Terrace House: No Script At All

“Konbanwa! Terrace house is a show about six strangers living together and we observe how they interact. All that we’ve prepared is a beautiful home and automobiles.

THERE IS NO SCRIPT AT ALL.”

These are the lines with which every episode of, the path breaking Japanese reality show, Terrace House starts. There are 6 panelists who are sitting in a room, and watching along with us the lives of 6 people (3 men and 3 women) unfold on the screen. 267 episodes and a feature length movie of the show have been broadcasted so far spanning over 5 seasons – 4 of them were shot in Japan while the 3rd one was shot in Hawaii. While the first season was broadcasted solely on Fuji TV, starting from the second season, it has streamed on Netflix for audiences worldwide.

Every episode covers a week in their lives and unlike Big Brother they are free to step out of the house, go on dates with each other to the prettiest places in Japan and carry on their regular work schedules. They are free to leave the house whenever they want and new members come in and take their places. There have been instances where the same member (Seina Shimabukoro) have returned to the show in the same season and even in a different season.

I work in the TV Industry, and it is my job to devise new formats for reality shows in India and that might be the reason why this show intrigues me even more. The Introduction says that they have no script at all and yet there are certain format elements that are consistent throughout the series. In the end it is repetition that keeps the audience hooked and the fact that they have certain expectations from the show that they know will be fulfilled. It also makes for really exciting content when once in a while these format elements are broken – for example, when in season 2, the panel watched the episode in the original Terrace House instead of their usual room in the studio.

I, myself, have seen all the episodes of the show and there is so much I have to say about it, but in this article I will limit myself to talking about these format elements that make the show what it is!

• The Studio Panel: The Studio panel has been consistent thorughout the series. In the very first season, we only started with You and after 13 episodes Reina joined in. It was only after about 25 episodes that we saw the complete panel of 6 which we have fallen in love with. My personal favourites are You and Tokui, who do not shy away from saying the darnedest things about the members, not to mention the hilarious double entendres! Tokui, unfortunately got into a tax evasion scandal and has been missing from the panel in the latest 10 episodes. There are often guest panelists coming in who are mostly celebrities or athletes who are a fan of the show.
• Introduction to new Members: Every time a new member is supposed to come in, we see them revealing the news to their friends and family. We never see their faces, we only see a part of their face or maybe a shot from the back. This is to establish a little background and context to every new entrant. This element does not come in to play with the original 6 members though.
• The House Layout: Ever since Season 1, the house layout has been more or less the same. There is a Girls’ Room and a Boys’ Room. There is a dining table with the iconic table which becomes the centrepiece of the show, with most of the conversations taking place there. There is a lounge area which is mostly situated next to the dining table. In some seasons they have also provided with a swimming pool and a terrace. The Karuizawa season had a beautiful garden and foyer area since the climate was colder there. There is also a playroom where they have a TV where the members can sit together and watch the show week on week. It is as meta as can be! In Season 2, the house opened up a special Japanese styled room for one of the couples that had formed on the show.

There are these elements and several others which keep the audience hooked. While these are the ones that are out there, there are subtler ones that you might not even notice but they make the show what it really is.

 

Everyone’s a host?

I binge watched 6 episodes of Black Mirror just a few weeks ago and I wasn’t ready for Westworld at all! This, everyone, is the golden age of Sci-Fi, I believe. We are a selfie-taking, thumbs-stuck-to-keypad, eyes-stuck-to-the-screen generation of people. Even when we are having the best time of our lives without technology, we are constantly thinking of updating it on our social media. Are we at the verge of an apocalypse? That’s what these shows seem to say in any case and  they seem so close to reality that it’s unnerving.

Black Mirror with its first episode “Nosedive” talks about how people are judged by the “likes” and the ratings they have online! The ending will make you question every social media presence you have and the reason for it.

I will not delve into the further episodes but if there is something you should watch right now it’s this one show!

Coming to Westworld,I just binge watched through the seven episodes that have already aired and I don’t know how many are yet to come but I AM HOOKED! And also, welcome Anthony Hopkins! YAY! Jurassic Park was nothing in comparison to what this nightmare by Crichton holds in store for you. Thrilling, enchanting and to say the least, engaging. I have been going through every Post Episode Discussion Thread on Reddit after every episode and literally gaping at the theories that people have. It will make you question what is real and what isn’t? This is one show that I am really really looking forward to following through till the end. I just hope it doesn’t end up being like LOST.

 

Nostalgia Trip: Nickelodeon

I don’t know how many of you remember the time when NICKELODEON used to have the best shows for kids.

