AKB has AKBingo and the AKB Show!. What if you were to make a TV show starring idols? What sort of format would you use?
Here is my first idea.
Idol High School
For this show we would use idols from all the different companies between the ages of 14-17. Those who have particularly loud, competitive, or energetic would be particularly desired. The goal would be to use girls who aren't too "over" yet and aren't really slick, polite or proper yet-- basically the goal would be that they would be enthusiastic, maybe too enthusiastic, and likely embarrass themselves. Ideally those used wouldn't be from the same teams (it might be inevitable though) so they wouldn't be used to working with one another. This could help them be even more competitive than they would normally because there would be far less of an emphasis on "sempai/kohei" relationships. There could be a downside that they might not feel as free to talk or interact with one another, but the atmosphere should be such that they would feel encouraged.
Teacher: The teacher should be an experienced idol who still works for the company. It should be someone the others look up to. The teacher's job would be to explain the games and the rules properly, both to the competitors and to the audience. Takahashi Minami and Kojima Haruna would be ideal in this role. If they can't do it, Michishige Sayumi would be a good substitute.
Assistant Teachers: These roles should be filled by older members too, preferably those with comedic talent and a lot of experience on variety shows. Their stated job would be to help organize the girls and keep them well behave. In actuality, their role is to demonstrate the games (usually badly) and make commentary on what is going on. Minegishi Minami and Tsugunaga Momoko would be the ideal candidates for these rolls, but there are others with these talents (Ichikawa Shiori, Mayuyu or Lovetan perhaps).
Competitors: The competitors for the games would remain the same throughout a single month. However, the actual show for the whole month might be shot in only 2-3 days so that there would be a minimum of scheduling conflicts. Then one half-hour of the two hour program would be shown each week. If there were 5 weeks in a month, the 5th week might be a recap of the best moments from the two months and what they learned about the relatively unknown idols during the competitions. Here is a sample roster to get an idea of how this might look
AKB
Team A-> Tano Yuka
Team K-> Hirata Rina
Team B->Kato Rena
Team 4->Nishino Miki
HKT
Team H->Takashima Meru
KIV->Murashige Anna
NMB
Team N->Hayashi Momoka
Team M-> Takei Sara
Team BII->Ishizuka Akari
SKE
Team S-> Goto Risako
KII-> Yamashita Yukari
Team E-> Kimoto Kanon
Nogizaka46
Kawago Hina & Higuchi Hina
Hello! Project
Morning Musume-> Sayashi Riho & Kudou Haruka
Smileage-> Temura Meimei
Juice=Juice->Miyamoto Karin
Stardust Promotions
Momoiro Clover-> Sasaki Ayaka
Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku->Mayama Rika
Team Syachihoko-> Nao Sakura
Miscellaneous
Baby Metal->Nakamoto Suzuka
Prizzmy->Kubo Reina
Tokyo Girl’s Style-> Hitomi Arai
Games: There would be 8 games over the course of the month. This means each game gets about 10 minutes once you account for comercials, intros and outtros. This might be too short, some testing might need to be done and ultimately only 1 game might happen per week. Each game would be themed as though it were a school class to fit the theme of being in an high school. Some concepts for games would be:
“Music Class” (Karaoke Challenge)- This was done a couple times on Hello! Morning. The girls break into 3 randomly selected groups. The intro of a song begins to play and the girls have to run up and grab the microphone. If they grab it first, they need to name the song. If they can name the song then the team has to try to sing it for 1 minute.
“Gym Class” (Muchaburi Dodgeball) – Same as AKBingo. The girls break into 2 random teams, if they get hit they have to suffer an embarrassing penalty game.
“Art Class” (Pictionary) -- The girls break into 2 or 3 teams. One member is selected to draw. She is given a word and has 2 minutes to draw a picture of the word while the other members of the team guess.
“English Class” (Lyrics Quiz) – A quiz style show where they break into 4 teams. One girl from each team writes one at a time. English lyrics of one of the songs are shown and they have to press the button and say what they think it means in Japanese. They all reveal their answer together. After the next person on the team gets to answer.
“Writing Class” (Kanji Test) – The girls break into 4 random teams. A word with a difficult kanji is read to them and they have to try to write down the kanji for the word.
“History Class” (Trivia Quiz) – Similar to English class. The girls break into 4 teams and they are given questions that have to do with the history of the idol groups. One girl from each team writes down what she thinks is the answer to the question and then they all reveal together. After the next person on the team gets to answer.
Obviously there could be endless other ideas. The teams for each game would be selected randomly off-screen (possibly the first couple times it can be on-screen if the reactions are good). Each time a girl is on a team that wins a competition, she gets a point. If someone did a particularly good job at the game or they made really great TV, they would get an "MVP" point chosen by the producers at the end of the show. At the end of the month the rankings would be revealed and the girl with the highest score would win some sort of prize (maybe some sort of particularly delicious food that they can eat on screen). In the case of tie, those who tied can do a "Jankenpon" to determine the final winner for the month.
Since the whole thing could be shot in 1-2 days and then spread out over a month, they would only need to gather together everyone who is available once or twice a month. If certain girls or whole groups aren't available because of the tours or something, they can be substituted in for others who are available. If certain girls on the roster just are being simply too quiet and meek, they can be switched out for others (preferably from the same group). However, clearly, the idea would be to try to keep the roster relatively stable and packed with those who really showed that they could thrive in the environment.
