Happy Family Plan [Region 4]

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Price: $48.99   

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Japanese ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), Japanese ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Anamorphic Widescreen, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Commentary, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Special Edition, SYNOPSIS: Happy Family Plan' is a popular Japanese game show in which fathers take on challenges such as memorising the breeds of dogs or playing a musical instrument to win prizes for their families. The film opens as Fujio, who has lost his job in the 1990s economic downturn in Japan, relocates with his wife and children to his father-in-law's home in Yokohama. As Yuko, his wife, opens her own business and the children settle into their new life, Fujio is left to his own devices. Meanwhile, his son has secretly entered the family as contestants on 'Happy Family Plan' and, after losing money in a failed business venture, Fujio agrees to take up the challenge - he must learn to play 'Home Sweet Home' on the piano, live on TV in just seven days. And he has never played the piano before... The Happy Family Plan is a funny, heart-warming tale that reminds us of the importance of family, community and the joy of reaching a goal no matter how big or small. ...Happy Family Plan ( Shiawase kazoku keikaku )

Happy Family Plan [Region 4] Review

While I'm unfamiliar with this Australian 2-disc set, I can tell you a bit about this hilariously entertaining show that aired in Japan during the late 90's. Shiawase Kazoku Keikaku, aka Happy Family Plan, was notable for several reasons, but primarily because the Japanese were experiencing what the West is living through now - a terrible economic downturn. Ironically, the causes were quite similar despite being nearly twenty years apart.

Average working families endured quite a bit of suffering during those years, and in some respects continue to do so; there was little in the budget for life's luxuries. 'Happy Family Plan' offered a chance to win those perks - as long as the head of your family would undertake a surprise week-long task.

Selected families were chosen "Publisher's Clearinghouse" style by one of several enthusiastic show greeters who would bring along an infamous prize catalog. Family members could then choose one prize each, as long as the cumulative total was no greater than 3,000,000 ($30,000 USD). Quite a bit of money back then, especially for the notoriously frugal Japanese. Interestingly, prizes ranged from cars, trips abroad, and diamond rings -to- children's toys and cute puppies. Part of the fun was watching them pick their items, many already in anticipation of ownership.

Of course nothing is truly free. Or easy when it comes to Japanese game shows.

The twist was that the task was often an obscure or bizarre skill, usually tailor-fit to the weakness of the father, whom the producers researched before the greeters were sent out. So if your dad had no known musical background - that's what the task would entail. And even then it would encompass something unlike anything that could be construed as normal. An example: Playing 'Silent Night, Holy Night' on large handheld bells. Keep in mind, that's not a song often heard in asian countries. Another might involve intense mental/memory games, but having a father who works as a construction laborer.

Very often, families were tasked with 'bar bets' - such as stacking several dice by spinning them in a cup or blowing a 1-Yen coin (made of aluminum) into a shot of whiskey. Or worse, other tasks could be highly physical 'street performer' skills like juggling or cutting vegetables with playing cards.

You get the idea.

Families were then left with several handheld cameras with instructions to film every day until the show; and those were later gathered and quickly edited for the Big Day. And believe me, those seven days passed very fast. Even if a parent were diligent in learning their task (many were not) the bright lights on a big stage, in front of a live studio audience and tv cameras, could rattle even the most confident of fathers and mothers.

The program created the best of dramas - with incredible laugh out loud highs and soul-crushing lows - as families tried their very best to win. In the end you hoped every family would succeed, but it usually ran about 50/50. The losses, especially for the children, were honestly heartbreaking.

Notes:

- The show's theme music was taken from the classic 60's kitschy cartoon "Super Chicken".

- Won an International Emmy Award in 1998, along with a Montreux Rose D'Or Silver Award that same year.

- One of the most popular and most widely licensed programs from the Japanese TBS television channel; having been distributed to over 30 countries and multiple dozens of markets across the globe, including the US and China.

- Notable since some families were without fathers - mothers would undertake the challenge in an unusual bit of social progressiveness.

- Searching the 'net sometimes yields full episodes. A recent YouTube search found several edited episodes with English subtitles.

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