How Would You Do It?

[arsenette]

And that was a happy accident rather than from Day 1 everyone had a fluff piece.. They only used the footage that was in their submission video rather than take time to go meet them. That happened later when they became fan favorites on their own.

[lazarus0280]

aye agreed. hence my point of after the event getting to know the more successful of the bunch. assuming it would be a taped event and not live we'd already know the outcome and could in turn do "pieces" on particular individuals who either excelled or embarassed themselves in some major way. personally i just feel it would make it that much more successful over here to have the average person for someone to cheer on and follow. america loves their sports and following their favorite teams, or favorite race driver. I don't think this sport would be any different. Between seeing the cool new obstacles it's the people competing you are wanting to watch.

[joemello]

There's no reason both factions can't be satisfied. Take last week's US Open, for example. Tiger Woods is popular because he's really really good. Phil Mickelson is popular because he's a stand-up gentlemen a wife (recently diagnosed with cancer), kids, and for the longest time was The Greatest Player Never to Win a Major. Both had tremendous followings last weekend.

Perhaps "identify with" isn't a great choice of words, but the human element shouldn't be downplayed. The audience needs a face, name, personality, something that they can get behind. Otherwise, you're going to end up having something like Wipeout where the course is the only compelling character.

[lazarus0280]

Exactly my thoughts joemello. Thank ya for putting it to words better than i was. Makes it that much more exciting when you know the next individual competing has either beaten the course once before or gotten damn close. For the younger fans of the sport they would quickly have their "heroes". That human element I think is very important for the sport. While competing is an experience in and of itself, as viewers it's nice to learn a bit about the people competing and learning why they are training or working toward this course, etc.

[arsenette]

Joe just saw your comment about the ongoing reality TV shows. They can't compare to Sasuke in the sense that those shows are going for a certain time frame that is NOT like Sasuke. Sasuke (and Sportsman #1) are both taped in less than a day. I followed SYTYCD early on but that was a show (similar to Dancing with the stars) that goes on for a few weeks. Same with the other shows. I don't have them in the same category which is why I have them all showing in one night. And yes they are a niche market. Just because they win awards doesn't mean anything. There are categories for all Reality shows these days.

[lazarus0280]

Agreed arsenette, but I think he was implying that using a qualifier or tryouts for the serious competitors you could effectively make a "season". For me personally, I don't think that would take from the spirit of the sport. We'd just have greater access to the contestants and all leading up to the main event. 3-4 weeks of watching the tough tryouts and meeting the competitors...with a 2 hour live event at the end with our celebs and things like that. What's your thoughts on that formula good and bad? Even though the event in essence could be a 1-2 day affair, you could mold that into a short season for our TV stations.

[Oti]

I think the problem with Wipeout is that it's a competition against each other, whereas Sasuke naturally encourages friendship and teamwork.

I would love to use qualifying rounds for all the serious, unknown competitors. I think there would be a contest, similar to the ANC's, where many people are selected. Those people are all run through a trial course, where the best get to move on to the actual course.

Lazarus, that's not a bad idea. Having several episodes of short introductions and trials will introduce the no-names, pleasing that "I WANT SOMETHING I CAN RELATE TOOOO" crowd, while, at the same time, giving us more footage but not taking away from the real course/competition.

[arsenette]

Sasuke Trials is a very small part of the show. You have competitors that no matter what.. you KNOW that unless a miracle from heaven intervened would never clear the course.. let alone the first stage (Hanglider, Octopus, etc.) mixed with people like the Olympians and our All-Stars, etc. Have trials if you want but that should not be the full make up of the show. Viking was also popular with this formula. (though there were no qualifications for that). It's the mixture of comedy and seriousness with the Joe Schmo from the street up against the multimillion dollar professional athlete that makes this such a unique experience unmatched in anything the US has produced. Most pros would never touch a show like Wipe out to make it legit. Which is why Sasuke and Viking hold a special place in my heart.

[Oti]

I agree. Trials would fill the bulk of the cast, but there would be a certain number of slots reserved for serious competitors: Professional athletes, people who have done very well before, etc..

I think the hardest part would be deciding who did well enough to return and who didn't. I don't think it should be judged solely on, "Well, he made it to stage two...". I would take a closer look at everyones' runs and see who really did a great job, even if they ran into some bad luck.

[arsenette]

Lord knows Bunpei got the axe even though he had a lot of fan mail, etc. through TBS (as he says the story).. then he wasn't invited the next time.. the following he was back and was made an all star.. go figure.. LOL

[Oti]

I would weigh their achievements and their failures. In my eyes, Shingo and Levi are both on the fence. They've both shown they can do great, but lately, they're letting us down.

Yamada would also be on the fence, but leaning toward the axe because he's just been doing awful for the past... what, 3 years?

I just don't see how a guy with a replica of the jumping spider, who does it all the time at home with no problem... can fail so terribly.

