TV Tokyo has revived its popular, innovative variety show "TV Champion" after 10 years, presenting it under the new title "TV Champion -- Kiwami." The newly added word "Kiwami" means ultimate.
The original show produced some much talked-about installments, including eating contests. Its highest viewer rating was 20.1 percent in the Kanto region, an exceptional high for TV Tokyo.
So why has it come back now?
The reason can be found in its irregular broadcast format. The new show appears on three media, with the 60-minute full version aired from 9 p.m. on Sundays on BS Japan, a satellite broadcaster affiliated with TV Tokyo. A 30-minute digest version is shown from 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays on the TV Tokyo network, and the program is also available on the Hikari TV streaming service.
Following the overall trend in the TV industry, the TV Tokyo group is working to heighten coordination among its terrestrial TV channel, a satellite TV channel and a streaming service. TV Tokyo, a terrestrial TV channel, has produced hit shows full of new ideas, such as "Kinkyu SOS! Ike no Mizu Zenbu Nuku Sakusen" (Emergency SOS! Mission to drain all the water from a pond).
But what should be done with the affiliated satellite channel and streaming service? The group's answer was "TV Champion," which has its own brand power.
"The satellite channel and the streaming service said they wanted to do 'TV Champion.' I was glad because I had a strong attachment to the show," said producer Susumu Koshiyama.
Koshiyama is a walking dictionary about "TV Champion." He was hired by TV Tokyo in 1992, the year the program started, and followed it to the end.
The first installment of the new show aired in April focused on a "crab shelling king." Four people from different crab fishing towns competed with each other over how fast they could shell crabs. Competitions on similarly curious subjects have followed, such as chalk graphic artists, women with six-pack abs and men in drag.
The show has stayed away from subjects that were popular on the first show, including eating contests, "to meet the budget a satellite channel can afford, and emphasize that it is up-to-date and different from the original show," Koshiyama said.
The eating contest used to be a special program aired on its own once in a while, and was very popular. "TV Champion" started as a weekly variety show using this format and subsequently added more competitions in three categories -- artisans competing with their highly accomplished skills; connoisseurs who were highly knowledgeable in different areas; and people with physical idiosyncrasies, including participants in eating contests.
Due to the tight budget, the show's creative team used their ingenuity rather than investing a lot of money in each installment, which led to many famous contests. The show also produced such popular entertainers as fish expert Sakana-kun and big eater Nobuyuki Shirota.
Blending old and new
When the old show ended in 2008, the ratings were still pretty good, but the top management at the broadcaster decided that the show had covered enough subjects.
Koshiyama said he felt frustrated at the decision, so he was all the more committed to emphasizing the difference between the old show and the new show. Crab shelling sounds extraordinary, and chalk graphics has a trendy feel to it. Just choosing such subjects can give an impression that the show has changed.
The new program's emcees include Ike Nwala of Choshinjuku, a comedy group, an American who quit a major securities company in the United States to become a comedian in Japan. He cuts a striking figure on the show's set, which is designed in traditional Japanese style.
"The ratings matter, but don't you think the show is a success if it produces a new star?" Koshiyama asked.
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