Article | Liang Xiangzi

Good concept, poor presentation, Xu Zheng's "Eating on the Road" seems to be really "awful". Celebrity crossover variety show producer? It’s already difficult to act well, so don’t add to the variety show market.

Speaking of Xu Zheng, many people should think of his "囧" series of movies, which are based on the embarrassing lives of middle-class men, whether it is "囧囧", "囧囧" or "囧囧" ", Xu Zheng seems to be trying to establish the spiritual core of his "comedy star".

"Of all things in the world, food and love are the only things we cannot live up to." In an era when poisonous chicken soup is rampant, this catchphrase seems to be quite heartfelt. It reminds people that in addition to fame, there is also the small and small things at the moment. happiness is also precious. In fact, "Eating on the Road" combines comedy and food variety shows, externalizes the pleasure brought by food through a light comedy style, and uses food as a carrier to show ordinary people's love for life. It is indeed an original show program.

Secondly, the delicacies presented in "Eating on the Road" are the most "people-friendly" food, and the "eating and shopping" section presents the most "life-oriented" issues, such as the first issue The instant noodles on the train mentioned in the program, the 30 yuan flight meal made by Jian Kitchen, and the meat dumplings, Wenhu sauce duck, chili sauce, 68 yuan at the Jiaxing service station in the "Eat and Eat" section Buffets, etc. are food and living situations in people's daily lives. To bring touches in ordinary life to the audience, "Shi囧" strives to take a thoughtful route.

But as the saying goes, there will be no disappointment without expectations. "Eat on the Road", which has been aired for 11 episodes and is about to end this week, failed to achieve the same results as the "囧" series of movies. With a low score of 4.5 on Douban and slightly poor word-of-mouth performance, Xu Zheng's first attempt as a variety show producer failed. He originally wanted to make the "囧" brand more substantial, but he didn't know that the reality was so skinny.

Xu Zheng also thought of celebrities such as Zhou Xun, Stephen Chow, Chen Kun, Li Yifeng, etc., who have become producers and producers of variety shows. However, as they want to gain more markets with the help of their personal brand effects, should they add a little impetuosity to the already restless variety show market, or should they make some substantial contributions?

It wastes the core concept of "turning embarrassment into joy",

"Eating on the Road" does have a lot of problems

As a first-rate show in the country The original light comedy food reality show, the chief producer of "Eating on the Road" once expressed the concept of the program: Each episode has a different theme, using food as a clue, by showing the ordinary "囧" foods and "囧" in life. "The story conveys the concept of the show - life will inevitably encounter dissatisfaction, but no matter what kind of embarrassing situation you encounter, as long as you have a humorous heart, you can "turn embarrassment into happiness".

To be honest, when Tongxiangjun saw this introduction before the show started, he was still very interested. After all, the happy externalization of food and the "embarrassing" elements accumulated by Xu Zheng were grafted on. It should also be good. But the results don't seem to be ideal. In general, the problems of "Eat on the Road" mainly include several aspects:

1. The platter-style program setting failed to reflect the theme of the program

"Eat on the Road" "On the Road" has been aired for 11 episodes, and the routine is clearly visible: a combination of "indoor + outdoor", each episode includes at least several links of "talk show + sketch + circle of friends interview + experimental kitchen + food search". Focusing on different themes, such as the nightlife of the post-90s generation, campus food, food during travel, health food, etc., it is composed of regular guests (Xu Zheng, Song Xiaobao, Yin Zheng, Guo Qilin, Yi Yi) + guests in each issue (Cecilia Cheung, Gao Xiaosong, Hua Chenyu, Chen Yihan...) and others are trying to present the concept of "the world is so big, I want to have a taste".

Doesn’t this platter of chowder look good? In fact, one depends on the lineup, the other depends on the expressiveness of the guests, and the third depends on whether the theme of the program is expressed through such a platter. Of course, the rhythm is also very important. As for the first two points, as far as "Eat on the Road" is concerned, the lineup is actually okay, but Song Xiaobao has too many variety shows; in terms of guest performance, the star artists of "Eat on the Road" are different in age, personality, culture The coverage of background and other aspects is very wide, and it tries to take care of a wide range of groups as much as possible. It’s just that Guo Qilin’s presence is too weak. And the more critical thing is the third point.

Judging from the title, "Eating on an embarrassing journey" focuses on "embarrassing journeys" and "eating", which are the embarrassing things that people encounter while looking for delicious food.

