, commonly referred to as All-Star Thanksgiving, is a Japanese television panel game and special program which has aired twice a year in April and October on TBS since October 1991.
A program unveiling the cast of the new show on TBS-TV.
History and format
1989: Everybody's Equal See Everybody's Equal - Format
All-Star Thanksgiving began as a licensed adaptation of the 1989 British television format Everybody's Equal.
In the original format, the entire cast of 200 competitors is asked a four-option multiple choice question with a 10-second time-limit, and all competitors who submit an incorrect answer are eliminated from the game. This continues for a predetermined number of questions, although the contestants are never informed of how many this will be, and it changes between each episode. When the final question is read, a bell will ring, and the best overall remaining competitor is announced and wins a prize. If multiple people get the final question correct, the contestant who responded the fastest is awarded this title. All competitors must then complete a single, more difficult question called a "Bonus Quiz" that requires the four options to be ordered in the correct configuration. If the winner of the main game is correct, they will win a secondary prize. If they are incorrect, this prize is split among any of the 199 other competitors who got it correct.
1991: Quiz! Hit 25% and Format Adjustments A pilot episode launched on June 28, 1991, under the title Quiz! 25% Hit. Unlike the predecessor, each episode is broken into several Periods. Each period operates as an individual match of Everybody's Equal, narrowing down the group to a single winner. In addition, a new rule is added that on top of any competitors who got the question incorrect, the slowest competitor to get the correct answer would also be eliminated as an incentive to answer quickly. After the Bonus Quiz, a new period begins and all 200 competitors re-enter the competition as a separate game. Additionally, the 200 competitors are broken into eight teams of 25, each with a designated celebrity captain. After all Periods have been completed, an additional prize is awarded to the winning overall team based on the combined score of every period.
Following the initial pilot, a run of 23 weekly episodes aired between October 17, 1991, and March 26, 1992, before being cancelled due to low ratings
1991–1992: All-Star Thanksgiving Shortly after the pilot of Quiz! Hit 25%, TBS envisioned an all-celebrity version of the program. Prior to this point, TBS had been broadcasting a large-scale celebrity programs since 1975. This began with 20 Years Gathering! in 1975, a sketch comedy program broadcast to celebrate 20 years of TBS Broadcasting. Following its positive reception, the program was renewed into a twice per year set of specials called April Gathering! and October Gathering!. In order to add further variety to the program, the cast of celebrities would also occasionally participate in small reproduction of other quiz shows being broadcast on TBS, namely Quiz Derby, Perfect Can Can and The Chance (The Price Is Right). In 1985, the series was renewed into The TV Showcase, expanding the lineup of quiz crossovers to around 10 per season. In 1987, it was renewed again into The Quiz Showcase, which removed all of the remaining non-quiz elements.
Following the success of Quiz! Hit 25% and the dwindling ratings of The Quiz Showcase, the decided to create All-Star Thanksgiving Festival, a version of Quiz! Hit 25% that featured exclusively popular celebrities. The teams were each themed after different people in the television industry, with the initial teams being: JNN Announcers, Infotainment, Sports, Drama, Music, Quiz, News and TBS Announcers. Unlike most other television programs, All-Star Thanksgiving would not be pre-recorded, and would instead broadcast as a live event. The show was an immediate, massive success.
1992–1995: Shift to contemporary format After two successful seasons, the third season of All-Star Thanksgiving saw some major format changes. The broadcast runtime was massively expanded from 2 hours to hours, allowing the number of periods to be expanded from 3–4 up to 10-20 per episode. The entire team component was scrapped and the competition became fully individual again, more closely resembling Everybody's Equal. Leaning into the theme of Thanksgiving, partway through the broadcast there would be an intermission where competitors gather and eat dinner, allowing a break for both competitors and viewers. During this time, an extended block of advertisements for current and upcoming TBS programs would air, while showing the competitors mingling.
In 1993, a side series called TV Cram School launched that featured four pairs of one celebrity and one "genius" elementary school student completing significantly harder advanced mathematics questions with a 60-second time limit. The series ran for 20 episodes before being cancelled, due to its timeslot being in direct competition with the far more popular Dragon Ball Z.
1993 saw another prominent change to the show with the introduction of the Mini Marathon. Between periods, a group of competitors were selected to compete in one of two short 2.5 km marathon around the studio. The remaining competitors would then participate in Sports betting on these competitors, with a cash prize split among all competitors who predicted the winner correctly, as well as a small allocation of points.
