You're tuned in to Roundtable.
I'm Steve Hatherly.
Today with Niu Honglin and Yushan.
Coming up, 10 seconds, one choice.
Your perfect match or total chaos?
Real Short brings the speed of microdrama to reality TV with Love Holds bombing.
It's a new show, but it's not just a new show, it's an experiment.
Would you bet on love at first sight?
After that, if you've had a tough week and you need a little happiness to kick start your weekend, roundtable's happy place is on the way.
So worry not and stay tuned for that.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts.
And don't forget, we want to hear your voice, so send those voice notes our way.
You can find us at roundtablepodcast at qq.com.
Send your emails to roundtablepodcast at qq.com.
And now imagine a dating show where you only get 10 seconds to decide if someone is your match.
It sounds exciting and that's exactly the concept behind what's called love bombing.
It's the first short form reality dating show for phone screens, specifically launched by real short.
That's a chinese micro drama platform maker, And it's in North America.
It's making waves in North America.
And it's not just another love show, by the way.
It's the moment where a fast-paced world of micro-dramas runs head-on into reality TV.
But I don't know and I guess this is one of the things we're going to talk about if this is going to work or not.
What is love bombing?
Yeah.
I think you just gave a very detailed explanation on what it is.
So yes, it's micro drama, but also yes, it's kind of in a reality or variety TV show kind of style.
So it's a mix of both.
I'm so curious why young people can manage to watch so different genres at the same time.
I watched it this morning in preparation for this, right?
So I went online and I found some episodes and I watched them.
Do you like it?
Well, before I watched them, my question was, what is love bombing?
And then after I watched them, my question was, What is love bond?
I still don't I still I get it, but I don't know.
I think we need to talk more about it.
Yeah.
And in theory, let's say, the show brings together 40 singles who are all looking for love, but with a twist, or if not many twists.
And the contestants.
They decide in just seconds whether to step forward for someone they like or step back if there is no spark between the two.
So from there, they pair up, they go on mini dates and try to build connections.
And that's all captured as short micro dramas for people to watch on their phone.
And also they have this very interesting.
I would say strange setting for the show.
So if contestants fail to find a match, they don't just go home empty-handed, but they can earn 2000 each time they successfully break up another couple.
Wait, wait, wait.
What is break up other couple?
Yeah, you work on some schemes on break somebody up that's already in pair up.
Like you separate those pairs.
Have you not seen American dating shows before?
I mean, this is where the drama comes from.
So, yeah.
So here's how it goes.
Yeah, there are many micro things.
So they're really short.
You watch them on your phone.
They don't take long.
One episode doesn't take long at all.
If you go online now, you can binge the whole first season, which I think takes place within 15 minutes or 20 minutes or something like that.
Then there's a season one reunion.
I think I saw that, which is 48 minutes.
So that's where all the cast, I think it was 48 minutes.
That's where all the cast members will come back.
And it's like an after show episode where they discuss like what happened and what drama took place and things like that.
But within the episodes themselves um, they have these kind of B roll shots where the contestants are sitting alone talking like yeah, one of the things I really like is a guy with blue eyes, but he has to have a great personality too.
And don't date very much and I don't know if I'm gonna find success here or not and then it'll cut back to them in the studio and the two contestants are there on camera alone looking at each other, and they'll they'll do some short interaction, right like they'll say some things to each other.
They've got ten seconds to do it.
If they like each other, if there's a vibe, they step forward, and And if they don't, they step back.
10 seconds.
Yep.
If they step forward, it means they're a couple.
So in the entertainment world, at the very beginning we have three-minute short videos explaining a movie.
And later we have these mini-dramas, which are essentially 15-minute shows separated into around several episodes, and you finish one episode in just one minute.
And now...
We are, instead of turning the short clips of the variety shows that we like to watch onto the form of the short video platforms, we're actually creating short video drama style reality shows.
Yeah, these are unscripted, apparently.
Unscripted out?
Well, that's the whole debate about reality shows, how much of the show is actually scripted or not.
But the concept is that they're unscripted.
I kind of understand the idea or the goal, since this is the very first one, just yet.
The Law of Bombing, the first short-form reality show.
So I get it.
Nowadays, people have shorter attention spans.
And also we're already kind of familiar with some of the actors in the short drama.
We kind of like them.
They're actors.
Yeah, let's talk about that.
So who's on this show, by the way?
Because these are a mix of non-actor participants and then actors like real actors from other real short dramas that have already been produced.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a little bit like a mix of cast in the same concept of other or traditional variety shows that you have actors or have stars and also you have people from grassroots people who have no experience whatsoever in the entertainment world, joining it and interacting with the stars.
Yeah.
In my opinion, how good they are in acting out a storyline that looks like a real reality show.
You don't buy it.
No, I never truly think that, especially for, say, romantic scenes.
I almost have this impression, ever since I was very young, that this is a setup so that, So that the audience will have this impression.
Oh, they're so sweet.
Oh, it's so sad that they're breaking up.