First of all, what we need to see is whether the theme of each issue is closely related to the concept that the program wants to convey: from "Travel Food" in the first issue to "College Food", "Nightlife of the Post-90s", and "Mars Foodie" , "Hong Kong Food", "Eating Hearts", "New Year's Eve Dinner", "Barbeque Theme", "Hot Pot Banquet", "Red Wine Culture", "One City, One Side", not only does the 11th program not have one Clear clues present the concept of "eating on the wrong road", and the thematic structure is illogical. Mr. Tongxiang couldn’t help but question, didn’t the program team really just come up with a program every time an idea suddenly occurred to them?

"Eat on the Road" uses a platter approach to try to make the content of the program fuller and to diversify the presentation of the program. This is understandable. However, this does not mean that multiple types of programs are mechanically cobbled together. Otherwise, it would be like watching "Happy Comedian" + "Tian Tian Xiang Shang" (food theme) + a pure food program that teaches cooking. At the same time, the show's overall presentation of food is sparse, and the concept of the food itself and the meaning behind it are downplayed, and it seems that the real name does not match the actual name.

2. The logic is offline, how can the overall feeling be "chaos"?

The overall feeling after watching "Eating on the Road" is "chaos", this is a platter with it It is related to the program setting and its "ambition".

A one-hour variety show requires talk shows, skits, experiments, food hunting, and guest interviews. The end result is that every link is rushed by. , every link seems rushed, thin, and every link is fragmented.

Taking the second episode as an example, first Xu Zheng and Yin Zheng went to the canteen where the show was held to look for steamed buns; then they went to the studio, and Xu Zheng and Gao Xiaosong had a conversation for about 4 minutes. Suddenly Gao Xiaosong I became an audience again and started watching the sketch "Green Pepper of Love". Then, Gao Xiaosong began to taste cocktails; finally, he entered the experimental kitchen and watched the chefs making strange dishes at the entrance of the university cafeteria.

Regarding the program flow, Mr. Tongxiang said that he didn’t know what the logical clues were, and he really wanted the program team to explain it.

Therefore, the biggest problem in "Eat on the Road" lies in the word "chaos". The show has always seemed to want to capture the clue of "囧". After all, this is a word that carries a big IP. However, what is the relationship between the program's link setting, editing clues and the word "囧"? What does "囧" mean in this variety show? Not very clear.

3. Xu Zheng’s identity is unknown.

The most important thing is, for "Eat on the Road", what is Xu Zheng's identity?

A co-producer of the show? Is he the show's "Boss"? Is it the host of the show? Is it the backbone of the show? Or an actor performing a sketch?

These identities are all correct, but even if he can occasionally tell funny jokes, Xu Zheng's other humor and wisdom are not fully displayed, and his "囧" brand culture has not been extended by variety shows. This has to be said to be the regret of "Eat on the Road".

As the core IP in the show, Xu Zheng's performance can actually be better. For example, in the talk show part, he was still a little timid, as if someone commented: "Xu Zheng has his own comedy value, but the program team has not figured out how to position it according to the program plan. Although humor and wisdom are his personality, they are not enough The unforgettable "Boss" that supports the entire show certainly doesn't help."

A producer of a cross-border variety show,

Don't have the money to make it happen?

Whether a variety show is good or not is related to its production, but if it is "produced", it is unfair to take all the blame. Looking at today's variety show market, if you carefully sort it out, you will find that "celebrity control" has become a new trend. The "master control" here is sometimes not based on the character setting, but also on the capital behind it. And when these celebrity artists become producers of variety shows, do they really bring any different fireworks to the market?

Speaking of artists becoming variety show producers, there have been Zhou Xun's "Journey to the West" and "24 Hours" which seemed to be a star-studded show but was actually directed by Chen Kun. It is reported that Stephen Chow is also testing the waters of variety shows The producers, including Xu Zheng of "Eat on the Road" and Li Yifeng, the producer of "Let's Go", are really capable of tossing the stars.

So, what about these shows they produce? "Eat on the Road" was so "chaotic" that it couldn't take care of itself. "Journey to the West" scored 4.4 on Douban. After the Korean team withdrew from the second season of "24 Hours", word-of-mouth ratings were not as good as those of the first season. In fact, their capital investment did not bring new hits to the variety show market, but instead added more money and impetuousness.

The reason is that Mr. Tongxiang believes that although the quality of a program requires the full efforts of the producer, the producer is not just a "funder". The producer needs to be responsible for the early stage market research of the program to see whether the program has prospects, and through the investigation, decide whether it is worth producing the program. The producer is the soul of the program and determines the style of the program, market trends, etc. But in fact, many celebrity artists obviously do not really understand the true meaning of "producer" and do not know much about the production of variety shows. In the end, they just use variety shows to strengthen the construction of their personal brands.

Perhaps, it is precisely because of this desire to "nugget" and an impetuous mentality that we have lost more and more "hot" variety shows. Artists might as well do their duty first and become a good actor in a real way. If you must come, it is best to let your wings be full first.