pantied DEVIL WOMAN was a hoot.
Why did they cancel Futuranma? Simple.. FOX SUCKS ASS
Hi, just found your website and thought I'd add that Bonsai's been running in the UK for about 5 years. Have Fox remade it for the US or just imported the old stuff? Worth watching just to see what happened to Bert Kwok (Kato from the Pink Panther films) - its not pretty. Great site, was just looking around at implementations MT, cos I'm incompetent.
I caught it. About five minutes of it. Didn't really like it. And I fit the demographic perfectly. Twenty-three year old college male who prefers beer. It bordered too much on stupid and lame. But, there's a similar show on TNN (The MAN Network, or something...) that I saw a few weeks ago. It was hilarious! This is REAL Japanese game show clips, with English dubbing. Very, very funny dubbing. I forgot the name of it...
Oh yeah...and I miss Futurama. A lot.
You misspelled it, not that a show of it's calibur deserves proper spelling... but still. Banzai.
Blake, the show is called Most Extreme Elimination Challenge. Easily one of the funniest shows I've seen since Cartoon Network started airing Harvey Birdman and Sealab 2021
First of all, it's not Japanese programming. The host is not Japanese, the actors are not Japanese, the Asian characters floating around on screen are not Japanese characters. I guess it's supposed to be a parody, but it comes off amateurish and ill-informed. Most importantly, it's not funny.
In a paranoid conspiracy theory kinda way, it almost feels like an attempt at disinformation about the Japanese culture... by whom? (N. Korea, China, America?)
Anyway, Extreme Elimination, mentioned by Paul and Blake is much more authentic and truly funnier. The host is the famous and talented Beat Takeshi. (You might know him from the movies Brother and Johnny Mneumonic).
Actually, Most Extreme Elimination Challenge airs on the New TNN, so named "New" because they're in litigation with Spike Lee for their "SpikeTV" hopes and desires. MEEC is actually original Japanese extreme shows overdubbed with some really crass and sometimes witty "sports anouncers." That show is hillarious. I don't know about Bonzai, because I haven't seen it yet, but Most Extreme Elimination Challenge is definitely worth the watch, at least once or twice.
Oops, didn't realize Blake mentioned it already, my bad. And I screwed up my html to boot, and am using terms like "to boot," please God make it stop.
Okay, I think maybe this whole Banzai thing is getting out of hand? It's amaterish and ill-informed? That's the point. It was conceived as drinking game filler for Channel 4's sister digital network about two years ago. (At this rate, you'll be getting Bo Selecta in, say, about 2005.) I guess the obvious crassness of the stereotyping has gone over most people's heads.
I don't know about Extreme Elimination, but if it's anything like Takeshi's Castle, then that doesn't count because it's part of the genre that Banzai is sending up. Ever seen Endurance? Ever seen clips of the Japanese version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? even? They're not exactly subtle, hence the garishness-as-pisstake you get with Banzai. The Asian community in the States getting annoyed over Banzai reminds me of the Irish Catholic community getting all huffed up about Father Ted, even though it was written and made by Irish Catholics!!
But hey, whatever, that's cultural isolationism for you.
(And by the way, the New TNN has been called the New TNN for almost 2 years now, it has nothing to do with the Spike TV thing.)