To Have "Golden" Ratings the "Co-hosts" Need Talent

"Golden Co-hosts" is a show that blows people's minds.

During the long, hot summer, every Wednesday there is another playground in Taipei. On this new playground there are no roller coasters, no boat rides, nor train rides. It's the set where "Golden Co-hosts" is filmed.

Around 1:00 p.m. the field outside the set is filled with hundreds of gaping children all trying to get a good look as each star arrives.

The hosts of "Golden Co-hosts" are infantile clowns. But the children love them. Their verbal trademark, "It blows my mind!" has become a staple in the children's vocabulary too.

According to Shen T'ien-lu, advertising planner for the Chin Yuan Record Company, the thing that makes these infantile clowns so popular is the opening of the show where all five of them shout in unison, "How is everybody?" The children, electrified and jumping from their seats, reply thunderously, "Great!" This animated and cordial opening establishes a great rapport between the performers and their audience. The exaggerated acting, comedy, and great prizes also really seem to please the children.

According to Ch'en Yu-chu, the executive producer of the show, more than one third of the viewers of "Golden Co-hosts" are children. These days children can commandeer the selection of a television station in the home; that's why it's not hard to understand why the show has maintained ratings of over 30% for as long as two years and eight months.

Liang K'un-chieh, the director of the show, thinks that the ratings success is due to the fact that "Golden Co-hosts" seems to meet the modern viewing needs of the public. He explains, "People in this day and age experience a lot of pressure and need a little fun. They want a program that doesn't require a lot of brainwork or concentration. Both adults and children may experience failures in work or school. In the skits in 'Golden Co-hosts' characters in superior positions are lampooned and mocked by characters in subordinate positions, and this makes everybody forget their troubles."

Like many other programs on television, "Golden Co-hosts" is full of singing, dancing, and comedy skits. But why is it so much more popular than all the rest?

Producer Huang Chien-fu analyzes it thus, "Five stooges are better than one smart guy." The five co-hosts of the show work together as a team, and it's their group chemistry that is such a smashing success.

Besides having the basic elements of comedy down, the performers have years of stage experience and are excellent at improvising a wide range of emotions. Besides Chang Fei's twelve years of experience, and Chien Ch'ang's three years, the other three hosts each have twenty years of stage work under their belts.

Besides impersonation, Ni Min-jan is also a talented linguist and sings popular songs in Fukienese, Taiwanese opera in Hakka, Peking opera in Suchow dialect, and Cantonese opera in English. Everything he does brings hilarity to the audience.

Chang Fei is most talented with musical instruments; he can play guitar, piano, bass, trumpet, and can also sing. He can handle rock and romantic English language or Chinese songs.

Hsu Feng has experience as an emcee on many other television shows and looks more respectable, so all the games on the program are hosted by him.

Lo Chiang plays the chubby, comical scapegoat of the group.

After some business failures, Chien Ch'ang was helped by Chang Fei to get into acting. In "Golden Co-hosts" he usually doesn't speak as much as the others, and so is a refreshing influence in this group of old hams.

One of the creators of the show, Yao I-chun, explains, "The performers have confidence in their own experience, improvisation, and charisma." The writers only have to brief them on each skit, and with a simple rehearsal half an hour before the show, they are ready to go on the air.

Asst. Professor Niu Ch'uan-hai of Fu Jen University says, "This kind of adlibbing is much more theatrical and is refreshing for the television audience."

Although the show is popular among children, it was judged by some psychiatrists and education specialists to be in poor taste and violent, examples which could damage character development in youth. For example, Chao Hung, sociology professor at National Cheng Chi University, has written this criticism of the show: "The program combines stupidity, violence, backwardness, immorality, and inhumanity."

There are some people who view it differently. Niu Ch'uan-hai says, "The standard by which to judge whether the show is good or bad should take into consideration what it is trying to accomplish." For instance, if the aim of the program is cultural elevation, and it meets this need, then it's good. But if the aim of the program is to make people laugh and forget their troubles, then "Golden Co-hosts" is one of the better of these types of programs.

The criticism naturally affects the spirit of those who work on the show. "Golden Co-hosts" recently gave a charity performance to raise money for the ROC adult baseball team's trip to Japan this August in hopes of improving the program's image.

"Golden Co-hosts' is a career high point for the five of us on the show. Besides continuing to bring people laughs, we're going to do our best to find ways to repay society," Chang Fei says in an uncharacteristically serious mood.

[Picture Caption]

Before shooting the show, stage hands try out "Golden Co-hosts."

Hsu Feng

Ni Min-jan

Lo Chiang

Chang Fei

Chien Ch'ang

During a break in shooting, the five "co-hosts" go down into the audience to have some fun with the children.

"The Music Class" is a popular skit. With the talented Chang Fei (left) and Ni Min-jan, there's never a dull moment.

East, West, ancient, and modern take the stage in a "Co-host" farce.

Chang Fei (right) and Chien Ch'ang (left) strut their stuff. (photo by C hang T'an-li)

A "Golden Co-hosts" specialty —the skits are live.

"Golden Co-hosts" did a show to raise money for the ROC baseball team to improve the show's image.