Wang Zijian, host of "80's Talk Show", participating in a Q&A session with students in the audience after a panel hosted by the Chinese Students & Scholars Association at New York University. Amy He / China Daily

How do Chinese talk shows operate and what kind of challenges do their producers face? Those were the questions panelists attempted to answer in "Now Let's Talk About Talk Show", a panel recently hosted by the Chinese Students & Scholars Association at New York University.

Participants on the panel included three producers for Tonight 80's Talk Show, Ye Feng, Wang Tong, and Zhang Yingjie, the musical director of the Saturday Night Live (SNL) band, Lenny Pickett, and writer and comedian Billy Domineau.

Because talk shows - the phrase the panelists used to refer to the late night Letterman-esque fare of television programs - are still new to the television landscape of China, producing them can be a challenge, according to the producers of Tonight 80's Talk Show, which airs on Shanghai's Dragon TV satellite channel.

One obstacle their makers face is the variety of subjects that can be covered. "In China, there are many restrictions [on the topics that we can cover]," said executive producer Ye Feng, who said that American programs can cover subjects ranging from politics to sex, but the same doesn't hold true for Chinese shows. "For China, these topics are off-limits," said Ye.

Compared to the censors imposed on Chinese talk shows, Pickett and Domineau said that sketch comedy shows like SNL do not face similar issues. Both mentioned that curse words, for example, are not allowed on SNL, but they have leeway for many types of sketches.

Another issue that Chinese talk show producers face, according to Wang Tong, is that the genre is so new that there aren't many talk show writers available. "The talk show writer occupation just doesn't exist in China," Wang said. About 90 percent of Tonight 80's Talk Show's writers have careers outside of writing for the show, and the show only has two full-time writers.

The newness of talk shows in China is also prompting copycats across the country, said Wang. "Even before our show turned on, it was placing in the top three or top five in ratings across the country," Wang said. "Then major networks were coming out with their own talk shows. There were even people contacting Wang Zijian [host of Tonight 80's Talk Show] and asking, 'How much is Dragon TV paying you? We'll pay you double, come do our show.'"

Pickett discussed the large amount of preparation that goes into producing a show like SNL, saying that the busy staff at work often "looks like an anthill that just got stirred." The producers of 80's said that it's difficult working with a very small team, with some individuals doing several people's jobs.

Because 80's has a strong comedy element to it, Wang said that celebrities often are afraid of appearing on the program, for fear that they'll look foolish. To them, a comedic show is only funny if the participants can act crass or repulsive, Wang said. "We like inviting guests from other countries because they can have fun on the show, because they're already used to a Western-style talk show that pokes fun for laughs," Wang said. "They have fun, which means our audience has fun."

Bai Jie contributed to this story.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 09/20/2013 page11)