Good program - 《爸爸去哪儿》

[ouyangjun]

There is a Chinese program （节目） called 《爸爸去哪儿》, which is really popular on the mainland right now.  You can find it on youku.  They release a new episode once a week.

 

In short there are 5 fathers with their son/daughter.  The fathers are all somewhat famous (an Olympic gold medalist, actor, director, model) and come from big cities such as Beijing.  They then send them to the country side where they need to learn to cook for themselves, or go fishing, etc. and they have their child with them.  

 

It's a good show and fun to watch.  The Chinese is not too difficult and should be good for someone who is getting to the point of being able to watch native Chinese material.

[msittig]

It's incredibly popular right now. My co-workers discuss it in the office, and my wife and daughters watch it every Saturday morning.

 

The show reminds me of another Hunan TV show called 变形计 where a city kid and country kid would change places for a short time. It usually followed the trope of "spoiled city kid learns to appreciate what he has", but the narrative surrounding the country kid was usually much more conflicted and interesting.

[ouyangjun]

Yeah, I first found out about it because out of nowhere it was the main thing trending on Weibo.  After that my wife started watching it and she convinced me to watch the first episode, after that I somehow got hooked...

[Touchstone57]

This is very popular right now. A lot of my Chinese colleagues are often discussing this show, and my wife is also quite into it. 

 

I watch because the Chinese is quite simple and it is easy to follow, so there is motivation there. however as a reality TV show I don't like it that much . It is interesting to see how mainstream TV will cater for the a Chinese audience. In this case, the children of the show get most of the air time, as the show follows their childish dialogues and escapades with each other, including lots of animations and sound effects over the top of the show. For me the focus on the children is a little obsessive, but I guess that is what the Chinese audience wants. 

[Marguerite]

I got into this show when I was in Guangzhou, in part because the concepts are so simple. Even when I don't understand what's being said, it's generally really obvious what's going on. I'm a couple of episodes behind, now that I'm out of the country, but it's definitely still a fun one to catch up on.

[Demonic_Duck]

Heard about it from a coworker a week or two ago. I like it, it's entertaining and not too mentally taxing to watch (I can normally understand everything that's going on without resorting to pleco). I didn't realise the dads were already minor celebrities before the show, though.

 

It is interesting to see how mainstream TV will cater for the a Chinese audience. In this case, the children of the show get most of the air time, as the show follows their childish dialogues and escapades with each other, including lots of animations and sound effects over the top of the show. For me the focus on the children is a little obsessive, but I guess that is what the Chinese audience wants.

 

I agree about the sound effects and animations (unnecessary, but not nearly as incessent and obnoxious as those on certain other Chinese reality/game shows), but I think the focus on the children is exactly right. I mean, why focus on the dads? Are they likely to say and do unintentionally hilarious things? Of course not!

[ouyangjun]

 

 

 I mean, why focus on the dads? Are they likely to say unintentionally hilarious things? Of course not!

 

Yeah, if it was focused on the dads it wouldn't be nearly as interesting.  I enjoy hearing 天天 (age 4 or 5) talk about being a 纯爷们儿… or when he was interviewed about his life at home and told them how his dad is lazy, and #4 in the family (Mom, 天天, the dog, the dad).  My wife of course likes Kimi…

 

For those of you interested/familiar with the show, check out my post in jokes about this show.  As you know Kimi (from Taiwan) calls his dad 巴比 (babi) instead of 爸爸 (baba)….  the joke is from the internet, and I think it's hilariously.  If it really happened could you imagine the look on the mother's face?  The joke is also probably in bad taste to some, so if easily offended, don't click…. (posted on Nov 30, post #482)  http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/1588-jokes/page-25

[grawrt]

Thanks! I just watched two episodes and I like that the dialogue isn't difficult. My listening comprehension sucks but like marguerite says, whatever I dont understand is easy to pick up from the context. I love Angela so far