Chinese Variety Shows I've Watched

completed 2026-06
Overall show was just ok. Nothing really spectacular and would only recommend if someone is watching for a specific star. (I watched because Wu Junting is in it.)

They should've incorporated more content of them living together because there's only so much they can do with people practicing singing... you can tell even editors ran out of content because some parts of the episodes are really short (a lot of episodes had part 3s that were only 20 minutes long).

completed 2026-06
Didn't enjoy overall, very forgettable, and wouldn't recommend. There weren't any standout performances. A couple of the participants were rude, imo. Only rewarding thing was seeing more of the personalities of the8 and Jun when they were younger (I watched this show just for those two).

completed 2026-07; season was somewhat forgettable compared to prior seasons...

Despite that, some highlights:
- ep1 with TNT was so fun! All new and exciting activities. Absolutely loved the name tag ripping game!
- ep6 was another fun episode. The shape guessing game and the water chair were so entertaining. The rules for the name tag ripping game this episode made it super interesting and fun to watch.
- ep7 was also fun. Loved the new format for the name tag ripping at the start, and the final game at the end was so well played and entertaining to watch.

completed 2026-07; pretty enjoyable season and is more entertaining than I had expected (maybe because I went in with extremely low expectations, lol). He Junlin, Xu Zhisheng, and Chen Xinhai had a lot of great content.

Highlights:
Ep0 - fun to see everyone so awkward meeting for the first time.
Ep1 - entertaining and seemed like the HJL+XZS show because there was so much focus on them.
Ep2 had some fun pranking activities in the first half.
Ep4 started with a fun "catching criminals" segment. The room selection outcome was hilarious. (Ep4 bonus part1 has more funny scenes of the "criminals.")
Ep5 - the whole beginning and the wedding is cracking me up!
Ep7 - the pond part was funny, love how they're all leaning on the CXH+LJQ couple, the twin game is entertaining, and the dialect game at the end was hilarious.
Ep8 - the games in the beginning were so fun to watch!!! and the billiard competition, too!
Ep9 - without spoiling anything, the endings with Chen Xinhai and He Junlin were so heartwarming.

(For future reference, filming started March 18, 2026.)

completed 2026-07; meh, super casual and not entertaining, geared specifically for fans of the cdrama (or its actors)

completed 2026-08, alright, focused on food and the various locations, some of the games were fun, nothing really outstanding though tbh

completed 2026-08

Has some entertaining moments though the two prequels (This Is My Island, This My Adventure S1) were clearly better produced and more thought out. This season seemed super casual and had an extremely relaxed pace compared to the previous ones (probably due to different producer/director and lower budget here). I can't see myself rewatching this season (have definitely rewatched the previous ones - those were so enjoyable and I'd highly recommend!).

(For future reference, filming started April 1, 2026. Second batch of filming ~May 6-10.)

done 2026-08; only watched ep6 for Zhai Xiaowen; this is such a bad series - everyone disregards the rules, games are not well planned, show doesn't flow well; only the last game in this episode was somewhat fun to watch

completed 2026-08; enjoyable series, especially loved watching the werewolf type game they play outdoors

completed 2026-08; seems like a lightweight version of Circle of Sound/Infinity and Beyond, just ok

Favorite performances:
Ep1 (Song Yaxuan) = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7peP9y7M17Q
Ep2 (Song Yaxuan) = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS96KF4V_VA
Ep3 (Song Yaxuan) = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SMOT2q1zz8
Ep10 (Jin Zhiwen) = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa2ZJ7u4Zrk

dropped 2026-08; partway through ep1, it didn't hold my interest and I couldn't get into it so dropped

completed 2026-09

This show has so many funny moments!!!
Ep2 is especially rewatchable for me.
Ep4 - The Lin Yi-Zhou Ye acting bit was so good. The last game was so enjoyable to watch; they played so well.
Ep10 had such a good energy level. Plus it was entertaining and heartwarming throughout.

(For future reference, filming started Feb 23, 2026.)

completed 2026-09. Due to the nature of the show, some episodes were more enjoyable than others, depending on the cast and the activities.

Ep2 was a fun episode (including the extra episode). Chen Zheyuan makes everything so entertaining!
Ep4 had interesting talks; at the end, they talk about their past and how they got to where they are today.
Ep9 (including the extra episode, too) was enjoyable. Good cast with fun activities.
Ep10 was good. Really liked hearing their stories.

completed 2026-09; Pretty forgettable season. Didn't really have any standout performances.

completed 2026-09; I feel like this show is only for specific target audiences.

That said, for me Lars makes this show so entertaining! And so many wonderful moments between Lars and Justin in the early episodes. The "mission" at the end of ep7 was so neat!

The early episodes were good, but I lost interest when they got to solving the "major/final" activity in the last chunk of episodes. Thought it was boring.