Taiwanese television makes shows like “The Gong Show” and “The Price is Right” look almost intellectual. I’ve often thought that cable packages in America, etc. could include one Taiwanese channel and that people would find it fascinating - without subtitles. Sort of like 24-hour reality TV, or reality if you were under the influence of magic mushrooms. Watching Taiwanese TV is not unlike looking at the scene of an accident: you know you shouldn’t, but you just can’t help yourself.
Thank you, and cue the “BOI-WOI-OING,” sound affect.
Oh, please, don’t learn Chinese form TV. Not even from the News. They don’t use Chinese properly anymore and even in the news I read words like 口愛, which is supposed to be Taiwanese pronunciation of 可愛. Rather stick to the books or you’ll learn a lot of Q words…
I get one Taiwanese station with my cable here in the U.S. It’s mostly old Qing dynasty soap operas, shows about food (of course, even the news is half about food), ridiculous game shows, or even more ridiculous children’s shows. There is one Chinese learning show of sorts that’s decent, which I watch if I get home in time for it. Oddly enough, probably the best Taiwanese show I get comes on a general Asian channel.
Then again, it’s not that bad I guess. CCTV seems to be entirely news and soap operas.