My wife subscribes to a service that mails out Japanese television shows on video and DVD.  Once we're done with a video, we send it back, and they send us a new one off of our "wish list."  (Just like that Netflix thing.)  Its a good deal for getting access to Japanese television in America.

A few weeks ago, a video arrived of a show called "SABACON."  I really liked it!  My wife and I watched the program quickly, and sent it back the next day.  I was looking forward to the next time that that show came up in the rotation.

SABACON is a kind of dating show.  Each week four "bachelors" are brought in studio to meet with four "bachelorettes."

Once the bachelors are introduced, each guy shows a very short video of either some aspect of his life, or demonstrates some special skill or talent in studio.  (One guy showed off his car collection, another guy lifted weights, another guy did a dance, some guy played the piano, stuff like that...)

After the first round, the girls get together backstage in order to decide upon one man to eliminate.  Following the elimination of one of the bachelors, round two begins.

Round two features some more interaction between the women and the men.  The women have some questions (about love/relationships/dating) that they ask of the men.  The men do their best to answer, and the women express their opinions of how well the men answered.

Following this round, the women meet in secret again to determine the best man of the group.  The men are brought back out, two are sent away.  Then there is one guy left.

The final man then eliminates the ladies one-by-one until he arrives upon his favorite individual "bachelorette."  Upon deciding, he has one last chance to woo his lady by giving a speech asking her to start a relationship.  (At this point the chosen woman is guaranteed another three weeks on the show.  If one of the bachelorettes goes three consecutive weeks without being chosen by the winning bachelor, she is eliminated from the show.)  After the final speech, the remaining bachelorette can choose whether to accept or to reject the remaining bachelor. (If she accepts the bachelor she is off the show too.)

It is an interesting show...

So today another video of that show appeared in my mailbox.  I was really excited to finally see the show again.  Here is where the bad news starts:

On the second of two episodes (September 28, 2004) on the cassette, the host of the show breaks the news that this would be their last episode.  I was so sad!  I was  looking forward to watching this show in subsequent months.  The show had been cancelled even before I had begun watching it!  Bummer...

Here's the video:

The opening titles done in a late-60s/early-70s style.

The first out are the ladies.

The two newer ladies.  The one on the left was chosen by the winning bachelor this episode.

The two longer-running ladies.  They're both pretty interesting, but not necessarily "my type."

Then here come the bachelors.  The second guy from the left was chosen this episode, but was ultimately rejected.  Poor guy.

That's all.  I'll miss SABACON!