Interesting Tidbits: Japanese Television

I remember setting foot in Tokyo for the very first time, and the adrenaline rush of walking into the outside air and not knowing anything. I didn't even know the directions to my hotel, New Koyo, and just threw the address to a cab driver, and it all worked out. I collapsed upon the hotel futon, and turned on the room's small television.
 And, lo and behold, what came on was wrestling amongst the disabled. The blind versus the man with one arm! And so on. I was amazed at the censor-less entertainment.
 Some clips from Japanese television shows went viral in North America. Quirky game shows that look like something out of a video game, or terrible pranks that would get people sued on spot. Here are some examples, just for good measure. The former, then the latter.

Wow, you would think. Going by these, Japanese television would kind of be the pinnacle of entertainment.
Actually, and, rather unfortunately, for the most part Japanese television is...pretty normal. And normal television, regardless of where you are, is pretty boring.
Even just flipping through the channels, you can't help but notice almost trope-like similarities in the programming. Television here has its own set of rules. Here, let me turn my television on right now and give you a good example.

REACTION SHOTS: Look at the picture to the right. Notice the faces in the corner; those are people who are famous to at least some extent. During a segment, a live feed of their reaction as they watch the same thing you're watching is visible in a corner.
 My take of it is that, in Japanese culture, the norm is to do what other people do and think what other people think, at least to some extent.
And having someone else's reaction within sight kind of gives you an idea of what your own should be? It's a guess, and yours is as good as mine. Otherwise, reaction shots are pretty useless.
BIG, COLORFUL SETS: Even the blaaaaandest of talk shows is decked out in useless colorful trinkets and flamboyant furniture. It gives this really candy-like look to all the sets. "Hey!" it screams at your eyes. "Stop flipping the channels!"
OVERUSE OF CAPTIONS: For emphatic purposes as well. Notice both pictures have this big bold font right where you can see it. That font isn't providing you any real information, actually. It literally repeats what the person speaking just said. God, how aggressive!
OVER-ACTED EVERYTHING:
Whether it be a talk show or a drama, everything on Japanese television is frighteningly overacted - at least to my western tastes. Talk show hosts blow up their reactions to the slightest surprise - "WHOOAAAA!" and "EEEEHH!!?" are the kind of thing you're likely to hear six times a minute.
Most of the drama shows also lack in subtlety, with audible, campy music tracks and overplayed crying and anger scenes and cartoon-like expressions. Whereas I feel like all dramas in western television have entered an age of gritty realism where everything has to be cold and serious, Japan's stuck in the early 90's, but with HD.

 D'aww, I didn't mean to disillusion you about how entertaining Japanese TV is. Once in a while you do get something genuinely entertaining. Like that one time they created a living room half-made of sweets and made people try to eat what they thought was fake!

-What do you like to do in kindergarten?

- Poop...

I can't claim to be an expert on Japanese television at all, and without the outside perspective, it's hard to tell whether, to the eyes of a foreigner, western television falls into such redundant tropes as well. But for the most part, it took me a very short time to lose all interest in Japanese TV.
 I have the basic set of channels offered by cable now, and that's free, thank God, but I can count the total hours I've spent watching television on the fingers on one hand. It just ain't for me!