=======
`Idol' Helps Established Stars Too
Wednesday April 19 7:46 AM ET

It turns unknowns into icons overnight but "American Idol" isn't just for aspiring singers.

With its unparalleled exposure the weekly audience is usually somewhere north of 30 million viewers "Idol" is now launching record sales of the established artists who appear as guests.

As such, it has become a hot destination for music stars. Stevie Wonder and Shakira have appeared on recent programs, and veteran rocker Rod Stewart was set to sing on Wednesday's episode.

"It's a great opportunity for artists to be on the show in front of tens of millions of people," said Fletcher Foster, senior vice president of marketing for Capitol Records. "There's not a venue like that for music acts except when you come to the Grammy Awards and CMAs. But here's one program a week when you can be in front of that many eyeballs."

And those eyeballs are connected to wallets.
=========


I just realized japanese tv have been like this for ages. Japanese get to see a lot of their favorite artists, singers, groups, bands on tv, with shows like Shounen Club, Heyx3, etc. and 'tv-specials', which are just like concerts, with millions of viewers.



========

dr3amsm1th: Utaban
I think Japanese Variety Shows are very adorable and innovative.
If you have watched them before, you need no explanation to why many Taiwanese shows are modelled after them. Most j-fans would, of course, have their steady supply of Domoto, Utaban and HEYx3 shows.

The Utaban series most probably hold the most meaning for them because it is a sit-down talkshow that reveals alot about the artistes they interview.

==========

Except American Idol creates worldwide superstars, not just stars amongts their own people, with a few offshoot clinger ons trying not to sell out.

Lag behind in what? They're just different.

Has anybody actually watched Japanese TV? It sucks.

who cares about american idol??
there are far more interesting and importent things to do in life
then watching ego maniaks chaseing their fat farting ego around the world.

thank u


united states of advertising as bill hicks said.


<img src="http://www.johansgraphics.com/orrozo/whoswho1.html" width="600" height="250" />

On the whole, Japanese television comprises of camp, painful dregs of pseudo-entertainment.

I remember hearing about some reality TV show in which they kidnap some japanese guy. Strip him naked and place him into a secluded apartment. The apartment is completely empty. No TV, no books, radio, tables, chairs, bed or even food. Then they video camera him trying to survive. He has to play these games on the phone in order to win money, food, furniture, books etc. He has to collect enough money to free himself from the apartment. He was trapped in the apartment for over a year with no contact, no friends no nothing. Talk about human rights.

This is what I heard from some other message board. If this is true then that means Japanese TV shows > American TV shows. American shows are too law suit happy. Even the slightest mis comment or act will get you sued. I also dislike the craploads of reality TV in the US. All they do is hire a bunch of b!tchy women who whine and get into fights. And dont even mention MTV. Ughhh.

Heck just about anything is better than most american television shows. I only watch the news, family guy, south park, history channel , discovery channel and tech TV.

Ainori



Source: blog.st-on.ne.jp

What is it? An extremely popular Japanese "reality" show (I say this in a loose sense since it's nothing like Survivor) that has seven young adults travelling around the world in a pink wagon (appropriately dubbed the "Love Wagon" ^^) in search of love. Once a person falls in love, he/she confesses her feelings by handing a plane ticket back to Japan to the other person. If the other person likes him/her as well, then they kiss and head back to Japan together. If that's not the case though, the confessee apologizes and heads back into the bus while the person who confessed has to go back to Japan by him/herself.

I'm hooked. I never knew a reality show could be so addicting. Sure, I watched the first season of Survivor like most people, but there were some episodes that put me to sleep because nothing happened. But Ainori is addicting in every sense of the word. They really know how to keep people interested. They cut the less interesting parts and save it for the ending credits where they show brief segments of what wasn't used.

Tk, Tk..what can I say about him? For the past few weeks he's been thinking Mie's in love with him, but the truth is, she's in love with Suuzan. He's one of those overly optomistic people who refuse to see the pessimistic possibilities. Last episode, Mie told him she liked someone else, but he took it in a completely different way. He thought Mie meant that she liked HIM! All those on Ainori have to write daily "journals", and whenever they write something interesting, those parts of the diary are used in the show. In Tk's journal that night, he wrote: "I finally understood Mie's feelings. I've never felt so happy." WHAT?! She didn't even say it confusingly.

And I'm surprised he would even think she likes him. When the group stops at destinations, they often split into partners, and whenever Mie could, she would ask Suuzan to come with her. Tk and Mie were only together when Tk invited her. Even if Suuzan weren't on the show, she wouldn't have fallen in love with him. Because whenever they DO talk, Tk's always talking about himself.

The love triangle between Aya (that name again! XD), Arashi, and Hide is heating up! I wasn't watching the show when Aya joined Ainori, but from what I've read of the past episodes (on the official site: Ainori Official Website, they have recaps of ALL 292 episodes!) I don't see how Hide came to be attracted to Aya. They only talked a few times around the beginning when Aya just joined. They shared some common interests (she knew Hide's favorite CD), but that's about it. It's weird to see Hide being the "odd one out" this time around, because up until Aya, there were love triangles involving him and two girls (well, not really a love triangle since the two girls were the ones that liked him, he didn't feel much about either of them.) He was really popular, and now...it's like, where did that popularity disappear to?!

Aya joined the show in the hopes of being able to learn to talk more easily to others. She's one of those "doesn't talk unless talken to" types, so it made sense that she started to like Arashi, because he has this out-going and carefree nature about him. Hide's trying his best, giving her advice on how to act more at ease, etc, but whenever they talk there's this dark aura around them. It's depressing! And even worse, Hide keeps on saying the same things, just with different wording. He probably means well but he comes across as more of an over-helpful teacher than a possible love-interest. I don't know if there's an English translation for this word but in Japanese what he's doing is "Arigatameiwaku". You know he means well, be he's being a bother.

And amidst all this chaos is Ume-chan! Apparently she hasn't had a boyfriend in all of the 21 years she's been on this earth. And so far, it looks like she'll have to wait even longer to get a boyfriend because there are NO sparks flying between her and any of the guys in Ainori. Arashi and Hide have their sights set on Aya, and Tk has his on Mie, while Suuzan, he's kind of off in the background somewhere. Suuzan COULD be a possibility, but as long as Mie has her eyes on him, Ume-chan most likely won't try anything since it's obvious to everyone except Tk and Suuzan himself of Mie's feelings.

Ume-chan's the most deserving to find love out of Ainori. Even though no one likes her romantically, she keeps her spirits up and tries to help the others to try to get them together. A few weeks back, she ended up being partnered with Hide, and she could tell he was down because it was bothering him thinking about what Arashi and Aya might be doing. So when the group gathered back together, she said to Suuzan and Arashi (Tk and Mie were still off somewhere) that they should race up this step structure about 20 metres away. She did it so Hide would have time alone with Aya. Now that's what a great friend is like!



====

This so interesting guz! LOL
I am studying Film and media and find this very interesting.
Meybe if I learn a third language I could go there and learn how the Japanese do it.

love scifi. japan dosent do much scifi.

Its a crime! we used to have Anime on the Sci -fi channel where I live but alas it no longer features. They've *Sbo-sob**....you maniacs!!!...howww dare yooou!!
I think I'm going to cry now *picture me crying my eyes out*

yea american tv is so behind japan's. theres no nudity in american tv shows. -_-

Yeah, I remember a long time ago they showed anime movies on the channel every Saturday morning at around 8 back in 1998 right?

Saturday Anime .
Sci-fi channel sucks now with all their original $hit. It was actually ok back in the days but now it's retarded.