This year’s talk show belongs to women.
In the past two weeks, the most popular segment of the talk show came from the story of the "second sister" told by contestant echo in "Talk Show and Her Friends". This joke received the lowest number of votes from the live audience when it was recorded offline, but it was forwarded 20,000 times on Weibo and made two hot searches.
echo is not the only female contestant to make an appearance this year. From Cai Cai’s ridicule about menstrual shame, to Xiao Lu’s “The wedding is my only project”, to Yang Li’s statement that this is the last time she will participate in an online talk show competition variety show, this year Both talk shows have a higher proportion of female contestants than in any previous season.
Compared with the increasing voice of women on talk shows, it is the weakening of women’s voices in reality shows, especially the category of all-female variety shows.
Whether it is "Chengfeng 2024" and "Flowers Bloom" launched at the beginning of this year, or "Women's Mystery Club" in 2023, "all-female variety shows" have always appeared in our field of vision, but they have almost never gained too much Attention, it did not meet the expectations of effective broadcast.
Where does the dilemma of "all-female variety shows" arise? Why do male-dominated or non-gendered variety shows still dominate the market? And why can talk shows find a balance between women and variety shows? Perhaps we should find the answer from the audience's perspective.
"All-female variety shows" are too heavy, and the audience is tired of watching them
"In fact, the current narrative discourse of all-female variety shows is contrary to the expectations of most Chinese audiences for reality shows." Variety show director Chang Lu told Entertainment Capital.
Let’s first look at the basic base of variety show audiences. According to the "2022 Variety Show Webcast Performance and User Analysis Report" released by Yunhe Data, the average age of viewers of exclusive variety shows on each platform is between 27.3 and 27.6 years old, among which female users account for between 59% and 69%.
People entering the workplace and women form the basic audience of variety shows. For this group of people, their demand for entertainment content has long since shifted from obtaining information to relieving stress and anxiety in their lives.
Hong Jia, 27, is one of the loyal variety show audiences. She is keen to watch the latest programs on various platforms after work. "The biggest purpose is to entertain and relieve stress." She prefers to watch variety shows with a relaxed atmosphere, " It’s tiring enough to go to work, and I don’t want to keep thinking and being indoctrinated with some ideas in my free time.”
People who have the same purpose as Hong Jia to open variety shows are the mainstream group. According to the “2020 Tencent Entertainment White Paper”, the Internet in 2020. The overlap between the top 10 variety show reputation lists and the top 10 popularity lists is only three levels. In the field of variety shows, there is no strong correlation between word-of-mouth, broadcast performance, and popularity of public opinion. On the contrary, some have a bad reputation, but variety shows with celebrity incidents and hot topics are always on the hot searches and arouse widespread discussion.
Secondly, there is a change in social sentiment. After the epidemic, the economic downturn has become a source of pressure for young audiences today. When young people are anxious about finding a job, the workplace, and the cost of living, the presentation of "realistic problems" in film and television works is no longer popular, and "cool" "" has become a keyword in current film and television creations, all in order to cater to the emotional value needed by the audience.
This kind of emotional value will turn into a relaxed atmosphere and simple rule settings when it comes to variety shows. The atmosphere relies on the interaction between guests and the artist's performance. Therefore, there are more and more "acquaintance show" variety shows nowadays, and the atmosphere is based on the interaction between guests and the artist's talent. There are more and more variety shows. Audiences no longer buy into more “heavy” content.
According to Yunhe's 2024q1 TV variety show effective broadcast list, the top three are "Ace vs. Ace Season 8", "Infinity Class 2" and "Hello, Saturday 2024", while the top 3 online variety shows are "Detective Season 9" Season", "Flowers and Young Silk Road Season" and "Endless Carnival" occupy. Among these 6 variety shows, "Ace" and "Hello Saturday" IP have always focused on light game sessions, "Infinite Transcendence Class" focuses on creating controversial artist topics, "Flowers and Young Silk Road" Season" broke out of the circle with group portraits and a harmonious travel atmosphere. Such broadcast results as
reflect the audience’s preferences."The atmosphere is so important. Last season made people feel very relaxed. This season Hua Shao has returned to the fixed horse-catching sessions in the past. It is very tiring to watch and the guests are boring."
But in this market, we can do There are very few "all-female variety shows" that are very relaxing. At this point, variety shows in this category are far away from the expectations of most viewers. The creators seem to have entered into a misunderstanding. "Female variety shows" must have more social issues, thus ignoring the essence of variety shows. However, this topicality often cannot be integrated with the content of the program.
"I don't understand what these shows are trying to film?" This is Hong Jia's biggest question in many "all-female variety shows".
