Colbert vs Arwana

Ever seen "The Colbert Report" from The Comedy Central (in States)?
Ever seen "Empat Mata" (four eyes) from Trans 7 (in Indonesia)?
Ever wonder to what extent both programs might be related?

In Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert is the host. The program is designed as a news program, where Colbert would invite popular celebrities from various sectors (mostly politics) and read recent current affairs news and spiced them up with metaphors and joke. According to a Wikipedia entry about "The Colbert Report", Colbert was positioned as someone who has good intention, poorly informed and a high-status idiot.

To some extent, it kinda resembles "Empat Mata", where the character of host, Tukul Arwana is a seasoned comedian who got his major career breakthrough with this program. "Empat Mata" is a TV talkshow that invites popular celebrities. They would answer light questions from Arwana, who read the questions from a laptop that feeds real time questions from the producer. The questions are mostly about the guests' regular life as common people. Sometimes, the questions are tied to current affairs. Arwana, the host, is positioned as someone naive, poorly informed and polished as a real cool guy.

"The Colbert Report" was nominated for four Emmy Awards and is undoubtedly one of America's favorite shows. "Empat Mata" is Indonesia's most popular talkshow. Arwana often called himself as "The Actor Who Boosts TV Rating". I don't know whether "Empat Mata" is eyeing any award or being nominated for one.

It's always interesting to see how tired our society is and everything becomes instant and skin deep. Probably the only thing we can do is finding a quick fix to our daily boring routine, ey? Aren't we all?

BTW, if you're curious how TV ratings work, have a look here:
Nielsen Media Research: Inside TV Rating.



Images courtesy of:
http://www.tukularwana.com/
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/index.jhtml