Latest news with #Documental
Tokyo Weekender
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Tokyo Weekender
How Japanese Reality TV Went Global
Japanese reality TV is an art form which rejects all boundaries. Whether it's taking bites out of household objects to establish if they are ' candy or not candy ,' testing if your partner can identify you from your rear-end alone or being mummified while answering trivia questions, there are few ideas too wacky for Japanese TV executives. The style is so instantly recognizable that ABC once created an American series titled I Survived A Japanese Game Show , which was built entirely on the premise that nothing quite compares to Japanese game shows. Yet, despite often being dismissed as absurd light entertainment, Japanese reality TV has a global reach and influence. List of Contents: Documental: the latest international success story Takeshi's Castle: The OG of Japanese TV A Viral Future Awaits Documental: The Latest International Success Story In March 2025, Amazon Prime Video launched a new UK comedy show, The Last One Laughing , in which 10 of Britain's top comedians were locked in a room for six hours and the last one to laugh won a cash prize. It was a hit, earning rave reviews and quickly became one of Amazon Prime Video's top shows of the year. However, the format was originally born in Japan. Hitoshi Matsumoto , who announced he was taking a break from the entertainment industry last year after being accused of sexual assault, pitched the last one laughing concept directly to the company over dinner with the head of content at Amazon Studios for Japan in early 2016. The Japanese show, hosted by Matsumoto, first aired on November 30, 2016, under the title Hitoshi Matsumoto presents: Documental. The simplicity of the format made production incredibly efficient. The entire six-episode season could be filmed in a single day, unlike many other reality shows. Also, the format was perfect for going viral. Every minute of the hysterical interactions between the straight-faced comedians could be clipped and packaged onto social media. After its roaring success in Japan, Amazon decided to spread the idea globally. Today, Documental has been reimagined in 28 different countries, with the UK version being just the latest. In France, the third season of the show broke Amazon Prime Video's record for the biggest day-one launch, and in Italy, it remains Prime's most-watched Italian show. Speaking to The New York Times , Prime executive James Farrell credited the success of the show to its cultural adaptability. The Japanese original often featured comedians stripping off naked to make others laugh, but the latest British version featured national treasure Bob Mortimer singing, 'Raspberry jam is nice, but it's full of f***ing pips'. Documental, however, is not the first Japanese TV show to inspire international spin-offs. The blueprint for global game show domination came from the cult classic Takeshi's Castle . Takeshi's Castle: The OG of Japanese TV Takeshi's Castle was a cult classic game show devised by Takeshi Kitano, which aired between 1986 and 1990. Inspired by the release of Super Mario Bros. in 1985, Takeshi pitched the game show to Tokyo Broadcast System. Takeshi played a count, while contestants had to overcome physical hurdles to reach his castle. It combined Japanese wackiness with very high production value. Challenges ranged from remaining standing as a human bowling pin to dressing as an old man and staying as still as possible while lying on foam blocks in an earthquake simulator . The show quickly took off internationally and was remade in countries throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including in the US, the UK, the Philippines and India. The recent Japanese revival of the show in 2023 brought another wave of international imitations, with a new Indian and British series announced soon after. Beyond the remakes, Takeshi's Castle inspired a generation of obstacle course game shows like Total Wipeout and the Ninja Warrior franchise. The legacy, though, is felt beyond game shows. The Netflix hit series Squid Game , for instance, was also influenced by Takeshi's Castle . A Viral Future Awaits A major problem faced by broadcasters in the social media age is language limitations. This point was highlighted by the most subscribed YouTuber, Mr Beast, in a recent interview with Mark Zuckerberg. Japanese game show footage, however, is experiencing a renaissance in the social media era. TikTok and Instagram Reels are awash with random clips of these programs because of the international appeal of slapstick. Watching a man trying to carry a tray of hot tea across a slanted, slippery floor, now that is comedy. It is also universally appreciated. The other major strength of Japanese game shows is that the format often prioritizes having many short segments rather than one overarching concept. This means a Japanese game show contains multiple ideas for studios around the world to copy, only increasing its influence. The format is also optimized for creating viral moments, unlike other types of reality TV that require a deeper understanding of the contestants and dynamics. While clips of eccentric Japanese TV often elicit reactions of disbelief, its true influence is far-reaching and only likely to grow in significance.