Last year, she opened the variety show "Pretty Fight" because of an "all-female" gimmick. In the early announcement, the program used the tag of "all-female lineup" as a label. The permanent guests are composed of five female artists: Zhang Yuqi, Wang Meng, Yang Chaoyue, Meng Ziyi, and Guan Yue.
As a veteran variety show viewer, Hong Jia clicked on content that was different from most male-dominated reality shows on the market, but found that apart from the initial publicity point, the show itself just copied the original design and production routines. "The biggest difference is that men have become women. As a result, there are still many male guests in the show."
This is one of the biggest problems with the current "all-female variety show". The "female variety show" is interpreted by assuming that the guests are women, but the routine is The original set was rigidly placed on another group of people, and the sense of contradiction was highlighted.
The theme of the first episode of "Beautiful Fight" consists of a flying male guest and a female guest who complete the program's levels in a one-to-one manner. The male guest is also given the title of "Knight". The entire program has little to do with the "her power" emphasized by the program team. The common program settings, undercover and pursuit and escape games are all limited to the framework of previous reality shows. The only difference between
is that the topic setting is "female", interspersed with content with high-level intentions. The theme of the first episode of
was "Saving Love", and the theme of the second episode was to break the "only aesthetic standard". I don't know if it was related to the number of views, but the third episode returned to the theme "Cycle World" commonly used in reality shows in the past. In "The Pursuit", the unity of this "female" theme is also broken. In the program, the expression of "female" is difficult to achieve in the game session, so the program team uses the form of collective selection of guests to improve it.
"The rhythm of the show is very strange, and the output of the concept is too much. It may not be very friendly to the audience who want to see the guests having fun." There is such a comment in the Douban short review of the show. This also reveals the embarrassment of "Pretty Fight": "Female Power" has become a blunt and elevated content in the post-production, losing a strong connection with the content of the program itself, leaving only an "all-female" label.
This is not a problem unique to "Pretty Fight", but a common feature of variety shows on the market that discount the "all-female" banner.
"Some time ago, I came into contact with an all-female variety show project. The person in charge told me that the focus of this show is that women's plot performances and presentations can bring tears to the female audience because they have strong empathy. In fact, I feel This is a misunderstanding. Later, the added plot part of the program will be very heavy, with too much emotional content, and the variety show itself will be less game-friendly and playable," director Chang Lu told Entertainment Capital, and the project was eventually broadcast. The effect is indeed not as good as expected.
Male variety show vs. female variety show, audience expectations are different
"I found that everyone has different expectations for male-dominated variety shows and female-dominated variety shows." Xinyi, a senior variety show audience, provided another Interpretation of perspective.
"Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves" came out in 2020. At that time, the audience expected that this group of sisters would have a big fight in the show, rather than really looking forward to their stage debut or who would form a group. But the subsequent "Brother Overcoming Troubles" showed the audience's completely different attitude towards male-dominated variety shows.
Keywords such as "group portrait" and "memory killing" combined with the relaxed atmosphere of reality show content and popular CP topics jointly construct the discourse system of "Brother Pi".
Under different program expectations and discourse systems, the program content is also divided. In Sister Lang's show, the sisters are more competitive, which is reflected in the competition system and the attitude of the guests towards winning or losing the game. The brothers have a greater sense of variety and relaxation. Every year, more and more people get out of the circle through reality shows. There are more scenes.
This is also the biggest difference in the audience's feelings between "Farming" and the recently broadcast "Burning Moon".
"I was a little embarrassed when watching "Burning Moon", because you know that they actually don't know how to do these jobs, and then the show crew likes to show their vulnerability, and then stand up after being vulnerable. Do I think it's necessary? Is it necessary? But although "Farming" also had such difficulties in the early stage, this group of boys seems to have a more natural transition, and their energy is contagious. The follow-up also focuses on group portraits, while "Burning Moon" is still very scattered. Personally."
In the eyes of a large part of the audience, whether it is the relationship between "Sister Lang", "Brother Pi" or "Farming Bar" and "Burning Moon", they are all male and female versions under the same variety show content framework. the difference. When they watch the so-called "all-female variety show", they bring a comparative perspective.
"The performance of the program solidified my impression of these female artists." Director Chang Lu once worked as a character PD for the "Riding the Wind and Waves" series. "They are too disciplined and can sing and dance better, but I learned from them. There is no sense of contrast in the body, and the story line is difficult to write. The characters are consistent with our predictions, and there is nothing beyond expectations. "
But "Brother Pi" will show a large number of character lines, and the interaction between the characters of the brother will be revealed. There is a lot of reality show content colliding with it, "This is a place for fun and character expression, but for my sister, most of these performances are behind the camera."
For a long time, the audience's judgment standards and discussion perspectives for female artists and male artists There is also a divide at this level.
