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Zhao Chuan and his guests at the show of Who is
Speaking.
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Some faint, some get angry and some are ready to fight, all in
front of television cameras. They're not actors but common everyday
people who willingly share their personal stories - good or bad -
for the sake of melodramatic talk shows that are becoming more
popular every day.
Usually, the host of these shows will sit and talk with the
guests, who share their dramatic experiences, mostly tribulations,
uncanny experiences, or skirmishes with family members and lovers.
Sometimes the two parties in conflict are invited to talk with each
other before an audience.
The dramatic events, and the debates - sometimes a quarrel or
fight among guests - also spill over to include the audience.
During one show, a guest fainted when her rebellious daughter left
the studio suddenly. A woman in another show tried to cut her vein
while another fought with her husband's father using dirty
words.
These dramatic programs enjoy high ratings which have led to a
boom of similar shows, such as Jiangsu TV's Harmonious
World (Renjian) and Beijing TV's Who is
Speaking (Shui Zai Shuo). Among them, Harmonious
World quickly topped the ratings among similar shows two weeks
after its March premiere.
According to Wu Jing, a Peking University associate professor of
media studies, such melodramatic shows are not part of a new trend
but have enjoyed popularity in Western countries for decades. But
the difference is that in the United States and other countries,
the shows are usually televised during the daytime and are aimed at
housewives and elderly people who have time to kill at home. In
China, the shows are often aired during prime time or early
evening, as Chinese families tend to watch TV together after a
day's work.
These shows' popularity, says Fang Yanming, dean of Nanjing
University's Journalism and Communications School, can be
attributed to the fact that Chinese society is experiencing a great
transformation with new social problems emerging.
"People want to express their confusion over these problems,
while at the same time they like to peep at others' problems and
how they deal with them," he says.
Wu agrees with Fang in the sense that audiences are curious
about others' lives, but she does not think that the changing
society has a great impact. "Chinese society's transformation
actually started as early as the 1980s, and continues today," she
says. "But TV as a medium then was not that market-oriented, so
audience rating was not that important, either. Media's
achievements then were measured by something such as authority or
the government's praise."
But now, Wu says, winning viewers' attention is the top goal of
most TV shows and it seems clear that such dramatic shows are
enjoying great attention.
"The problems were always there, the difference is that now the
TV media is ready and bold enough to present them," she says.
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Zhao Chuan is the host and producer of Who is speaking, a popular
TV talk show by Beijing TV. Photos courtesy of Beijing
TV
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In addition, she attributes the popularity of melodramatic shows to
the traditional preference among Chinese people for pop culture.
This is evident in the prevalence of TV series about family life
and criminal cases, and the long-thriving magazine of pulp stories
such as
Story Club (
Gushi Hui) and
Legends (
Jingu Chuanqi).
"People like to read pulp fiction," Wu says. "So when the shows
claim that their stories are all real events, the audience will be
more attracted because compared to fictional characters, real
people have wider resonance."
However, many people doubt the authenticity of some of these
stories.
Zhao Danjun, producer of Harmonious World, claims that
the show's materials are supplied by audience members. But she did
not say how they confirm whether the stories are true. Zhao Chuan,
host and producer of Who is Speaking, says they have the
following steps to ensure the stories' authenticity.
The directors have a pre-interview when they get some clues
about stories to know more about the guests, who are also required
to offer a copy of their identity card and signature. They will
also interview their friends, family and colleagues. The directors
will discuss whether there is something contradictory or
unreasonable in the pre-interview record before inviting them to
the studio.
Xin Xin, a TV director who has been in the industry for 10
years, did not deny that some shows provide a financial reward to
obtain stories. Also, she says TV tends to exaggerate to attract
more viewers.
"For example, when the guests talk about the most dramatic part
of their stories, we will play a mock representation of the scene
we shot in advance, or keep asking them about the point to reveal
as many details as possible," she says.
Zhao Chuan denied his show would do that. He insists that
Who is Speaking is meant to provide a voice to common
people. He says that more than half of the show's content is about
social issues, while only less than 20 percent are about love
stories.
Zhao says he knows that complicated love stories make for the
most attention-grabbing material, but he prefers to stay away from
them.
"The standard we use to choose materials is not whether it is
uncanny or dramatic, but its possibility of raising many opinions,"
he says. "We aim to provide a variety of opinions by stimulating
effective discussions and debates among the audience. If the guests
are deliberately performing, exaggerating, or lose control of their
emotions, we will not air the program even if it is very
exciting."
Wu has mixed opinions.
"I hope the shows can help people better understand and reflect
on their state of living," she says, "rather than simply using the
audience's anxiety, curiosity and privacy to make money."
(China Daily October 24, 2007)