Now, I don't normally like variety shows and gave up watching any 48group related TV shows a few months ago... but I like checking out the first episode of new things to see how they are and this looked really promising - and I have to say I really enjoyed Episode 1 and this has the potential to the best 48group TV show I've seen.
The start was really good - Yuko up to her normal really fun antics (with Yui) and then launching straight into "PARTY ga Hajimaru yo" - which is one of the best AKB48 opening songs and even more fitting here as it's the start of their 1st stage, just like how it was great at the start of Tokyo Dome Day 1 last year. The office lady skit that followed was the most boring bit of the show, but at least Yui looked nice. It was nice seeing a performance of Not yet's new single, as I haven't really heard it much but it is growing on me. They then followed with some history lesson which was interesting, showing archival footage. What was interesting was that this was actually in English with a Japanese dub. I hear this show will actually be broadcast internationally on NHK World so I hope the English version gets uploaded somewhere as well. Then was Miki-chan wandering around backstage of the janken tournament talking to other members - this was fun as well. And finally they performed Tobenai Agehachou, and what was nice was that beforehand they gave you some history of the song. It's nice that they perform the full length versions of all the songs as well, given that they often perform abridged versions.
Next week's episode looks good too - with performances of Heavy Rotation, Kamenogix, and Takeuchi Miyu performing a solo version of Shonichi - and she plays the piano to it as well - her voice sounded fantastic in the preview. I guess we get 3 songs a week, which is really good, a little skit, a little history and some new documentary/backstage footage each week. I hope it keeps up the quality.