Vietnamese Reality TV 2014: The more, the more boring

2014 ended with a year of many ups and downs for Vietnamese reality television shows.

2014 with the domination of singing competitions

The more singing contests there are, the more boring the game show gets.

More than 2/3 of the current game shows are music competitions and are of foreign origin. In 2010, Sao Mai Diem Hen and Vietnam Idol were the most popular, but now there are The Voice, The winner is …, The X-factor, Vietnam's Got Talent… covering all channels and dominating the prime time slots on weekends.

In 2014, The Voice was absent after a quiet season, but The X-Factor replaced it. Carefully crafted from production, PR, and a famous panel of judges, The X-Factor was predicted to be a hot show that would create a phenomenon and put pressure on Vietnam Idol, but apart from Giang Hong Ngoc, O-Plus, F-Band, Uyen Nguyen, many names did not make a strong impression on the market. Vietnam Idol 2013 was quiet, without fanfare, but still maintained a stable rating after 5 seasons.

Vietnam's Got Talent season 3 continued its old tricks but by the semi-finals it still hadn't made a big splash in the media with truly outstanding talents. The Winner is also ended in silence with Lan Anh's undeserved victory.

In 2014, many music competitions for artists were launched, but the similarity in form, content, or lack of appeal such as: Tuyet Dinh Tranh Tai, Chinh Phuc Dinh Cao, Sao Viet Toan Nang... did not attract much attention from fans. Hoa Minzy, the only contestant who sang well, was an obvious winner at the Star Academy.

Vietnamese stars (K-Pop) are not even given much attention because the production is too unfamiliar to the audience's taste and the singers' training style does not have much of a Vietnamese mark.

While the appeal of these shows is still quite dim, scandals are coming, revolving around names like Nathan Lee, Kasim Hoang Vu, Hoang Hai... The names that have worn out their faces through game shows also do not make the life of television game shows more exciting because of their lack of personality.

Not only adults, children also compete to appear on television.

Children's game shows and comedy are on the rise

2014 witnessed the birth of children's versions of game shows "following" adult shows. Among them, The Voice Kids season 2 was considered a great success. Chung suc nhi, Buoc nhay hoan vu nhi, and Guong mat than quen nhi also "landed" on television one after another. Even MasterChef Viet is preparing to launch a version for children.

These shows are an opportunity to promote young talents. However, many people believe that some producers are trying to use the child element to attract audiences. Putting children into competitions and struggles, especially in the entertainment industry full of calculations and arrangements by adults, is an extremely dangerous reality.

The intensity of day and night practice, competition pressure, public opinion… are real worries that directly impact children’s psychology. Many people are also concerned that becoming famous early and getting caught up in the whirlwind of money and fame will make children susceptible to star disease.

In 2014, comedy TV shows achieved great success. Among them, The Mysterious Person successfully conquered Vietnamese audiences and became a show with high viewership ratings. The reputation of the Hoai Linh – Viet Huong duo also increased significantly. Familiar Faces also had an explosive competition season, more successful than last year thanks to its entertaining and humane elements, and also successfully unearthed the “phenomenon” Hoai Lam.

Hoai Linh, Viet Huong, Tran Thanh

A year of "prosperity" for entertainment shows with humor and laughter

Producers have been generous in releasing many other shows such as Oh my god! You're here, Happy, Familiar faces, Kids, Laughing is losing, Comedy challenge, Ah ha. Oh my god! You're here is an improv comedy show that has high ratings but has also received a lot of criticism when some artists are casual and lack restraint due to having to improvise unexpectedly.

The Familiar Faces Kids was criticized for having adults cross-dress in a vulgar and gaudy way next to the child contestants. Laughing is losing, a purely entertaining show became even more bland when the two teams tried to make the audience laugh but no one laughed.

When the public started to cool off with singing competitions, comedy shows gradually became popular. The three hot comedians Hoai Linh, Viet Huong, and Tran Thanh, due to their frequent appearances, gradually became bland and unattractive. As for Hoai Linh, he judged from "sinking" competitions such as searching for hotboys and hotgirls to big TV shows.

Besides singing, many competitions still maintain their own position in the chaotic race of Vietnamese reality TV, from dancing (Thập ý ý với buốc đao, Vũ lưu ý yêu em, Âm nhạc và buốc đao), modeling (Vietnam's Next Top Model), fashion design (Project Runway), cooking (Iron Chef, MasterChef Việt), other professions (Siêu đầu, Không gian) or about life experiences (Cục cổ đại, Bầu ơi đâu thế minh đi?).

The shows all have loyal fan followings through the seasons or make a certain impression if it is the first season of production.

Fierce competition between game shows

A series of programs have blossomed, leading to fierce competition to attract viewers. The sudden increase in quantity has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in quality, and has even decreased.

Explaining the current situation of talent shortage, Thanh Bui commented: “In the world, although not every season of talent search programs creates excitement for viewers, there has never been a situation of talent shortage to the point of stalemate like in Vietnam today. More and more old faces, even those who have been singers for many years, are returning to participate in the competition. They go from one competition to another and the quality clearly does not improve. It is understandable that they are bored.”

Before Thanh Bui, diva Hong Nhung also had a similar opinion right after The Voice Vietnam season 2 ended.

While foreign format programs are still imported regularly, purely Vietnamese programs also have their own fate. Besides some that have been "killed", others such as Tro choi am nhac only keep the name, while the content is copied from a foreign program called Don't forget the lyrics but is no longer as attractive to viewers or better than Do Re Mi, Sao mai Diem hen... still continue to rotate like previous years despite the pressure of similar imported playgrounds increasingly overwhelming.

According to Tien Phong