Dee Hsu (left) and Kevin Tsai Photo: IC

"I  would like to say goodbye to Kangsi Coming… I want to make some changes…. I will always remember this wonderful journey," Kevin Tsai, a famous Chinese Taiwan television host posted on Sina Weibo in farewell to his long-time running program Kangsi Coming Friday afternoon. Tsai's sudden resignation  has stunned netizens, especially fans of the TV program which has been running for almost 12 years.

Even more shocking is that Tsai's decision was quickly followed by Dee Hsu's. The hostess for the same program, Dee Hsu wrote about 10 minutes later that the program, which was co-created with Tsai, would be incomplete without him and she has made up her mind to "advance or retreat together."

But, upon reflection, Kangsi Coming's end was not a total surprise. In fact, its decline reflects the state Taiwan variety shows' development over the past decade or so.

80s heyday

It is no exaggeration to say that "Taiwan variety shows influenced a whole generation of the post 1980s Chinese." Years ago, when this group of people were still in school, it was often a common scene to see a group of them gathered together watching programs like Guess Guess Guess, Kangsi Coming, or Everybody Speaks Nonsense.

Compared to variety shows broadcasted on the mainland back then, programs from Taiwan were often more interesting and covered bolder topics.

Produced by Chungta Production in 2009, the interview program Kangsi Coming soon swept both the island and the mainland. A "bookish" man and a "crazy" woman resonated with the mainland audience. They were both shocked and entertained by Hsu's boldness. She once asked Lien Chan, a former leader of the Kuomintang, the color of his underpants.

The tradition of poking fun at stars started with the Taiwan program Guess Guess Guess when variety shows on the mainland still focused on question answering. Guests on the Guess Guess Guess show were asked to kiss or eat a kind of rabbit's stool without being informed in advance.

Unable to produce similar bold content, hosts from the mainland mimicked the accent of the Taiwan hosts. Li Xiang, a former hostess of Hunan TV, was criticized by the then State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for following too much on the Taiwan accent. 

Decline

Except for Kangsi Coming, very few variety shows from Taiwan managed to capture the attention of mainland audiences. Chen Guanting, a former producer for Kangsi Coming and The Gang of Kuo Kuan, is currently in talks with some mainland companies about possible future cooperation.

However, he did not appear to have very high hopes in a recent interview with Tencent.  Lack of innovation and a short lifespan seems to be the two major symptoms plaguing the Taiwan TV industry.

Audiences who were longtime followers of programs like Kangsi Coming and The Gang of Kuo Kuan are now inundated with regurgitated content on other shows who copy the same topics and themes and the same guest stars who often appear on various programs talking about the same issue.

Also, looking for a quick response, production companies in Taiwan do not give new programs enough time for audiences to cultivate feelings for them. Chen used Jin Tou Nao (Golden Brain) as an example, "You may not have heard of it before, but it was very good.  It won the best program award at The Golden Bell Awards. But because of low audience ratings, it was canceled after a year and a half."

Taiwan's TV industry is facing a mass exodus of its talents.

Due to low audience ratings for Zhouliu Datiaozhan (Saturday Challenge), the Chinese Television System of Taiwan did not renew its contract with host Jacky Wu. Undaunted, Wu had already set his sights on the mainland. He was a guest on Shandong TV's China Sparking and Dragon TV's Let's Shake It and last year, he joined Jiangxi TV's talent competition show Touch Voice as a judge.  

Wu is not alone. Taiwan popular stars such as O. D and Ella have all appeared as mainland TV hosts.

A reversal of roles

While Taiwan programs once swept over the mainland, we are now seeing more mainland shows gaining a presence on the island.

Taiwan's CTI Television Incorporation bought the copyright of Voice of China in 2013. Taiwan stars Harlem Yu and Sherry Zhang's appearance in the second season lead to a high audience rating of 0.88 on the first night beating Taiwan-made Kangsi Coming whose audience rating for the same night was 0.77. 

I Am Singer and Where Are We Going, Dad? also performed well in Taiwan. Although Taiwan audiences are not familiar with all the faces in shows from the mainland, their choice of topics keeps ratings high.

Sun Lexin, a Taiwan TV variety show producer told Tencent that a lack of capital is why local shows gradually lose their glory.

"No matter the production company or TV station from the mainland, they are able to purchase the copyright from overseas if they find there is a good foreign program. But in Taiwan, because of the shortage of money… we cannot connect with the world. What we can do is repeat what we had," Sun said.

Take the currently running mainland show Chef Nic as a comparison: The investment for every single episode is more than 1 million yuan ($157,000). Even the most expensive show in Taiwan, Kangsi Coming, had only NT $500,000 ($15,550) per episode, while the rest, had an average of NT $200,000 to NT $250,000 per episode.

It is not all about the money though for some it is more about the freedom to create, to express their art in the best way possible.

"Do you think we Taiwan stars come to the mainland only for money? You are wrong," said Taiwan singer Matilda Tao in a previous interview with Tencent.

She cited as an example traveling to Nanjing for a mainland show and meeting a musician from Taiwan who was also currently working on the mainland and related the musician's excitement about his mainland working conditions.

"If I want a symphony orchestra, there would be one on the stage. I am able to present any music I want to present. That is awesome! But how could this happen in Taiwan?" she quoted the man as saying.

Global Times - Tencent