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2004Edition>News Center>Life | |
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New Year's eve show: keep it or drop it? After a family feast on Chinese New Year's Eve, my parents started looking at the clock and counting down the time to the start of the CCTV show. They have been watching this 10:00pm to 2:00am gala programme for more than 10 years. As with most of China's huge population, they recognize the four-hour-plus show as a must to welcome in the New Year. But to me, the show has become tedious and boring in recent years and is not that exciting any more. One of my classmates sent me a copy of the show list two weeks before the telecast. At that time, I was amused, thinking this must be a satire. I did not see any reason for inviting Aunt Ni Ping back as the MC. Nor did I expect to see the same old musical performances, combining old and new faces. However, I am a good daughter and chose to stay at home on the special evening, no matter how much I disliked the show, I kind of watched it from the beginning. How disappointed I became as the show unfolded. My classmate's programme list was not, in fact, a joke. The notoriously emotional MCs, Ni Ping and Zhu Jun, were carrying on like primary school teachers to help the audience get over past bitterness and think about present happiness. Could we derive any touch of entertainment from them? What were they here for? Come on, the Chinese people have been working hard throughout the past year. Tonight, they only wanted relaxation and entertainment. I guess at least half of the population did not want to listen to government propaganda on New Year's Eve. Bored, I started working on my mobile phone to send out greeting messages. In no time, my phone was bombarded. I realized my friends were also bored and even annoyed by this dumb show. I wanted to say how much I appreciated the presence of such alternative entertainment. But still, I had some illusion for the mini dramas. Until today, those famous dramas such as Eating Noodles and Guerrilla of A Multiple Children Family are still vividly in my mind. I was hoping to see similar performances reflecting everyday life. This year, although the best performers were still on stage, they delivered nothing comparable. The entertainment side was totally vulgar. There was no smart wit, the soul of such dramas. Even my parents, big fans of the show, admitted they did not like these parts at all. During the show, I also tried other channels. Fortunately, local stations were lazy and simply broadcast the show. Only limited alternatives were available. Frankly speaking, if not for my parents, I would have switched to a local movie channel for some Hong Kong comedy. Anyway, it was so much better to have fun switching channels to search for different programmes. The debate over keeping this show or not has been on for several years. Before this year, I had more sympathy for keeping it. At least, it offered a jolly background for the family gathering. But it seems the programme director can no longer provide novel performances, as entertainment has become a political assignment. It can neither make people laugh nor make people think. What a waste of the huge budget! Now I would like to join the "No" side. |
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