Chinese Variety Shows I've Watched

done 2024-10; skimmed ep6 and ep7 for Ao Ziyi but not worth, he was merely a moderator and didn't have substantial screentime

completed 2024-10; this show is SO good!  cast is super entertaining and funny, cast has great chemistry together, format is nice, love hearing fresh new songs, highly recommend, 10/10

completed 2024-11; watched some and skimmed/skipped some (because I didn't care for certain teams, or didn't want to watch a whole match), worth watching, very well made show, TNT parts were fun, 9.5/10

done 2024-11; only watched ep5 for Qin Xiaoxian and Victor Liu; no subtitles and wasn't interested enough to want to watch other episodes (I did skim through ep1)

done 2024-11; watched ep0 to ep7 part 1 and then dropped; show was super slow, large cast so not a lot of screentime for seeing your faves, 6/10

done 2024-11; only watched eps1, 2, 9, and 10 for Qin Xiaoxian (Victor).  The format of the show is that episodes can all have different groups of friends in it; didn't care about the other episodes or people to watch them.

completed 2024-11; food variety show with fun games and a fun cast (Jun!!!), 9/10

completed 2024-11; not well produced, hosts were not good, everything felt forced, some games were fun to watch but overall not worth watching

done 2024-12; watched ep1, ep2, skimmed the rest (including the VIP episodes).  Good show if you're a super fan of someone in the cast.  I skimmed the rest because there's only so many times I can watch people collecting firewood or planting trees.  The games they play were fun to watch though.

done 2024-12; watched to ep5 then started time jumping... way too much camera time for tedious things like navigating through the airports... and some parts were super boring (especially their last destination; seeing someone on safari is not fun at all)

completed 2024-12; some of the games were fun to watch; initial episodes (first half of the show roughly) seemed a bit chaotic and didn't flow well, imo, but latter episodes were more organized and thought out (personally I loved YP4 more than this)

completed 2024-12; worth watching for some of the conversations and fun games

done 2025-01; seems like an extremely slow, almost documentary-style show with tons of talking; not really interested so skimmed ep1-10 and only watched parts of ep11 and ep12 for Qin Xiaoxian (Victor)

completed 2025-01; ok, a mix of fun games with some slow random vloggy/slice of life stuff

dropped 2025-01. tried roughly first 4 eps. humor felt very forced. not into it

completed 2025-01

completed 2025-01; well made show overall, good cast, loved seeing all the food

ep4 has some funny moments with Esther and ZXW (scamming money, MBTI, phone toss); middle of ep9 has magic tricks!; beginning of ep10 has more magic tricks!; extra/VIP episode dated 2024-10-04 on Youtube has some fun games

completed 2025-01 (including all VIP/extra episodes); lot of fun episodes, highly recommend!

dropped 2025-02; this is so boring; I think it's only worth watching if you are a super fan of someone in the cast, otherwise this is just a (super slow) generic travel type show

done 2025-02; watched eps1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 14 (awards episode); skimmed ep7 (game seemed boring), skimmed ep13 (wasn't interested in the game)

Show was alright.  Most of the games were overly complicated.  May be good to watch for your favorite stars and to see people's interactions with each other.

completed 2025-02; these special seasons are slower paced than the main Keep Running show; this one was mainly travel focused; the symbol guessing game in ep4 is hilarious!!!  ep6 was a fun one from beginning to end.

There was also a special episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXzKq7zbB8

completed 2025-02; decent one-episode special

completed 2025-02;  it was pretty meh compared to other variety shows

completed 2025-02; very enjoyable show overall with a fun cast; the Cantonese game in ep5 is hilarious!!  the undercover dancing game in the second half of ep6 is so fun! the games in ep8 and ep9 are so funny!!