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Silence is Golden review – Katherine Ryan would definitely kill your dog for cash
Well, here's a tricksy little proposition! What happens when you give a television studio audience a prize pot of £250,000 to share equally among themselves, then tell them that all they've got to do to get it is remain silent (any words, gasps, laughs, exclamations will lose them £5,000 or £10,000, depending on the size of the transgression) while the show throws various acts at them precisely designed to elicit such responses? You get Silence is Golden, that's what – an unexpectedly entertaining, unexpectedly nerve-jangling foray into the repression of all natural instincts in the face of relentless temptation. Presenter duties are in the safe hands of Dermot O'Leary, who both introduces the guests (the main ones in the episode available for review are comedians Katherine Ryan, Seann Walsh and Fatiha El-Ghorri) and tries to trick the audience – who are individually miked and being monitored on cameras – into making the usual whoops and cheers that typically accompany such a show. Is it a rip off of Prime Video's hit Last One Laughing (comedians trying to make each other laugh in front of Jimmy Carr), the UK's adaptation of Documental, the Japanese hit created by Hitoshi Matsumoto? Or is it a wholly coincidental invention arising from our universal understanding that an injunction against laughing in church is the fastest way to ensure we do just that? We may never know. Australian comic, singer and drag artist Reuben Kaye is the first challenge to the audience's quarter-of-a-million-pound crown, and his act is near the knuckle enough on several occasions (he says 'My erection is audible' as he stands in front of a handsome bloke who does very well to keep his counsel) to draw £30,000 worth of gasps and laughs). He also identifies the weak link – possibly the weakest link there's ever been in the history of gameshows – in the audience. That weak link is called Will. Will likes to laugh. Will, it becomes clearer and clearer, was born to laugh. If you concentrate on making him laugh, he will laugh. If you concentrate your attentions elsewhere, he will laugh. He costs the audience a fortune. They are – silently, but very powerfully – livid. Dermot wonders if they should start looking for a security escort to take him home. Will laughs. Will shouldn't. Fortunately, the group's focus is pulled from this threat to their finances by a new set of villains: those who shout out in response to Dermot's offers of cash and gifts to enrich themselves personally at the expense of the group's pot. Absolutely fiendish. Chief fiend is Lorenzo, who does it multiple times and looks unfazed by his decisions and the fact that if looks could kill, he would have been bleeding out in the aisle before he had finished the first 'Yes, please!' and pocketed the inaugural £200. I haven't seen the like since Nasty Nick made his move 25 years ago (yes, sorry) in the first series of Big Brother. It's quite thrilling in a way. A way that suggests I need to get out more, or that the next series of Traitors needs to hurry up and get here because I have appetites that need slaking. Ryan does some comedy, but her main turn is threatening a couple's dog. The couple remain silent, knowing there is no chance that a TV production will let anything happen to their pet. I mean no disrespect to the mighty Ryan here, but I have absolutely no doubt that if the cameras were not there, or if Ryan's own personal finances were involved, that dog would be in a sandwich the moment the first £5,000 was lost. The final segment identifies the strongest (Deborah) and the weakest (Will, obviously) performer in the audience and one is randomly selected to face the final challenge – but it's Will. The remaining prize money is frozen and he will win or lose it all for the group if he can just survive one minute of jokes-and-anything-else-that-might-work onslaught from previous acts. No spoilers, but Lorenzo – you'd better start sleeping with one eye open. I'm not a big fan of the bit where they bring on a naked old lady to try to winkle out laughs or exclamations of disgust as she makes her way into the audience, but other than that it's all good, clean, harmless fun. Probably. No, I'm sure Lorenzo will be fine. Silence is Golden is on U&Dave
