The current ratings of "Year 3 A Class" are Episode 1: 10.2%, Episode 2: 10.6%, Episode 3: 11.0%, Episode 4: 9.3%, Episode 5: 10.4%, Episode 6: 11.7%, Episode 7: 11.9%, Episode 8: 12.0% (according to video research survey, Kanto region). As a series that began airing at 22:30 on the Sunday where I was studying and working the next day, "3 Year A Group - From this moment on, everyone is my hostage - " ( Nippon Television Department ) was a great achievement.
The only single-digit rating was the fourth episode, which aired on January 27, because Arashi held an emergency press conference to announce the suspension of the group's entertainment event, and many viewers flowed to Fuji TV's "mr. Sunday" program, and "Year 3 A Class" chose to be recorded to watch such a very special situation.
Online media coverage and social network responses are among the best not only in this season's Japanese TV series, but also in all previous TV shows. It is undeniable that "Year 3 A Class" has received both numerical and topical affirmations.
However, before the episode aired, the school drama was not optimistic. Negative reviews such as the movie "The Cult of Evil", "Confessions", "Battle Royale", and the TV series "Family Game" (Fuji TV) also abound, and there are many negative voices, and most people in the industry believe that the failure rate of campus dramas is high.
Why did Year 3 Class A have been such a success? Deep into the reasons, we can see the hope and despair of the television industry.
Popular among young people, Jinba teacher-style preaching
Why is "Year 3 Class A" so popular? The biggest reason is that the pace is fast and the story is dramatic. Before the broadcast, viewers who knew the synopsis of the story made harsh comments such as "the TV series in which the teacher imprisons the students for each episode of a major character", "I don't feel that such a long story can still be nervous in the end".
However, after the start of the broadcast, new topics such as "new facts are discovered", "the sharp unfolding of the impact", "the end of the first part", "the opening of the hero chapter", "duel with prisoners", and scenes full of tension appear one after another, although it is basically only a school scene, but it will not make the audience get bored.
The next reason that can be thought of is the role setting of the protagonist Kazuchi Ichisa and the acting skills of Sugata Shoko. Although Mr. Yu is a dangerous person who imprisons students and installs bombs and surveillance cameras in the school to threaten the police, the audience is touched by the enthusiastic guidance shown to the students at the climax of each story.
That gesture is like mr. Kinhachi Sakamoto, played by Takeda Tetsuya, who is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Judging from the title of "3 Years A Class", we also think of the drama "3 Years B Group Golden Eight Teachers" (TBS Station) isn't it?
Moreover, this kind of enthusiastic guidance includes jealousy and resentment, bullying and pressure, as well as irresponsible online replies and unfounded rumors, and these phenomena of not caring or turning a blind eye are not only high school students, but also points of view on the problems of modern people. Let's list a few words of Teacher Yu's words.
"The past self created the present self!" "That's pain! Don't forget that pain for the rest of your life!"" To whom have you poured out your troubles and pains? Say to your friends, classmates, teachers, 'Who's going to save me?'
"Repeated humiliation will become stronger." Never get stronger without losing face in front of everyone!"" Because your casual speech will make others stigmatized as they have never been before! His family! His friend! Maybe they will all be hurt by this. What you're doing is something I can't get back. "You're past the age when you can be emotional and make mistakes at will." That's something that only that age can do!"
Such preaching is reminiscent of the teachers of the Showa period, and the show is actually popular among young people in their 10s and 20s who seem to hate this period the most. In this regard, will the TV producers of each bureau express the surprise of "how can it be..."?
In addition, the plot of the TV series and the lines of Teacher Yu were broadcast simultaneously with the unrealistic news such as "migrant work terror incident" and "guest terrorist attack" that are now popular in the media, and the evaluation suddenly rose after the boom of "3 Year A Class".
At the same time, "3 Years A Class" also led to a network boom through class dance, not only the official account was promoted on Twitter, but also the small video of this dance was released on China's Weibo, and everyone imitated it, creating a super high heat.
Based on the pessimism of TV people's self-belief and strong words
The hot sale of "Year 3 A Class" to people working in the television industry brings hope, "Sunday 22-23 o'clock time slot programs can also achieve good ratings", "campus now has good ratings", "even if it is not a criminal, lawyers, 1 episode and one event TV series can get ratings", "'Teachers imprison students' such an extreme setting can also be accepted by the audience", "Hot-blooded protagonists and didactic scripts can also have high ratings", "Ah". Even most of the young actors with less performance can get ratings"...