[arsenette]

I would have sent Katsumi to pasture a long time ago but he draws a LOT of people whether I like him or not. That's a heavy consideration to keeping him. He's like a moving train wreck and to TBS that's ratings. Katsumi doesn't mind the attention either so he's more than willing to oblige. Shingo would never be cut since he's the ONLY person to ever make it to all the Sasuke's. To be honest though.. outside of stupid mistakes he still shows he has it. His run ups to the obstacles he keeps flubbing is still faster than a lot of the other competitors and he does it with ease. Levi. He's G4's department. With less and less slots available for Americans I would like to see fresh blood. The same though can be said with trying to keep enough people that they can follow (which was an early criticism of Sasuke.. that on one knew who anyone was).. that they might want him back.

[joemello]

Just want to make sure signals aren't being crossed (would write more there are ^%&#$^%ing spots in my eyes that won't go away), but my first post was merely a direct counter-point to the "everybody hates reality" post. The rest of my posts were trying to apply what makes the good shows good to a potential US Sasuke.

Obviously, the big question when doing this is how do you translate Japanese TV sensibilities to the US, especially when the US normally doesn't do event television like Japan. (Name me one program that wasn't a Concert, award show, telethon, or movie that lasted more than two hours)

*^%^&* spots!

[lazarus0280]

I'm a bit confused as well. This thread is about how we'd go about starting it here correct? I'd like to think the Japanese all-stars would appreciate it and maybe attend if we kept it pure as their sport is. Only reason I suggest tryouts and stuff is well, we don't have any greats as of yet. So starting with nothing and to hope the sport would catch on here, Utlizing the tryouts and making that a few week process leading up to the grand finale, with say 50 people from the tryouts and another 50 of celebs and professional atheletes. Even an episode of celebs on the qualifiers and tryouts. Something with that formula could be pretty entertaining while at the same time appealing to the casual couch potatoe that enjoys their sports. While the purists of the sport such as most of us wouldn't necessarily stay tuned through all the build up the actual competition against the course is what we want to see.

Again, the problem is where to start? With virtually a small amount of people knowing about this here in the states. Unless you just had a panel of people to just randomlly pick applications there doesn't seem to be a very productive way to start without some kind of tryouts. After 3-4 events you then probablly have a good core group of participants or regulars you could draw from. Til then, not sure how you'd go about it? What thoughts were you having thus far?

Only other thing I could possibly think of would be to go past the 100 person formula. Let everyone have a go for the first time or two. Then in future events you call back some of those people and cut down the participants. Opening the numbers obviously increases the chances someone would beat the course, but starting out that might not be entirely bad either. We would then be able to increase the course difficulty the next time. While at the same time giving fans someone to cheer for. I personally like the 100 participants and all, just food for thought for just starting out though.

[Oti]

I'm pretty sure word of this would spread throughout Sasuke, Viking, Wipeout and American Gladiators communities if we gave it time.

Look how many people showed up at Ninjafest 4 on a week's notice.

[lazarus0280]

Yeah, definately, pretty sure it would catch on as well. Again, I'm speaking of the first attempt or two at an episode. Rounding up the people for that first competition would probablly be the hardest. After that one aired, I'd assume more people would show the next time and hopefully snow ball. What are some ideas to bring people in for that first contest? Stick with the 100 man layout or do something slightly different? Would we want bout half the field serious competitors while the other half be celebs and atheletes, etc?

[arsenette]

For Sasuke (which was part of another show entirely at the time) they had a mix of "anyone willing to sign this application" and veteran actors and celebrities known throughout Japan. I know a lot of people went to see Kane Kosugi in this thing if nothing else. Something similar can happy here. Heck.. Look at the American Olympians that entered Sasuke. Use something like that with a mix of actors and comedians who want to enter as a base then work from there. Obviously you can't always have the celebrity talent and professional athletes coming all the time but it's a good way to spark interest in something new.

Kinda reminds me of the 1970's of Battle of the Network Stars.. that was just one night and everyone watched it.. even if it was cheesy as hell.

[Oti]

Let's just say we're using 100 people for now. I would want about 60-70 of the people to be right off the streets. That's what I want to try to focus on. I want the competition to be mostly composed of amateur athletes. I'm not sure why, though.

Arsenette, that's probably exactly what I'd do. Have some of the people, again, like 30-40, be celebrities, professional athletes, extreme athletes (parkour, free running, rock climbing) etc.

[arsenette]

That's the appeal to me. Besides if you have TOO many names people know it's a glut of egos. Though Sasuke has been fortunate to not have that problem. So long as the American version explains that this is not about Such and such going after Such and such (ala American Gladiators) I think it will feel different. Also.. with the change that people will actually do well in this course and not be a gagfest like Wipeout (which has it's own appeal the way MXC has) but more like Sasuke and Viking I think it would catch on. To automatically think the American public would dismiss it is to actually underestimate them. I mean damn.. how many of us were hooked watching it the first time? Right.. that's what I thought

[lazarus0280]

Right on, so now we have our layout. What would your TV commercial sound like leading up to the event? Would you show versions of the Japanese version? How would you advertise it so to speak? Obviously getting some of the people that have competed in the Japanese version would probablly be easier. How would you pitch it to our celebs?