So it's all about how they're going to hook you up and keep you watching.
So if everything is so happy ending, then where's the climax of the whole story?
Not everything is a happy ending, though.
That's the drama.
I think people enjoy watching these types of things and just reality shows in general, not because of the people who actually do end up getting together and staying together.
Sure, that creates a nice story.
But I think people watch this for the fighting, the arguing, the trying to getting two thousand dollars to sabotage someone else's relationship.
That's the hook.
I think i don't think people watch this with feel good.
Um, ever after happily, ever after vibes yeah yeah, but well, my previous point was that i get.
Why are people doing this?
Because we believe viewers now have less time and do not want to spend more time of an hour watching someone talking to each other, getting together and breaking up.
Yet the concept works for short dramas because they're dramas, they're well scripted and you see within one minute you see two twists.
That's okay.
But In reality, if we say these are variety shows that happen between real people with their real emotions, would that kind of conflict and drama happen so densely in so short period of time?
Yeah, I mean, that's the question.
There's an American show called Love is Blind.
I don't know if you've heard of this or not.
It exists in a lot of different markets around the world.
There's one in Sweden.
There's...
One in Japan, there's a bunch of other countries, but it originated in the United States.
And the concept.
That show, and the reason it's called love, is blind is because yes, it is a reality dating show.
But here's the twist in the end will they get married or will they not?
It's supposed to happen within a month or two, but in the beginning.
So there's different stages to the show.
In stage one, the contestants meet in these pods.
So these are rooms that are divided in half and the contestants can't see each other.
One is on one side of the wall.
One is on the other.
The only thing they can do is talk to each other.
And many contestants do that.
And then stage two, they move on where they finally meet and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And then the conclusion is, will they get married or will they not?
But the concept is, can you actually fall in love with someone without ever seeing them?
And the numbers, the viewing numbers are crazy high.
They're over a billion for certain episodes.
So I'm going to disagree with what you said Junglin, because I think, as much as the world is headed towards mini micro, this and mini micro, that there are certain genres where people do want to sit down and watch with a glass of wine or a bowl of popcorn and watch people fight and argue in their relationships or end up getting married.
I still believe that that's a popular drama, type of drama watched at full length.
I think it depends on the kind of design or concept or demographic or the type of question you want to discuss.
Because though, we're talking about love and relationship romantic, And also whether or not people click at first sight or we need time to get along.
But still, there are so many sub-themes that people are discussing with these kind of shows.
There are a lot of different types of love or romantic variety shows here in China in the Chinese market.
There are the ones with the celebrity and people who are not nobody but who are not definitely a celebrity um.
Common to see person in the celebrity and non-celebrity.
Celebrity and non-celebrity we also see that sounds fun.
How's that go?
Well, that is one type of show, and well, it's more like talking to each other and finding each other's um, It's the same thing.
They're all people.
It doesn't really matter whether we're not celebrity or non-celebrity in that setting.
And also there are other settings like really young kids dating each other and also middle-aged people finding love and also elder generation.
When I say elder, I mean some in the age of 60, 70, 80.
80s.
An 80s reality dating show.
Well, they would look for completely different things.
That's really fun to watch, by the way.
People are straightforward to the dead bottom.
I bet.
Yes.
And also divorcing shows.
People who want to get divorced or already divorced and who are.
They have already divorced each other, but they come back to the show and live together.
Not living together, but you know, do the show together for a while.
So all these different types of shows are popular because they discuss different things in life.
And also yeah, I stand with Honglin on this one, because a lot of times people sit down and spend a long time watching, for example, Love is Blind, because in real, day-to-day life that's not something we would do exactly.
It's like a horror movie.
Yeah right, the reason people like horror movies is because you don't actually live inside a horror movie.
Well, hopefully so.
Yeah, for those kind of genres, of course, people sit down and watch, but if it's just a bunch of 24 year old, that's Choosing love in 10 seconds and no more than 15 minutes is how people would like it.
One of the really fun things about Love is Blind, is that they can't see each other, but they choose their partner right.
But in stage two, they finally get to see face-to-face all the people they didn't choose.
And you can see the disappointment in some of their faces because they're like oh, I chose the non hot person.
And that guy was why didn't I choose that guy or that girl?
It's really fun.
I love it.
Back to real short.
Is this an experiment?
Is this a trend?
Is this a path that where the next short form media is headed?
Well, back in China, the short variety shows they are actually the result of years of evolution.
So it's not just a temporary experiment here.
It started from early vertical experiments, learning from short dramas and also now evolving into a full-blown hybrid of variety, storytelling and even commerce.
So early experiments started a few years ago, ever since 2019, where iQiyi Kuaishou and CCTV and other online video channels they tested vertical format variety shows.
Some really went popular, like the 这样的夏天 this young summer's.
To be honest, I'm not really an audience of this type of show, but I've heard a few of them.
And also there are short drama.
That's laying the groundwork where vertical short dramas are giving just great attention-grabbing tricks to hook up their audiences.