These facts brought about by "Year 3 A Class" have brought courage to TV people. However, these are not necessarily positive things. Instead, it can be said, "This makes people see the despair that is spreading in the television industry." ”
The above hopes are all based on the idea of "getting good ratings", which also reflects that TV producers are still stuck in this. For example, "because you can't get ratings", you don't make a school drama, and "In order to get ratings", you make a TV series about an event in 1 episode (more than half of the episodes that are now broadcast in prime time are of this type).
At this point, "Year A Class" is not a TV series with one story in one episode, but a long suspense drama that tracks down a big theme as a whole. Including the idea that "the teacher imprisons the student" may continue to appear, and the posture of "taking the risk to challenge the consciousness" is not found in other television stations, such a setting is a work that will be evaluated by the public regardless of success or failure. However, it is precisely because of this setting that young people who have been exposed to the Internet for a longer time than TV will feel that "this is different from other TV series".
Instead of looking at it in reverse, other TV producers probably have a conjecture and self-hypnotic pessimism about TV dramas, such as "audiences no longer accept school dramas", "TV dramas that combine hot-blooded teachers and preaching have passed", "everyone is very strict about long-form narrative TV dramas that are not 1 story and one story". Even if optimism cannot be formed, the pessimistic atmosphere of "not even a challenge" and "giving up before the challenge" may be the biggest problem facing the television industry at present.
What TV producers need is "let's think!" ”
However, the long plot "Year 3 A Class" set by the hot-blooded teachers of the campus TV series has indeed achieved beautiful results.
Looking back at last year's words, when it comes to the TV series with the greatest response, we have to mention the two works of "Uncle's Love" (AsahiDai) and "I Am Big Brother" (Nippon Tv). In fact, although the average ratings of both works are in the first digit, they have also won the "Work Award", the highest award of the "confidence award Japanese Drama Awards" recognized by the industry. Compared with the quality of the work, the audience and censors commented on the series as "a challenge to new things" and "caused repercussions in society".
That is, for people outside the TV industry, "it has nothing to do with ratings" and "wants to see something new or haven't seen it." And does the marketing strategy of TV series producers who stick to ratings deviate from the audience's feelings?
On the other hand, a TV series that ends with a small story in 1 episode, although the ratings reach 8-15%, but even online news is difficult to see, it is very lacking in topicality, even if people who have watched it have a lot of people who will say "don't remember the plot". Although there is no doubt that such gatherings have a certain demand, they have also received evaluations such as "it is easy to watch the unfolding of an episode of the story" and "even if you miss 1 episode, you will not be affected", and the main target of the audience has become middle-aged and elderly, which is very similar to the status of historical dramas in the past.
Although the aging society will continue in the future, the mass production of TV dramas that can easily end the event in one episode obviously lacks the future development, and it is difficult to become a favorite work of 10-30 generations that is easily directly related to consumption. In fact, it is often heard from the staff of various TELEVISION stations: "The ratings are barely maintained, but the sales are not very good, and the sponsoring companies are also very subtle."
In order to avoid bias in the understanding of this article, here is a direct explanation, the point of this article is not to say that the TV series that ends an event in 1 sentence is not good. The problem is that based on the current TV market, it is no longer suitable for works that are strategically inclined to use a single indicator of ratings.
Should we dare to challenge new things as the best goal like "Year 3 A Class", "Uncle's Love", and "I Am Big Brother"? Or is it best to continue to aim for a TV series that ends an event in 1 episode? Under repeated questioning from the students, Mr. Zhao proposed "let's think!" (Try to think)" tips, which is also an essential message for TV producers to see.
The "challenges" and "passions" that should be learned from the ground up
In any case, "Year 3 A Class" has achieved results such as "getting the highest level of response on the Internet" and "gathering the attention and support of young people", which not only represents the work itself, but also proves that the future TV drama industry still has high potential.
From the image of Mr. Zhao, who fights for his life to persuade students, we can feel the "challenge" and "enthusiasm" often seen in tv shows in the 80s and early 90s of the last century. As mentioned above, an event series that focuses on ending one episode loses such diversity because it is far from these central spirits.
It is not only TV dramas that forget the "challenges" and "enthusiasm" of the past and lose diversity, but also variety shows. In order to ensure the lowest ratings, the program team has continuously launched life information programs for middle-aged and elderly people, programs about Japanese praise, and guessing programs for the family level have been mass-produced, resulting in the impression that "television is the same" centered on young people.
It is impossible for a good television producer not to be aware of these hidden problems. However, they are only wage earners in a large enterprise, so they are caught in the dilemma of "not being able to greatly reduce the number in front of them" and "however, their business habits for many years in this period cannot be changed, and the problems cannot be solved for a long time".
"Year 3 A Class" is not special, but represents a program that should be available to every TV station that can make the audience feel "challenged" and "enthusiastic". If works like "Year 3 A Class" can appear one after another, the TV industry should continue to be at the top of the entertainment industry.