Channel V doesn't look much like a music channel these days. Spawned by MTV, its Oedipal relationship with the king of music videos has naturally been a difficult one. It appears to have been resolved in Taiwan by doing something different. It's market is the same, teenagers, but instead of established artists strutting their stuff in endlessly looped photo shoots, Channel V has rediscovered the variety show.
The debonair Blackie (黑人) hosts Blackie's Teenage Club (我愛黑澀會) and manages to be a sexy kind of headmaster to a group of teenage girls without coming off as a pervert. The girls meet celebrities, show off their talents and occasionally release a record or appear at concerts. The kicker is the girls get their big chance to appear on the show but can also be voted off, so it's like an evolving popularity contest. This format has proved so popular, especially among lads in search of fresh eye candy, that Blackie's rumored love interest Fan Wei-chi (范瑋琪) was tapped last year to produce a show for salivating laddettes as well.
Muofan Bang Bang Tang (模范棒棒堂) is a play on words, combining the characters for model, the show's presenter, good and candy on a stick. It features pretty boys with sharp haircuts who perform skits or short song-and-dance routines. They wear pink and purple, Burberry-type tank tops, or shirts and ties. A recent program had S.H.E appearing on the show. Ella did her tomboy act and the Lollipop gang did their cute impressions, down to the hao ke-ai-you inflections previously reserved for girls.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
At the fruit tea sponsored Channel V concert a few weeks ago called Le Party (after Le Tea company that sponsored it) Bang Bang Tang was arguably the hit of the night, despite the presence of established stars such as Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) and Wang Lee-hom (黃立行). After an execrable performance from Blackie's Teenage Club Beauties (黑澀會美眉), which included the immortal line "Smile, smile, shiny kiss, waiting for your answer" - even bad Elvis impersonators would have looked good. The Bang Bang Tang boys, however, were energetic, rapped, carried a tune ... and that's enough talent to make anyone happy these days.
For the past few weekends on Channel V we have had repeats of Le Party and endless reruns of Blackie's show. On Saturday and Sunday there were seven chances each day to see the same program. This must be a record. Fourteen opportunities over 48 hours to see identical hour-long programs. It's the same, cheap story of product overload for Bang Bang Tang. The Colorful Lollipop EP comes with a DVD and "footage of the boys' 44 autograph sessions and 99 days of recording and promotion, and self-recorded behind-the-scenes footage." The two Channel V groups are marketing fruit teas (for Le Tea) and Artificial Life is releasing mobile games centered on the two shows. Their dedicated Web site www.woo.com.tw is said to be generating an average of 28 million page views per month.
Like it or not this is the future: democratic entertainment. Marketing is everything and a celebrity-obsessed culture will provide new faces that appear endlessly on our screens until we're so sick of them they're voted off. We get what we deserve.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
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