achtungbaby
08-31-2003, 11:37 PM
This is a belated post, as the original column was published on 7/13/2003. Thanks April!
Fox goes on the offensive with 'Banzai'
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/ebark/stories/071303dntvwbark.d535f.html
07/13/2003
By ED BARK / The Dallas Morning News
Fox calls it "wildly inventive." Others see it as stupendously stereotypical.
Whatever your reaction, Banzai assuredly won't go quietly into the night. A cult favorite in Britain, it arrives on these shores Sunday with all of its hot spots intact. They include loud, crude Asian dialect ("You brave little chicken! We never forget you!"); a competition between a one-legged soccer kicker and a one-armed goalie; two seniors playing "Old Lady Wheelchair Chicken Challenge" and a chicken named Larry that's used as a guinea pig in a helium balloon stunt.
"I think we're trying to create the type of comedy that attracts the young Fox demographic," says Scott Grogin, Fox's vice president of corporate communications. "We didn't get as far as we are without taking risks."
In fairness to Fox what a concept! it didn't in fact create Banzai. Nor did the Japanese. It's a British TV concoction that premiered in 2001 and has been named "Best Entertainment Programme" by the Royal Television Society." Which perhaps goes to show that UPN's reviled Shasta McNasty series would have been perceived as a towering achievement abroad.
Banzai has been a sore spot with some Asian-American organizations since the USA cable network showed clips from the show in 2001. News that Fox had picked up Banzai triggered a hot debate on the Web site yellowworld.org.
"Racist, offensive programming" that pointedly "makes fun of the way that Asian people talk," said one correspondent.
"It seems that the show makes fun of everyone," said another. "Not that this is a good thing, but it beats the heck out of nothing but Japanese contestants."
Fox press materials tout Banzai as a "Japanese game show spoof." But the network's senior vice president of diversity, Mitsy Wilson, disagrees with that description.
"I don't even want to call it a spoof," she says. "It's an interactive game show."
Banzai's principal tagline "Place your bets!" is courtesy of bald, robed "Mr. Banzai," whom Fox says is "a mysterious figure who is like an enigma wrapped within a conundrum."
Ms. Wilson rejects any contention that Mr. Banzai's broken English speech patterns are a "racial mocking of Asians," as one critic put it.
The character's off-camera narratives are voiced by "Asian-born actors who are living in England" and use English as a second language, she says. "And that's what you come out with. We tried to make sure that these characters are speaking the way they normally speak. ...We don't view it as stereotypical."
Fox is airing the British version of Banzai intact, save for some additions of celebrities more familiar to American audiences during the oft-hilarious "Mr. Shake Hands Man" and "Lady One Question" segments. Recurring animation is primitive, making even Pok้mon seem rich and textured.
In Sunday's premiere, viewers are encouraged to bet on how long Kelsey Grammer will take to pull his palm from Mr. Shake Hands' sturdy grip. The options are 0-30 seconds, 31-60 seconds, 61-90 seconds or 91-120 seconds.
"Start the clock!" Mr. Banzai shouts. Very funny. Really.
Banzai's opening "Larry the Chicken" segment is virtually tailor-made for a PETA protest. Viewers are asked to bet on how many helium balloons will send Larry airborne 30, 60, 90 or 120. Larry's eventual liftoff is replayed in slow motion before Mr. Banzai says, "We salute your ultimate sacrifice at the altar of science." And so on.
A recent attempt to replicate the stunt in San Francisco it's been teased in Fox promos ran afoul of an organization called United Poultry Concerns. In this case, a hen reportedly was lifted 40 feet before becoming entangled in power lines. Police officers shot some of the balloons with pellet guns as part of a successful attempt to rescue the hen.
"We are asking Fox quite simply to stop their cruelty or to confine it to those who can dish it back," said UPC president Karen Davis.
Then there's "The Shuffle of the Sinful Ladies," in which one of three Japanese geisha girls wears "naughty" red underwear. Viewers are challenged to keep an eye on this "devil woman" as she spins and changes positions in a variation of the time-honored shell game. You'll be the judge of whether this is unequivocally sexist.
Later, "Lady One Question" unleashes her lone query on "nasty American Idol man, Mr. Simon Cowell!"
After answering it, how long will it take him to pull away from her silent, stony gaze and outstretched microphone? Longer than one might think. And again, quite funny.
Next Sunday's episode includes a race between Todd Bridges and Mojo the dog to retrieve a stick from a pool. And in the "Michael Jacksons Reverse Race Rendezvous," three impersonators ("Military Michael," "Thriller Michael" and "Bad Skin Michael") face off in a moonwalk across an ice rink.
Few object to making fun of Michael Jackson or Todd Bridges. Or of former Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno, who engages in a stationery bicycle race with a rabbi and a Catholic priest to "win the soul of little Baby Danny."
Much of Banzai indeed is a laugh-out-loud guilty pleasure. And some of it definitely is not. The cartoonish Asian narration easily could be retooled. And a Princess Diana/Harry Potter gambit in Episode 2 is just too tasteless for words.
Banzai likely will find a receptive young male American audience schooled on Jackass, Jerry Springer, the American Pie movies, etc. Others no doubt will be angry and appalled. For now, Fox's Ms. Wilson is utterly unrepentant. She notes that Banzai recently was screened for a diverse young audience at a Los Angeles theater.
"People laughed. They understood," she says. "They got what we were trying to do."
