One of the benefits of living with a nerd like Mr. Pop Rocks is I get to take advantage of his awareness of such under-the-radar television shows as IATV’s “Chinese Superman.” Never heard of it? Don’t worry, I hadn’t either until a few weeks ago when I overheard Mr. Pop guffawing in the family room.
I ran towards the laughter and the television, hoping against hope that there was yet another “Mama’s Family” marathon on. Instead, I witnessed what was certainly the most bizarre program I’ve seen in years: “Chinese Superman.”
The show, which airs on Comcast’s Channel 241 with English subtitles, is essentially a Chinese variety program hosted by a very spastic host who acts as if all his guests are turning water into wine in front of our very eyes. In actuality, the guests are performing such “super” acts as:
*Playing musical instruments with their noses
*Stacking coins as rapidly as possible
*Spinning around to make themselves dizzy and then trying to write calligraphy
*Pretending a string that was cut into pieces is actually still one big string
The hyper freakshow attitude of the host coupled with the show’s absolutely atrocious theme music (which is some kind of cross between doctor’s office waiting room and bad porn) somehow forces a viewer to remain transfixed. The studio audience, perhaps under orders from the Chinese government, goes crazy for such supposedly super acts as making funny faces and spinning around and then chopping vegetables. Bizarre.
I don’t actually have much more to add to this, but I would love to know if anyone else out there besides Mr. Pop Rocks and me has gotten into this program. If so, please post, so we don’t feel so alone. And if you haven’t caught a glimpse of it, I urge you to check it out. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Now I’ve got to go and spin around and make some coffee. – Jennifer Mathieu
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2007.