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August 29, 2015

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Celebrities shed facades in reality show TV mania

CHINA’S television is flush with celebrity reality TV shows in which famous people step away from their on-camera facades and step into situations that may reveal their true personalities, feelings and even weaknesses.

It’s a far cry from the carefully managed images Chinese stars have been so fond of cultivating. And Chinese audiences love it.

“This is different from usual Chinese entertainment TV that portrays celebrities enveloped in glamour,” said Helen Song, a clerical worker in her 30s. “These shows manage to shorten the distance between stars and ordinary TV viewers.”

Song admitted she is a loyal fan of “Go Fighting!” an outdoor reality series on Dragon TV. The show, to her way of thinking, is experimental and funny. The stars in it come across as ordinary people, shedding their icon status.

In the show, Chinese mainland stars like Huang Bo, Sun Honglei, Huang Lei and Taiwan’s Show Lo have to depend on their own intelligence and stamina to undertake a variety of grassroots professions, such as mailman, taxi driver, kindergarten teacher and chef. They get no help from the usual entourage of assistants and managers.

Sun, who usually depicts the tough guy in movies and TV, comes across in the program as soft and engagingly funny. Huang, a stern-looking actor and teacher at the Beijing Film Academy, displays mischief, intelligence and cunning.

In another Dragon TV show called “Yes! Coach,” Chinese celebrities face off in a series of sports challenges. Famous athletes like Olympic champions Lin Dan (badminton) and Sun Yang (swimming) have to compete in other sports, including badminton, swimming, football and basketball.

In mid-October, Chinese audiences will be presented with “Survivor Games,” a reality series about outdoor adventures and wilderness survival.

The show, a collaboration between Shanghai Media Group’s Yunji Media and Discovery Networks International, is inspired by “Celebrities vs the Wild” and features eight Chinese stars who embark on days of adventure in the remote areas in China.

Producers of the show told Shanghai Daily that they will not only invite celebrities in sports and entertainment to participate, but also well-known entrepreneurs from the business world.

Liu Xiang, a 110-meter hurdles champion at the Athens Olympics and former world-record holder, is on the list of participants invited by Bear Grylls, a British adventurer who will host the program.

Compared with entertainment reality shows, the series is expected to explore the limits of man against nature and the rigors of teamwork in difficult situations.

Celebrity reality shows now dominating weekend prime time television are top-rated programs in China. Each program tries to position itself to appeal to people spanning different ages, incomes and cultural backgrounds.

Hunan Satellite TV, a major competitor to Dragon TV, is a forerunner in this genre. Currently it is airing its third season of “Dad, Where Are We Going?” and “Up Idol.”

Since its debut in 2013, “Dad, Where Are We Going?” has developed a huge fan base. It is patterned on a successful South Korean format, and spin-off movies have been box-office hits.

“The show is successful because it has positioned itself smartly to draw a large audience,” said Cathy Lu, a local advertising manager. “It not only satisfies the public’s insatiable curiosity about celebrities and their families but also creates a strong feeling of participation among viewers who are trying to develop good parenting skills of their own.”

In the program, five busy celebrity fathers take their kids for a two-night trip to the Chinese countryside, where they have to make do without all the luxuries of home.

Mainland actor Lin Yongjian, who used to spend very little time with his son, was obviously at a loss about basic household chores and how to deal with his child. Like many tough fathers in China, he was shown to be impatient with his son’s mistakes.

“When Lin scolded his son, he didn’t clearly tell him clearly what he had done wrong,” Lu said. “It is a common problem for many Chinese fathers, who don’t know how to handle father-child relationships.”

Despite the fact that they don’t always come off all that well, many film and TV celebrities seem eager to participate in these reality shows.

Insiders said that some A-listers may get paid millions of yuan to appear on a show. The workload is generally lighter than starring in scripted drama. Since such shows usually run weekly for three months, they guarantee the stars lengthy media exposure, which can help their careers and their endorsement fees.

At the same time, producers of such shows stand to make huge profits from advertising sponsorship, product marketing and copyright sales.

The advertising revenue for the third season of “Dad, Where Are We Going?” is expected to surge to more than 1 billion yuan (US$156.25 million).

Most of these celebrity reality shows are inspired by similar shows coming from South Korea or Europe.

Professor Gu Xiaoming, a TV and film expert from Fudan University, attributes the popularity of such shows to public voyeurism into the private lives of stars.

“Some shows assign difficult missions to the stars and force them to show us their mettle,” Gu said. “It makes the stars no longer superior to grassroots people.”

However, in Gu’s opinion, reality shows that “torture” or simply mock celebrities won’t stay popular for long.

“In the long run, the fever of the reality TV genre will remain in China,” Gu added. “But what we need are touching, inspiring and true human stories rather than scripted parodies.”

TV producers are also trying to develop more original homegrown series instead of copying foreign formats.

According to veteran producer Gan Chao, president of Yunji Media, Chinese reality series need to place a high premium on the depth of real-life subjects and issues in China.

“No matter whether such a series involves celebrities or just ordinary people, the genre should never lose its distinctive value of truth,” said Gan. “It should be always about the world we live in, and the humanity and true emotional needs of Chinese people.”




 

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