Rumor Mill - No more Batsu games?

[Bigun]

I heard somewhere in the rumor mill that this year's Batsu is the last one, can someone deny or confirm this?

[WildStyle*]

Same as the year before than...Aaaaand the year before that....aaaaaaaaand the year before that. I'm not saying that it can't happen, it will at some point, but the same rumors go about every single year...If anything the cast will change, which sucks, but what can you do?

[Kippei-Kun]

Maybe or Maybe not

[Dynasty]

I assume when Downtown feels to old to continue the 24 hour batsu game, they'll simply become hosts with five young comedians assuming the role of players.

[Bigun]

Same as the year before than...Aaaaand the year before that....aaaaaaaaand the year before that. I'm not saying that it can't happen, it will at some point, but the same rumors go about every single year...If anything the cast will change, which sucks, but what can you do?

This is the case I was hoping for. First time I had heard about it, thanks for confirming what I was hoping for.

[Penguinator]

Matsumoto joked about "this year's one being a fitting one for graduation" in the Waratte ha Ikenai press conference (which can be seen on the latest episode), which most likely got misunderstood by some idiot who then started spreading the rumors, as usual.

I still remember how two years ago some retard Google-Translated Matsumoto's end-of-year greeting tweet and insisted on 4chan's /jp/ that it was his retirement announcement.

[atreyu_tiger]

Yup, that 10 years in a row is the right time to close a cycle. I think this time Downtown were serious about it, or at least it didn't sound like one of those grumpy excuses Macchan used to make in previous years.

It seems that NTV has nothing better in mind. The special seems profitable and it has its fair amount of share, so a nice cheque will do.

[andylau-fr]

After seeing the last Batsu Game and specially the ending song...

http://dai.ly/x3keocm?start=220

may it be the end this time? it look like.
what do you think?

[soudou]

After seeing the last Batsu Game and specially the ending song...

http://dai.ly/x3keocm?start=220

may it be the end this time? it look like.
what do you think?

I'll skip watching it (just in case of spoilers) but I did hear that the ending song had clips of previous batsus running through it rather than just clips from that batsu. I would say it may just be an aspect of them celebrating their 10 year anniversary by fondly reminiscing on past batsus until we hear otherwise. Looking back on how far they've come and with the supposed updates I hear they made to the regular fair, hopefully still surprises for the future.

The people at the press conference where Matsumoto made his "time to end it" comment were reported to of laughed so it seems his tone wasn't that serious, I think press would have probed him further on the spot if he was, but we'll just have to wait and see really for next year.

[Vatican]

NTV would probably be taking a huge risk if they decided to let a cash cow like this go. The ratings aren't out yet but I would assume that this will finish top of the non-Kohaku Uta Gassen programs again by a considerable margin. It's also pretty much one of Downtown's higher rating programs for the year, so as much as Matsumoto may joke that he wants it to end, he knows that it's a gold machine for him and the Gaki crew. Even the Blu-ray discs and DVDs sell really well (the Prison Batsu DVD released recently came first in the variety show category a couple of weeks ago).

[Vatican]

The ratings have just come out for both Kohaku and Gaki no Tsukai, who finished 1st and 2nd as usual. However, both programs performed poorer compared to last year. This year, the Kohaku singing competition attracted an audience of 34.8% for the first half and 39.2% for the second half, down from its 35.1%/42.2% result for both halves last year. It is the fourth time in their history they have failed to reach 40% in ratings, the first time since 2007 they have failed to get 40% (when the 2nd half recorded only 39.5%) and also the result is their worst ratings in their 62 years of the Kohaku singing competition (the previous worst was 2004's Kohaku with 39.3%).

As for Gaki no Tsukai, it finished 2nd in New Year's Eve programming for the 6th year in a row but it was also down on last year's result, getting 17.6% for the first half and 15.3% for the 2nd half, down from its 18.7%/16.0% rating last year. The first half of the Gaki no Tsukai broadcast was the 4th most watched in their history, but the 2nd half of the batsu was their 2nd worst result behind 2010's No Laughing Spy which got 14.3% for its 2nd half.
Note: all ratings are for the Kanto region, which is considered more important when it comes to ratings for Japanese television.

Sources:
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment ... 92260.html (Gaki result)
http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainme ... 86895.html (Kohaku result)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%91 ... E.E9.80.81 (for a full table of the batsu games and ratings results)

[Vatican]

They've also posted the Kansai ratings for Gaki no Tsukai and while it also did worse than last year, the first half managed to surpass 20%, getting 21.2% and the second half netting 17.7%.

[angelpick]

Thanks for sharing ! ^^
The ratings are not so bad for a 6hrs program.

[Johnhk]

I don't mind if they stop the No Laughing serie, they already did so many great things they can do again like Haunted house or something totally different, I really don't mind as long as they make 5 hours long special episodes :p

[Ap2000]

I think they should really change up the whole thing.
Return to having some of them as "directors". Especially Downtown.