Reality TV

[beni 2149]

Wanted to start this topic up mainly because of discovering this on Netflix:

 

The basis and rules are simple, unlike other similar reality shows like Big Brother where they have to do challenges and is encouraged to be outlandish, with celebrities, and other shows like Georgie Shore, where the supposed "no script" is an obvious lie. They're all strangers, and quite close in age, and sometimes interests. The only guideline is: “Three men and three women live under the same roof, recorded with no script, and only thing provided are fancy house and two cars.” In Terrence House, there's something sincere and genuine about the whole thing. Studio commentators, from the show presenters (such as Ehara Yukiko and Reina Triendl) to comedians and actors give out comments from the same clips we see at the same time, usually giving snarky or funny remarks, and predication/discussion on the individuals' traits and suggestions from what we have also only seen. I personally like how interesting it is to see how they socialize in an environment unlike what I've seen from Britain and America. Similar, but the whole culture is different, and it's surprisingly heartfelt. All we know of them when we first see them come in one by one, from male to female, are their name, age, and occupation:

From left to right-

 

Makoto Hasegawa - University student, baseball player

Yuriko Hayata - University medical student

Tatsuya Uchihara - Hair stylist

Mizuki Shida - Office (sports) worker

Yuki Adachi - Tap dancer

Minori Nakada - Model and student

 

 

 

This is such a worthwhile watch. I had to put down what I was already doing and just wanted background noise but ended up watching quite a few episodes (not nearly done with 18 to get through!).

 

Any thoughts? Anyone else seen this or something similar? Or does anyone else like the bigger ones? Use this thread to share and discuss anything reality TV!

[fitear1590 2414]

@beni, your thread convinced me to give Terrace House a try! This past week, I binge-watched all 18 episodes on Netflix. A very intriguing watch to say the least.

I totally get what you mean by the "sincerity" of the whole thing. It was refreshing to see the "strangers living together in a house" premise so prevalent in American reality TV re-imagined as something different. I was always engrossed in each episode, even if nothing really took place. My siblings, who were only half-watching in the background would always ask, "Well, did anything happen?" and after thinking about it, often nothing really happened, haha. What I really liked was the cinematography! It was beautifully shot and the long stationary takes added tension, so that you didn't need fabricated drama--still, it was almost a feat that no real drama took place. I think one time,

Uchi said he would "kick [Makocchan's] butt"

and that was about it. I also just enjoyed hearing conversational Japanese with subtitles. It makes me want to pick up on my Japanese studies again. One thing that set it apart from the American reality TV I've seen was the lack of intrusive interviews with cast members where they provide fake commentary on their own actions. The show presenters were an interesting alternative. Even if the two older men irritatingly dominated the conversation (that poor little boy didn't even speak every episode!) and some of the commentary was reaching for drama, I found the six commentators outside of Terrace House to be a preferable format. Plus, I've loved Reina Triendl ever since seeing her in Riaru Onigokko, so it was a nice surprise to see her here 

Now beyond praising production aspects of the series, I did find many of the characters to be annoying:

I truly did not like any of the three original men. Traditional masculinity pisses me off anyway, so some of their "boys' club" talks irked me. Plus, I didn't like the way going out seemed to be used as a way to call dibs on the women. Like Makocchan even said he lost all attraction for Minori after she went out with Uchi. I kind of felt like his ultimate "losing" of Minori to Uchi was what caused him to leave the house and not the post-baseball season soul-searching. Bye.

Yuki lost me early on with the way he treated Mizuki in his forced, overbearing "aspirations" talk. Way to ruin the light vibe of your own birthday party. After that, he was pretty low-key, but I secretly enjoyed how Yuriko rejected him. Super unexpected!  I thought Uchi was the least bad, but he's done some questionable things too and is just way too serious. Arman (Makocchan's replacement) seems the most likable of the bunch, but he seems unfortunately a bit bro-y, the more we see of him. It's interesting to see him represent the American perspective a bit (even his attire gives him away!) and it's cool to see more haafu in Japanese media!

All of the women, I felt at least neutral about. Yuriko was at times annoyingly polite, but I was still rooting for her. Mizuki was probably my favorite, so I'm sad to see that she left without making any real progress, whatever that would be on this show. The new girl Arisa seems nice and she has a unique job. We'll see where it goes from here. I'm looking forward to seeing how the two new cast members will influence the show's dynamic! When the hell can I binge watch the second half of the season?!

 

[greenops 1]

I've seen a couple of the episodes. Interesting premise and worth the watch. I might return to it and finish sometime soon.