I notice many people like watching Japanese Game Shows, I decided to dedicate a page for it. Here is a list of the shows that I watch on TV.

MXC (Spike TV, Saturday 3am). This is a dubbed version of Japan’s Takeshi Castle (that aired from 1986 – 1989). Spike TV has been airing re-runs of the shows since 2003. It featured the esteemed Captain Tenneal (Takeshi Kitano on Japanese version) as a count who owns a castle and sets up impossible challenges for players (or a volunteer army) to get to him. The highlight of the show is players being silly, falling down, getting dirty, and sometimes injured. The show begins with about 100 players and each obstacles will filter the number of players down. This show is very popular and aired in many countries.

Wipeout (ABC, Monday, 8pm EST). This is a Fear Factor-like show where 24 players compete to win $50,000. They have to go through a series of obstacles on each round, and a fraction of the players with best time will move on to the next round. There are 4 rounds in this game, and the final one is the Wipeout zone (only 4 players can compete on this round). This game show requires a great deal of physical strength. Since the first time I saw the trailer, I knew that this show is an adapted version of Takeshi Castle (MXC), but the show’s producers beg to differ; they say wipeout is 90% fear factor and 10% japanese game show. This conflict raises feud between Spike TV and ABC. For more detail of the feud and a video comparison, visit this page.

I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ABC, Monday, 9pm EST). This is a reality show where 10 Americans (they didn’t have any idea what they were going into) are taken to Japan to compete in a crazy japanese game show. The players are divided into 2 groups: Yellow Penguin and Green Monkey. Each week the groups have to compete each other in a wacky game. The winning team will receive a treat, whereas the losing team will have punishment (they have to work – sort of) and they have to choose 2 of their members to compete in elimination round. In the end, the last player standing will win $250,000. This season of I survived a Japanese Game Show just has just ended, Justin from Alabama is the winner. For weekly recap of the show, scroll down. Second season of this show starts on July 9, 2009

Hole in the Wall (FOX, Sunday 7pm EST, second season starts on January 18, 2009). This is an adaption of Japan’s Human Tetris, where players have to bend and shape themselves into whatever shape is in the moving wall. If they success, they can go through, but if they fail, they will be pushed back to a pool by the wall. According to TV Squad, the show’s producers have chosen Brooke Burns (Dog Eat Dog) and Mark Thompson (Are You Smarter than 5th Grader?) as hosts.

Below are the posts that I wrote about the shows (mainly JGS and wipeout). I recap and throw in some of my personal opinion about what’s going on that week.

Week 1 (6/24): The beginning

Week 2 (7/1): Olga got booted

Week 3 (7/8): Bye bye Darcy

Week 4 (7/15): Poor Mary

Week 5 (7/22): Cya Cathy

Week 6 (7/29): Yellow Penguin Lost

Week 7 (8/5): The Finale

I also wrote some other posts (with videos ) about the Japanese Game Shows: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3