You've just made me read the Wiki page for Visitor Q, so thanks for that...
On a (slightly) lighter note, that game show abomination definitely showed up on Tarrant on TV or one of the Clive James shows, both of which relied heavily on weird Japanese clips. Of course Chris/Clive skated over the whole coercion thing.
I was really impressed with Charli XCX on Please Don't Destroy. She's not just witty but capable of being genuinely self-mocking. SNL itself though is mainly pitiful.
I once went undercover to the X Factor open auditions for Marie Claire. I could not believe how badly treated we were. Obviously nothing like poor Nasubi (who I remember reading about at the time and feeling so sorry for) but was still an eye-opener. They shouted at us for not clapping loud enough and basically told us we should be grateful to be there. No one actually got put through (they’d already cast it), aside from the people who were very obviously weren’t quite the full quid. They were basically scouting for fools to laugh at. Everyone around me was lovely and could sing. I felt really sad they got treated with so little dignity and respect.
What an unsettling experience that must have been. I think there's a terrible, exploitable dynamic where people believe deep down that the TV is their friend, and trust that no one involved in a "legitimate" business would do something dodgy. And that made it very easy to treat people badly in the services of entertainment.
You've just made me read the Wiki page for Visitor Q, so thanks for that...
On a (slightly) lighter note, that game show abomination definitely showed up on Tarrant on TV or one of the Clive James shows, both of which relied heavily on weird Japanese clips. Of course Chris/Clive skated over the whole coercion thing.
I think some links are missing?
I think it was just the Hawley article - here's a gift link for it (also updated in the post) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/journalism-speculation/680766/?gift=MArI3THxGSIFL4gTlVELrtzxWTKo8Znm9QxD0xRpDzA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
I was really impressed with Charli XCX on Please Don't Destroy. She's not just witty but capable of being genuinely self-mocking. SNL itself though is mainly pitiful.
Having read the IMDB review, I shan’t be watching Visitor Q! Welcome back, btw!
*checks Wikipedia *
Oh.
Oh no
I once went undercover to the X Factor open auditions for Marie Claire. I could not believe how badly treated we were. Obviously nothing like poor Nasubi (who I remember reading about at the time and feeling so sorry for) but was still an eye-opener. They shouted at us for not clapping loud enough and basically told us we should be grateful to be there. No one actually got put through (they’d already cast it), aside from the people who were very obviously weren’t quite the full quid. They were basically scouting for fools to laugh at. Everyone around me was lovely and could sing. I felt really sad they got treated with so little dignity and respect.
What an unsettling experience that must have been. I think there's a terrible, exploitable dynamic where people believe deep down that the TV is their friend, and trust that no one involved in a "legitimate" business would do something dodgy. And that made it very easy to treat people badly in the services of entertainment.