I’ve been invited to appear on TV next week to take part in a small, foreigners-singing-Chinese competition.
Does anybody know roughly what to expect?? I’m sure a few of you have been on TV!
Cool! Knock 'em dead, Tsu!
Good luck!
At least you know you will be singing - I and some of my Chinese-school classmates were invited to be interviewed on a radio program one year, and they asked us on air to sing - we weren’t prepared at all and sounded horrible. Otherwise it was fun.
Wear something that is going to stand out on TV (if you want to be noticed, that is 
). Be sure to arrive at the time they stipulate so you have time to go to make-up first. Someone will do your hair and your make-up for you (yes, men have to go to make-up, too). Otherwise, you will pretty much have to follow their directions. Oh, there will be some paperwork at some point so that you can receive your payment (if you are getting paid for it).
Blue is a good colour to wear on T.V. It absorbs all the light and looks really good. All the best.
Did you get paid?
They probably gone make fun of you … 
-if you have not done much singing before, find a voice coach(preferably same gender as you) asap and practice all the time (even if you do not have a coach)
-prepare multiple changes of clothing in case they do not have something for you
-get your hair cleaned up (trimmed) and bring your own make-up person in case they do not have one for you
-you will spend most of the day sitting around, so bring books or something to keep yourself occupied
-some might complain about sitting all day, but you won’t
-socialize but maintain your energy for when your turn comes; don’t waste your energy on stuff not focused on the shoot; reading is low energy
-unless your lucky, your director will suck; it’s not just his English will suck but his direction in Chinese will suck as well(just like in the film Lost in Translation) so be prepared to fill in the blanks, read her/his mind, come up with alternatives
-a TWese will be the star and you’re just background(and you’re just a foreigner), so you want to have an easygoing deferential state of mind
-you’re ‘on’ from the time you walk into the studio
-leave you’re phone at home
^ great advice… I’m gunna save that for if i ever end up on TV… lol!
hehehe…but yr nt gunna end up on TV…hve 2 change yr name…hehe…bumcloudz…lolz! 
3Q88! lolz!
I hate all the foreigners that go on TV and make a spectacle of themselves for all the Taiwanese to gawk at. “Look at that foreigner - he can speak Chinese. OHHHH!!!” 
Yeah. Thumbs down to that. Jimipresley did that once just to draw attention to himself. Shame on him.
Yeah. Thumbs down to that. Jimipresley did that once just to draw attention to himself. Shame on him.[/quote]
Oh my god! CAPITALIZATION and an absence of ELLIPSES! I think I may have a STROKE in celebration!
I don’t hate people who do that, but I’ll never do it myself, despite frequent invitations. I can’t see what possible good could come of it, and I’m very uncomfortable with the way foreigners are treated on local television. Too many “monkey in a zoo” portrayals.
I suppose if I have the chance to talk about some of the work I do I might consider it, but only for a serious business show. No talk shows for me.
[quote=“tsukinodeynatsu”]I’ve been invited to appear on TV next week to take part in a small, foreigners-singing-Chinese competition.
Does anybody know roughly what to expect?? I’m sure a few of you have been on TV![/quote]
those annoying sound effects are NOT added after filming, they are pumped into the studio live.
Don’t show up drunk. I got interviewed on the eve of 9-11 for the local news and was drunker than a drowned owl. I predicted incorrectly that is was the Taliban. I saw sound bites of my drunk self for 3 days afterward.
I’ve never been on TV here in a studio, but I hear horror stories of being brought in essentially to be a butt of jokes… “Look at the foreigner!” Asking the foreigner questions in slangy, rapid-fire Taiwanese if they learn that you speak Mandarin pretty well, etc.
Only time I was ever on TV here was during a brief interview conducted outdoors. And that was in English.
Get ready to sing Tian mi mi :bravo:
Thank you for all the advice and encouragement!!! 
Especially for your advice, shuiping. The recording was moved to Friday coming because they couldn’t find enough foreigners (then they tried to move it back to Thursday and I told them to sod off because I had schedule a job for that day after they originally postponed it).
‘tian mi mi’ is one of the few songs I can’t sing actually XD I’ve been doing a few pub gigs lately, but I’m not very skilled at the singing part yet so I’m working on it. It’s only a very, very small contest, and I know it’s a novelty thing, but with a bit of luck I’ll get noticed… yeah, OK, I’m dreaming.
I’m not interested in being the ‘foreign monkey’, but I also don’t intend to be contrary for the sake of it. Hopefully my never-ending charms will win them over (cough cough…). I did get asked in the phone interview if I ever have problems when ordering dumplings though @.@;; She seemed fairly disappointed that I didn’t have a hilarious repertoire of language mix-ups/misunderstandings at my disposal… but I really can’t think of many stories, because it really doesn’t happen in my everyday life.
EDIT: Back to Shuiping’s advice - if you can understand what the director’s saying he’s actually a brilliant director. Full of passion and with quite clear directions on the exact emotions he wanted from the actor; the translator was just crap.
I don’t think you have much of a choice. 
You are making their job more difficult. They will have to think of new ways to laugh at the foreigner. 