There's the quick-pacing nature of it, the high-conflict close-ups for emotion outbursts and stuff like that.
So that's all, I would assume, what people are looking for in these type of short dramas.
Do you believe in falling in love in 10 seconds?
Nope.
Not for me.
But I think in this day and age, to start with, anything's possible.
And also for the portrait or landscape kind of experiment or kind of project.
You definitely have different content for different format.
And I see this as part of the experiment.
People are still trying to find out the best content for the best format.
And that will happen in just a short while.
My wife asked me, Steve, when you first saw me, did you feel like, what did you feel?
And I said, oh, I saw this beautiful woman.
And immediately I thought, maybe there's some potential here.
Who knows?
Who knows where this can go?
But I feel something.
And I asked my wife, when you saw me, did you feel that same feeling?
And she said, oh, absolutely not.
See?
Apparently not love at first 10 seconds for her.
Maybe 10 years.
Maybe that'll happen then.
Thank you for sharing that.
Oh, yeah.
We've got Roundtable's Happy Place on the way.
Stick around.
Delivery.
Delivery.
Delivery.
What is it?
Happiness from Roundtable.
Happy place time.
Niu Honglin, what do you have for us today?
Well, I want to share something that's really making me happy this week and hopefully, will continue to make me happy for the following many, many weeks.
That is...
I have never been a big fan of exercise, especially running.
I like to go home, lie down, and till I go to bed.
So from bed to bed.
I don't.
I think running is boring and I find it hard to stick with.
Yet recently I realized exercising do make me happy.
You just have to find the right form of exercise very, very nice.
So how did this come about then?
Well, i um run into some dancing video on the internet and i decided i like the music, why not move along, move my limbs along with the music?
So i started to find around 10 minutes, 20 minutes, to find a place to of just dancing in your house, dancing in my house, following the movements on the short videos not very short 20 minute video and i cannot.
I cannot keep up with it at the very first tries and it does not stop me.
And after exercising for that short period of time, i realized how happy i was.
I can be wow yes it's, it's is quite nice.
And i want to share this because i want to tell all of you who are not a big fan of running, like myself exercising is good for you, it's good for your health, it's good for your mood and it does not have to be that heavy.
It has does not have to be a major change in your daily routine.
You can definitely pick 10 minutes, 20 minutes in your life, and even you can separate those 20 minutes into four or five minutes, Stand up and exercise for five minutes and go back to work.
Buy certain gadgets.
I recently bought a gadget that is a music-synced punching pad.
What's a music-synced punching pad?
It's a toy.
It's kind of like a boxing toy.
You can attached onto the wall and you can attach your uh headset with it using bluetooth and the music.
You can listen to the music and on the pad there are six different areas that will light up with the rhythm of music and you can play boxing and just punch on it.
You so the the the pad will light up in a certain area and that's the area you're supposed to hit.
Yes, it's fun.
It's give you an opportunity to exercise to the point that you sweat a little and it makes you happy, and giving you more energy to deal with your busy day.
Gosh, I'm so proud of you.
Hong don't know new holing that well.
She is a modern day chinese.
Her mining all right.
She's got that time shifter who, who is always busy with something.
You can't find her, but she's always so perfectly able to get everything done in time.
She's that kind of person.
But this is the first time i have ever heard that exercising could be, among all other things, part of your schedule.
That's making you happy.
It should be part of your schedule.
I highly recommend for those who think that your life is so busy, your work is too much, you cannot really find any time to do anything.
Guess what?
You can always find a little bit time to restart or to boost the energy level in your life, and that will make you even more efficient.
What's the next step?
It's only been a week.
There is no next step.
Let me stay with this step for longer.
Yeah, that's a good happen.
That's fair.
Um, i'll keep my happy place short.
Uh, today nobody's going to care about this, but the nfl is back.
That is the national football league in america.
It's american football, and there's two reasons i'm excited about this.
Number one is that Football is one of my favorite sports.
So I watch the games while I'm here in China.
I still watch the streams.
There was a live game this morning that I was able to catch bits and pieces of, and that's a wonderful thing.
But I think the thing that I love most about football being back is that we have these football group chats, right?
Where friends of mine who are also football lovers, we start talking to each other again at this time of year.
Are they from the same country?
No, we're spread out.
We are spread out all over the world.
We have members in Thailand Canada Korea europe, i think yeah, all over the place.
And it's not that we don't like each other during the off season, it's just that, i don't know, we're dudes and we just put you.
You know football, we love football.
So when football starts again, all of a sudden the group, the group chat, starts getting active again and uh, we get to.
You know, during our football chats we'll say like oh, so by the way, what's going on?
Oh, you had a kid.
That's cool, is it?
I mean, you know, like that kind of stuff.
And the similarity here is that you do something a little bit different in your daily routine and it gives you a little bit of happiness.
Yeah, exactly.
So there you go.
If you needed a smile on your face, hopefully we provided one for you.
And that will do it for today's roundtable.
Thank you to you all and have a great day.
We'll see you next time.
