Fans are not happy with this year Johnny's Countdown!
Many fans have expressed their dissatisfaction with this year Johnny's Countdown Live, the annual program that aired on Fuji TV on New Year's Eve. And the main complaint about the show is the VTR segment of the program.
This year Johnny's Countdown was held in Tokyo dome with the participation of Noriyuki Higashiyama, Masahiko Kondo, V6, Kinki Kids, Tackey & Tsubasa, Yamapi, NEWS, KAT-TUN, Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny Jr. , ABC-Z for the first time in five years, Uchi Hiroki, Nakajima Kento, and Nakayama Yuma.
Arashi, TOKIO, and Kanjani8 showed up on the venue's VTR only, and the usual emphasis "LIVE" displayed on the screen up until last year was gone. Many fans feel for a program that claimed to be "LIVE", this is really a shame. On top of that, it lacks the hyper, energetic presence of TOKIO who usually worked up the crowd. Instead the program featured too many of the "boring old men" Noriyuki Higashiyama and Masahiko Kondo. There were also more VTR performances of groups this year, more than the collaboration between groups or group shuffles. Many fans want to see more of the group shuffles because that has been the big charm of Johnny's Countdown.
Aside from Arashi who had to moderate NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, TOKIO should have been moved to the Countdown Live after their performance from Kohaku. So why didn't they? Editors familiar with Johnny's talk about certain circumstances. Johnny's has become a house divided. Iijima faction which includes mainly SMAP and the SMAP bartered, co-starring groups like Kis-my-ft2 and Yamapi.... Julie faction which includes Arashi, TOKIO and Kanjani8. The bartered, co-starring groups and the groups plus individuals who stand on their own made up Johnny's Countdown. Although Arashi had been hosting Johnny's Countdown before but there were speculations flying around that Johnny's favorite, Kinki Kids, namely Domoto Tsuyoshi, looked like he was in a bad mood while performing further complicated the matter.
For Julie and Iijima factions, the main battleground is TV Variety show. There is no longer a "royal road" that will lead to the Presidency. Incidentally, on the music show hosted by Nakai "Tuesday music! SP" (broadcast on December 25), there was a Johnny's medley with SMAP followed by the younger generations in the back dancing to "SHAKE". Takuya Kimura and Yamapi sang "Seishun Amigo". And group shuffles were seen as Hey!Say!JUMP members smiling and dancing in the back performing "NAI-NAI16" with Nakai, Kusanagi and Katori Shingo. Many of the performances from Johnny's Countdown were seen and heard on that show.
[Cyzo daily]
Source: johnnys-watcher translated by 4miu_miu