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The story
On September 10, Nippon Television held a briefing on its October programming lineup at Shiodome, Tokyo, announcing that to mark the show’s 50th anniversary, it will revive “Ultra Quiz: Across America” as a New Year’s special for the first time in about 30 years. Shuichi Oi, head of the network’s General Programming Center, reportedly explained that it’s precisely because viewers are drifting away from TV that a big “festival”-style production is needed. On the 5ch Entertainment/Sports News+ thread reacting to the announcement, posters traded opinions on whether America — once a dream destination — still holds the same appeal for today’s youth, who might host the show, and whether the budget will match the show’s heyday.
Nippon Television held its October programming briefing on the 10th at its Shiodome offices in Tokyo. Regarding “Ultra Quiz: Across America” (slated to air over the New Year holidays), which returns after roughly 30 years to mark the show’s 50th anniversary, General Programming Center department head Shuichi Oi explained why now — amid the ongoing drift away from television — is the moment to bring it back.
■ “The weak yen makes it tough, doesn’t it” — yet here’s why they’re reviving it anyway
During the Q&A portion of the briefing, on the subject of “Ultra Quiz: Across America,”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
High schoolers can't participate in the first place.
Young women travel domestically or to Korea, and young guys would rather stay home gaming than travel at all.
Korea? No way lol.
It'd be more like Malaysia or somewhere like that.
Korea's not really it these days.
That's more of a misconception 40-somethings have.
Young people now are into places like Europe — especially the Nordics. Finland in particular got some odd promotion from feminist circles too.
is packed with lonely old men,
so there's no fix left for the aging, dwindling userbase.
It survives purely on traffic to the live-commentary and news boards —
boards that just freeload
off old media.
Sorry to say, that's us.
Sitting in the living room with TV as our only pleasure.
Why a Johnny's talent?
Akira Fukuzawa is only associated with the High School Quiz to me.
I think they're saying a Johnny's talent is the Reiwa-era equivalent of Kyosen Ohashi or Fukutome, so we should just accept the new Ultra Quiz.
But honestly, that same move's already been done to death on other big TV specials nobody normally cares about anyway.
Don't underestimate how brutal the Ultra Quiz location shoots are.
Fukuzawa's already a grandpa in his 60s.
You don't even need to watch it to know that.
I'd love to hear that BGM again — the one that plays after you answer every question right.
that's what I want from it. It'd be a letdown if it just turns into a festival for quiz nerds.
But then there's the dilemma that without quiz nerds, the matches won't be exciting to watch.
@
I actually took part in Ultra Quiz: Across America 🇺🇸.
Spotted a few famous contestants too!
So happy I got to join 👍👍👍
It airs January 1st and 2nd next year.
With the Hakone Ekiden also on, NTV's ratings are guaranteed to skyrocket 🫵🫵🫵
Every young Japanese person today admires Korea —
they probably don't even know a country called America lol.
A Korea-crossing Ultra Quiz could be done on an even grander, more epic scale.
America's old news lol.
The era belongs to Korea now,
and K-pop culture is what Japanese people admire.
Get it, Japanese media?
Admiring Korea? That's such a 40-something uncle-and-auntie thing to say.
That'd just push people further away.
He can throw some venom in too.
I think it'd work to have a different announcer at each location, then narrow it down to whoever gets the best response from viewers.
Announcers would probably go all out too, knowing there's a real shot at becoming the face of Ultra Quiz —
basically running the actual broadcast and an audition at the same time.
NTV really loves a continent-crossing show, huh.
They've got the know-how from overseas shoots.
This time the Ultra Quiz is being run by the staff behind Itte Q (World's Best Adventurers).
They're not going anywhere like Saipan.
Wherever Japanese tourism dropped off, Chinese and Korean tourists are probably spending the money there instead.
What's actually needed right now is solid dramas and programs.
Just airing properly researched content like National Geographic or the History Channel would already put you ahead of the pack.
Nobody's gonna watch some deadly serious show like that lol.
Everything else has celebrities as the answerers.
There's Attack 25, though it's on BS.
I used to think that by the 21st century we'd have quiz shows going to space, but I guess we haven't progressed that far after all.
Background and Key Points of Debate
“Ultra Quiz: Across America” was a beloved NTV special that drew huge popularity from the 1970s through the 1990s, and this marks its revival after roughly 30 years to coincide with the show’s 50th anniversary. Nippon TV’s stated reasoning — that now, amid the ongoing drift away from television, is exactly the right time — reflects a backdrop in which the spread of streaming services keeps eroding real-time viewership among younger audiences; the network appears to be betting that a large-scale location shoot can generate buzz by recreating that old “festival” atmosphere. Thread opinion split mainly along two lines. The first concerns the pull of “America” itself as a destination: several posters noted that between the weak yen and the wider range of overseas travel options now available, it no longer holds the same aspirational status it once did. The second is the choice of host: names like Isao Fukutome and Akira Fukuzawa, who hosted in the show’s heyday, came up nostalgically, but no actual casting has been confirmed, and it’s worth noting that most of these comments are speculation predating any official announcement. Some posters also worried about a shrunken budget or fewer filming locations, though the briefing didn’t reveal any specifics on production details.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “‘We Need a Festival Precisely Now, With TV Losing Viewers’ — NTV’s Thoughts Behind Reviving ‘Ultra Quiz: Across America’ With a Massive Production Budget.”
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