Ed Bark is a critic for The Dallas Morning News.
Fox goes on the offensive with 'Banzai'
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/ebark/stories/071303dntvwbark.d535f.html
07/13/2003
By ED BARK / The Dallas Morning News
Fox calls it "wildly inventive." Others see it as stupendously stereotypical.
Whatever your reaction, Banzai assuredly won't go quietly into the night. A cult favorite in Britain, it arrives on these shores Sunday with all of its hot spots intact. They include loud, crude Asian dialect ("You brave little chicken! We never forget you!"); a competition between a one-legged soccer kicker and a one-armed goalie; two seniors playing "Old Lady Wheelchair Chicken Challenge" and a chicken named Larry that's used as a guinea pig in a helium balloon stunt.
"I think we're trying to create the type of comedy that attracts the young Fox demographic," says Scott Grogin, Fox's vice president of corporate communications. "We didn't get as far as we are without taking risks."
In fairness to Fox what a concept! it didn't in fact create Banzai. Nor did the Japanese. It's a British TV concoction that premiered in 2001 and has been named "Best Entertainment Programme" by the Royal Television Society." Which perhaps goes to show that UPN's reviled Shasta McNasty series would have been perceived as a towering achievement abroad.
Banzai has been a sore spot with some Asian-American organizations since the USA cable network showed clips from the show in 2001. News that Fox had picked up Banzai triggered a hot debate on the Web site yellowworld.org.
"Racist, offensive programming" that pointedly "makes fun of the way that Asian people talk," said one correspondent.
"It seems that the show makes fun of everyone," said another. "Not that this is a good thing, but it beats the heck out of nothing but Japanese contestants."
Fox press materials tout Banzai as a "Japanese game show spoof." But the network's senior vice president of diversity, Mitsy Wilson, disagrees with that description.
"I don't even want to call it a spoof," she says. "It's an interactive game show."
Banzai's principal tagline "Place your bets!" is courtesy of bald, robed "Mr. Banzai," whom Fox says is "a mysterious figure who is like an enigma wrapped within a conundrum."
Ms. Wilson rejects any contention that Mr. Banzai's broken English speech patterns are a "racial mocking of Asians," as one critic put it.
The character's off-camera narratives are voiced by "Asian-born actors who are living in England" and use English as a second language, she says. "And that's what you come out with. We tried to make sure that these characters are speaking the way they normally speak. ...We don't view it as stereotypical."
Fox is airing the British version of Banzai intact, save for some additions of celebrities more familiar to American audiences during the oft-hilarious "Mr. Shake Hands Man" and "Lady One Question" segments. Recurring animation is primitive, making even Pok้mon seem rich and textured.
In Sunday's premiere, viewers are encouraged to bet on how long Kelsey Grammer will take to pull his palm from Mr. Shake Hands' sturdy grip. The options are 0-30 seconds, 31-60 seconds, 61-90 seconds or 91-120 seconds.
"Start the clock!" Mr. Banzai shouts. Very funny. Really.
Banzai's opening "Larry the Chicken" segment is virtually tailor-made for a PETA protest. Viewers are asked to bet on how many helium balloons will send Larry airborne 30, 60, 90 or 120. Larry's eventual liftoff is replayed in slow motion before Mr. Banzai says, "We salute your ultimate sacrifice at the altar of science." And so on.
A recent attempt to replicate the stunt in San Francisco it's been teased in Fox promos ran afoul of an organization called United Poultry Concerns. In this case, a hen reportedly was lifted 40 feet before becoming entangled in power lines. Police officers shot some of the balloons with pellet guns as part of a successful attempt to rescue the hen.
"We are asking Fox quite simply to stop their cruelty or to confine it to those who can dish it back," said UPC president Karen Davis.
Then there's "The Shuffle of the Sinful Ladies," in which one of three Japanese geisha girls wears "naughty" red underwear. Viewers are challenged to keep an eye on this "devil woman" as she spins and changes positions in a variation of the time-honored shell game. You'll be the judge of whether this is unequivocally sexist.
Later, "Lady One Question" unleashes her lone query on "nasty American Idol man, Mr. Simon Cowell!"
After answering it, how long will it take him to pull away from her silent, stony gaze and outstretched microphone? Longer than one might think. And again, quite funny.
Next Sunday's episode includes a race between Todd Bridges and Mojo the dog to retrieve a stick from a pool. And in the "Michael Jacksons Reverse Race Rendezvous," three impersonators ("Military Michael," "Thriller Michael" and "Bad Skin Michael") face off in a moonwalk across an ice rink.
Few object to making fun of Michael Jackson or Todd Bridges. Or of former Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno, who engages in a stationery bicycle race with a rabbi and a Catholic priest to "win the soul of little Baby Danny."
Much of Banzai indeed is a laugh-out-loud guilty pleasure. And some of it definitely is not. The cartoonish Asian narration easily could be retooled. And a Princess Diana/Harry Potter gambit in Episode 2 is just too tasteless for words.
Banzai likely will find a receptive young male American audience schooled on Jackass, Jerry Springer, the American Pie movies, etc. Others no doubt will be angry and appalled. For now, Fox's Ms. Wilson is utterly unrepentant. She notes that Banzai recently was screened for a diverse young audience at a Los Angeles theater.
"People laughed. They understood," she says. "They got what we were trying to do."
Ed Bark is a critic for The Dallas Morning News.