There was Legends of the Hidden Temple, Global Guts, Rugrats, Monsters Aaaah! Real Monsters, Hey Arnold, Rocko’s Modern Life, Kenan and Kel, CatDog,The Amanda Show, Blue’s Clues, Chalk Zone… and the list just goes on and on.

I was taken back to the time when I begged my Mom to cook me a bowl of maggi and plop down in front of the TV when my favourite shows were going to come on. These are some of my favourite memories from when I was seven years old. What happened was that during that time, my cable operator gave access to Nick for a week. I was hooked! And then he suddenly disconnected it. My grief at that point is just indescribable and then thankfully we shifted to Bangalore where I could access it all the time and that too in English!

There was so much that was new to me in those shows. It was a whole new cultural experience and definitely my first exposure to western culture.

I loved the coins that OldMac used to give out in Legends and I still play the Steps of Knowledge, then there was Rugrats, oh I hated Angellica soooo much! There was Arnold, the cutest boy ever, and Helga, a character framed so well, a reminder of a phase that every teenager goes through, the conundrum of love and hate. The crazy fights between cat and dog, what a concept, I wanted to be on Global Guts and climb that mountain and press all those buzzers!

When I was watching all these shows online yesterday I was reminded of how much I loved them and like Kel said “Awwh Here it goes again!”

A collage of 90s Nickelodeon Shows

Thangka & House of Cards

I absolutely love this show and the characters. I think the relation between Frank and Claire is one of my all-time favourite on screen relationship! Season 3 ended just a few days back and like always there were some scenes that stuck! As a part of a research paper I was working on I was looking at forms of art that have made it into popular culture and one of them is Thangka. It’s a Tibetan Buddhist painting depicted a deity or mandala on cloth. The first time I encountered this artform was on my visit to McLeodganj in the Himachal region of India which houses hundreds of Tibetan refugees. Also, the previous resident of my hostel room left her remnants in the form of a Thangka poster pasted on my almirah (which also became the inspiration for this post in one of my several bouts of day-dreaming). So anyway, coming back to the point, check out this scene from House of Cards when the monks come to The White House as a part of a diplomatic visit:

Frank (on the note to Claire with a photo of the Mandala): My Love, nothing lasts forever, except us. ❤

This is probably one of those scenes that have left a deep impact on me. The sand mandala was created with such focus and minute attention to detail just like Frank and Claire build their lives for themselves by taking one step at a time, carefully. The masterpiece of the monks could be symbolic of the masterpiece that Frank now has i.e. being the President of United States with Claire as the first Lady. At the same time we also see how fragile that position is. We see that Frank wants to create a legacy through AmWorks but he doesn’t realise that in the end, when he dies, it won’t even matter. In the end, the monks just dust it all away. The act of building the masterpiece was a source of pleasure to them and once it was completed they had no qualms in just doing away with it. Maybe that’s a lesson that Frank and Claire should also learn. Or maybe it’s the sign of impending doom. Nevertheless whatever may be the reason, the picture that Frank sends to Claire in the end is a signifier of how badly he wants to preserve what he has.

True Detective

Season 2 of this amazing show has started and despite the fact that we don’t have Matthew McConaughey any more, the show is as intriguing and exciting as before.

What I like:

• We have Rachel McAdams in a role that I have never seen her in before.
• Amazing dialogue delivery as before.
• The conversation that take place in the car. Just the characters have been replaced.
• A soundtrack which will definitely make it to your everyday playlist.
• Who does their beginning credits, because they are beautiful!
• Taylor Kitsch is kind of hot! (Loved the scene where he was determined to drive to death, such complex characters, kudos to Pizzolatto)

What I miss:

• Matthew McConaughey.
• Matthew McConaughey with a six pack miller on his side and the way he smoked Camels.
• Is it just me or has the plot become harder to follow?

Only three episodes are out by now and I will keep adding to this list, I guess.

Also, favourite song from the show by far:

This is my least favourite life by Lera Lynn. Here’s an equally amazing cover.

“My Least Favorite Life”

This is my least favorite life
The one where you fly and I don’t
A kiss holds a million deceits
And a lifetime goes up in smoke
This is my least favorite you
Who floats far above earth and stone
The nights that I twist on the rack
Is the time that I feel most at homeWe’re wandering in the shade
And the rustle of fallen leaves
A bird on the edge of a blade
Lost now forever, my love, in a sweet memory

The station pulls away from the train
The blue pulls away from the sky
The whisper of two broken wings
May be they’re yours, maybe they’re mine
This is my least favorite life
The one where I am out of my mind
The one where you are just out of reach
The one where I stay and you fly

I’m wandering in the shade
And the rustle of fallen leaves
A bird on the edge of the blade
Lost now forever, my love, in a sweet memory

Season 2 Tagline.