Japanese Game Shows

American readers may have seen these new game shows, where they attempt to emulate the internet's confusing obsession with Japanese game shows. I give them both about one season tops, for two reasons. First, people wouldn't like Japanese game shows if they had to sit down and watch them on television. They like being able to mail around YouTube clips that are about two minutes long. Things people can laugh at on their lunch breaks before going back to the soul-numbing grind that is their daily lives. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, American TV utterly destroys everything it gets its hands on. With the possible exception of The Office, I can't think of a single successful American television adaptation. Now, The Office works because the actors carry the dialogue all the way through. It's a balance of superb acting and superb writing. But for the most part, game shows require neither of these two things; all you need are entertaining challenges. And yet somehow, I can't bear to watch American game shows at all (It's probably their propensity to choose such unlikeable characters as Joe Rogan and Ryan Seacrest as hosts). Personally, I think American TV is dead. Sure, there's the occasional spark of intelligence, but I think those are the equivalents of the hair and nails growing after you've shuffled off your mortal coil (By the way, look at this. It's all the TV shows adapted from British TV, including Sanford and Son. Really).

Oh well. We still have YouTube, right?