Japanese Trivia to Hit U.S.

The popular Fuji TV variety show “Toribia no Izumi” (Well of Trivia) is to make its way across the Pacific. The show, which is subtitled, “Wonderful Useless Knowledge,” presents little-known facts to a panel of celebrities including comedian Tamori. They indicate their approval by pushing a button that let’s out a “hehhh” sound, which indicates surprise in Japanese. The more “hehhh’s” it gets, the more prize money is sent to the person who sent in the trivia. A dubbed version of the Japanese show is to air on the U.S. cable channel Spike TV from November 11, with an original American version scheduled for next April. The English version will use the word “hey!” The Fuji TV show became a sleeper hit in a late-night slot in 2002 and was moved to the “golden time” of 9pm from July of last year. A Taiwanese version is also set to start next month.