done 2025-02; watched it mainly for the performances, didn't really get the non-performance stuff (like them talking to random strangers, etc.) so I skipped those parts, I'm biased but I liked most of Lars' performances

completed 2025-02; enjoyed the show overall; theme for the season was Cantonese music; unlike previous season, this season seemed more formal and focused more on history and performances (last season had more cast interactions and casual scenes); Lars is so funny, quick on his feet, and just entertaining to watch - also enjoyed his performances; the CFO was entertaining as well and my first time seeing him in a show; the extra episodes had a lot of funny bits

dropped 2025-02; seems very similar to The Great Escape, but a slightly amateurish and lower budget version; also doesn't have a great cast

completed 2025-03; for the most part, enjoyable to watch my favorite stars being spooked (depends on who's in the episode and what the story is); love it when Xu Kai, Chen Zheyuan, or Peng Yuchang get really scared!  will definitely check out the new season when it releases

done 2025-03; honestly, I didn't watch the whole thing through; this is a documentary show about nature - I jumped around depending on what they were talking about and really only watched ep7 for Lin Yi

done 2025-03; mainly watched the beginning activities, then archery, running, swimming, and esports.

dropped 2025-03; I assume someone got canceled because even Youku site itself is missing a ton of episodes, but regardless I didn't think it was a captivating show; seemed disorganized and random

completed 2025-03; very fun cast!!!

completed 2025-03; ep5-6 are fun standalone episodes as they celebrated the new year's with musical performances and games; ep7-8 focused on life as an extra on set - very interesting to see; ep9-10 focused on ideal partners, resembled a dating show, and probably was the inspiration for the variety show Hit It Off (seemed extremely similar); overall an ok show though didn't have as many opportunities for actors to perform and get feedback as some other acting shows
(also watched all the extra and VIP episodes on Youku)

completed 2025-03; love the concept of guiding and supporting idols instead of having them compete, very positive and heartwarming show, fun cast, not sure why it stopped after only 4eps

teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUMuWsycmmU
live intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPNqT5yM260
ep0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2t6N32sdc
ep1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bFyZ3xlrSk
ep2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCjWW746KQ
ep3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RhPYxcdkMA
ep4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nccS6UlRg8w

completed 2025-04; well made, enjoyable, interesting, and very educational/informative, especially for anyone who loves watching investigative type shows; watching them "solve" the cases was just like watching a detective/coroner-type cdrama show

(also watched all the extra/VIP episodes on MangoTV which had some fun games and more educational stuff)

completed 2025-04; decent sports show with some fun activities, was nice to see people's swimming progress throughout the show

dropped 2025-04; previously seen ep2 excerpts with Liu Yaowen; Mango is missing a bunch of episodes for some reason but didn't seem like a show I was interested in so marking as dropped

completed 2025-04; very bland, don't recall any memorable moments or performances

completed 2025-04; what a fun show!!!!  everything goes at a fast pace, the cast gets along so well, super enjoyable and highly recommend, wish it had more episodes

done 2025-04
- watched from ep7 onwards (Lars first appears);
- ep8 had bands like Galaxy Express so there were good performances in this episode;
- ep9's theme was relaxation so songs were slower and more chill - meh episode, imo;
- ep10 had no Lars and a ton of yapping, but some songs were good

dropped 2025-04; looks like the show got canceled after initial episodes... wasn't too keen on what I had seen anyways ... marking as dropped

done 2025-04; very nice, heartwarming show; watched for Fang Xiaodong and Dai Luwa (ep20-23, 25, 27-28)

completed 2025-04; a fun and educational show about words, the format is great - keeps the show fast paced and exciting

Note: There are actually two seasons.  S1 is focused on words and more exciting and fun than S2.  S2 seemed more like a college trivia show.

dropped 2025-04; didn't have any special guests, just the standard cast so dropped because still as slow and boring as previous seasons

done 2025-05; overall not a good show (seems similar to the show "Go Fighting!" which I also dislike); watched from ep3 onwards (Lars first appears)...
- watched ep3 and ep4; not enjoyable, too scattered, unorganized, casual, random;
- skimmed ep5, 7, 9 because they were boring;
- ep6 has Ao Ruipeng and Ao Ziyi!! lot of fun parts but my opinion of the show still holds - seems like a very perfunctory type of production;
- ep8 and ep10 had Ao Ruipeng again, but the episodes themselves were not very memorable...

completed 2025-05.  Enjoyable show.