Male artists discuss more about "acting skills" and "character", and the "group sense" emphasized in the program is slowly linked by the "brotherhood" and "loyalty" that men like.
The image of female artists is the trait that attracts the most attention. Glorious appearance, figure, flawless character, and higher moral standards will be attached to their evaluation system. Female artists are almost required to be "perfect" , this double standard of appearance and personality is closely related to their commercial value.
This is also the reason why they cannot let go and become "variety show stars". Variety shows need to be funny and reveal their true personalities. In many cases, they even need to abandon their image to complete tasks or achieve variety show effects. These have become thresholds that need to be crossed.
"You will find that the most popular all-female TV series is "Sister Lang". At that time, the topic relied on the sisters' status, competition, and rivalry. And later content that emphasized group portraits of women, "Yes" "Mom is a Daughter" and "Women's Mystery Club" have much smaller broadcast performance and volume than "Sister Lang", and the audience has what they want to watch," Chang Lu concluded.
But even women’s sense of competition is gradually losing interested audiences, because when social emotions begin to resist the “anxiety”, “realism” and “reality presentation” in film and television content, the competition and seriousness between women make the program become It becomes heavy and boring. Most female artists have also been criticized by the audience for "lack of a sense of variety show."
Talk shows, finding a balance between "femininity" and "entertainment"
The dilemma between "femininity" and "a sense of variety show" has almost become All "all-female" dilemmas, but this year's talk show seems to be breaking the deadlock.
First of all, the proportion of women talking about talk shows in programs is increasing, especially the narrators of popular jokes, most of whom are women. On average, talk show content about women's issues breaks out of the circle every week.
Secondly, the issues discussed by female talk show actors are becoming more and more in-depth and "direct". Looking at the content of previous talk shows, women's issues are more general. Women usually talk about their feelings at all levels of life. Siwen focuses on issues in the workplace and family life, Zhang Tieling talks about the cultural differences between foreign couples, and Zhao Xiaohui They talked about the workplace and chasing stars, and those who expressed more acute differences between men and women and feminist content were concentrated on Yang Li, Yan Yiyanyue, and Niaoniao.
This year, the two programs compete with each other, but they have brought more female talk show actors and more straightforward narratives about gender issues and women’s plight. This not only makes more and more viewers pay attention to the two programs, but also drives the popularity of the programs with the out-of-the-circle segments, making "The King of Comedy Stand-up Season" and "Talk Show Friends" rank No. 1 in market share. Rotate in position one.
One of the reasons behind this is that the audience for talk shows is a subdivision of the audience for variety shows. First- and second-tier cities, under 35 years old, and women have become the main characteristics of talk shows.
Compared with the more popular perception that variety shows are "entertainment-oriented", this group of people have a higher perspective and acceptance. They can accept the output of more ideas and viewpoints, breaking the gap between variety shows and viewpoint output. barrier. At the same time, this group of people is also the most active group on social media, which is why the female-topic segments in talk shows can be widely disseminated on social media.
Secondly, in terms of content, talk shows have found a balance between the "heavy" aspects of women's issues and the entertainment of variety shows.
In Chang Lu's view, the comedy element of the talk show itself can deconstruct social issues and bring entertainment to everyone, which is quite consistent with the expression of women's needs.
Whether it is Caicai’s jokes about menstruation, Shanhe’s jokes about body anxiety, or Tang Xiangyu’s jokes, the essence behind them is still relatively heavy and bitter content, but the expression of a talk show is equivalent to a layer of sugar coating, and the audience can only laugh after laughing. Slowly appreciate the topical content.
This delicate balance requires creators, program teams and audiences to build it together.
Talk show actor Echo's performance about his second sister running away triggered a wave of heated discussions on social media. However, unlike the response on social media, on the day of recording, the show received the lowest score on the set, and Echo was eliminated as a result. . In a post-match interview, the actor also said the topic was too heavy for her to handle well enough.
"This is the result of breaking a balance. This topic is too heavy, and it is difficult to carry the burden offline. In jargon, it is difficult to 'gather up'. But because the social issues are very heavy, the stories told can arouse resonance, which is very It is conducive to online communication," Chang Lu told Entertainment Capital.
But whether online or offline, from Siwen to Yang Li to now more female voices are expressed, talk shows are increasingly win-win with women, becoming the only variety show that can be strongly related to "women".
This may be able to give platforms and creators who want to create "all-female variety" in the market a creative logic that they can refer to, so that they can find creative ideas that do not blindly focus on value, do not stereotype "female expression", and choose entertainment and female issues. intersection method.
comes from Titanium Media, author: Entertainment Capitalism, original text link: https://www.tmtpost.com/7273667.html
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