The 7th season, airing in the Fall of 1994, greatly expanded upon this concept by adding Sprinting and Swimming races into the lineup, as well as a Dead hang competition, and a Sumo Wrestling bracket that all featured the same sports betting. Following this season, the number of competitors invited to each mini marathon began to slowly increase, and a Handicap system was put in place to give slower competitors a head start, such that the race to the finish line would be much closer and more unpredictable.
1995–2019: Divergence from original format Over the following 15 years, the focus on the marathon and the between period events would expand significantly. The sports and racing events would be expanded to including events such as Horse racing, Kart racing, Chariot racing. Other sports events would be brought in such as Archery, and non-sports events such as comedy competitions, and climbing slippery stairs would appear. As this occurred the number of periods was reduced to make room. In addition, over time alternates to the 4-question multiple choice were added, such as 2-of-6 and yes or no questions.
As technology advanced, during the late 1999's TBS began allowing viewers to play along from home using their Cell phone or using the Datacasting functionality built into Japanese televisions as a standard feature. Whichever viewers scored the best would win their own prize.
After the 40th season, long-time host Shinsuke Shimada was ousted from the television industry due to connections to the Yakuza, with popular comedian Koji Imada taking over a few seasons later.
In order to capitalize on the ongoing success of All-Star Thanksgiving, TBS decided to launch a late-night after-show that would feature an edgier cast and broadcast an hour after All-Star Thanksgiving ended. The first attempt to do this was 2014's Midnight Kanshasai, which feature exclusively betting on a series of races with 8 competitors each. Midnight Kanshasai did not see much success, however TBS was committed to the idea of a spinoff and tried again with 2016's All Celebrity Carnival, a show where teams of four competed in events that combined quizzes with racing and comedy. All Celebrity Carnival was a massive failure, and was even reported to Japan's Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization over Partial nudity.
TBS's 3rd attempt was a program called All Star Afterparty. Instead of trying to make something brand new, Afterparty featured a format closer to the 1990s season of All-Star Thanksgiving than the main show had, as a response to complaints that Thanksgiving was beginning to deviate too much in formula. In addition, the show introduced heavy stakes where the last place competitor would be permanently banned from competing on the series again. All Star Afterparty ended up being highly successful, and has continued to this date.
2020–present: Aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic As a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the spring 2020 season of All-Star Thanksgiving and All Star Afterparty were both cancelled one week prior to broadcast. All-Star Thanksgiving would return in Fall 2020, with significant changes. The total cast list was dropped down to about 50, with half of them in studio and half remote to maintain Social distancing. All Star Afterparty would similarly return in Spring 2021 with a cast of only 32 in the studio. As restrictions have lifted, the competitor lineups have grown over time, however have stabilized at around 86 competitors, less than half of the pre-pandemic size.
Additionally, the post-pandemic seasons fully changed the format of the show, now allowing all competitors to attempt all questions, completely removing the elimination aspect of the show. Unlike the main show, All Star Afterparty would retain the prior elimination rules.
In 2024, TBS would begin broadcasting a third tournament under the title All Star Sports Festival. In this version, all competitors are well-known athletes, and the events take a heavier lean into athletics and nostalgia, featuring direct crossovers with Sasuke / Ninja Warrior, Sportsman No.1, Unbeatable Banzuke, and Tokyo Friend Park, while retaining the iconic mini marathon.
Rules Each episode of All-Star Thanksgiving is broken up into "Periods". Within each period, competitors are asked to answer multiple-choice questions. After each question, all incorrect respondents as well as the slowest correct respondent are eliminated. Play continues until either only a single competitor remains, or until a set number of questions has passed. The fastest remaining competitor is then given a "Bonus Quiz" for an additional prize, which is split among the other competitors if they are incorrect. In the case of a technical error, or all competitors being prematurely eliminated, the period will reset and all competitors will return.
Between some periods, events will occur. During these events, some competitors are chosen to compete, while all others will vote on the competitor or team they believe will win. Voters will split a cash prize for correct guesses, while competitors will receive a cash prize for winning.
Over the course of an entire episode, an ongoing score is calculated. This is typically 1 point per correct answer, 2 points per correct event guess, while event competitors may receive between 1 and 10 points based on their success within the event. During the episode, prizes from sponsors (typically high end cooking ingredients) are awarded for competitors in 50th, 100th and 150th place at set checkpoints. At the end of the episode, the competitors with the highest overall score win large cash prizes. In the event of a tie, the competitor with the lowest total response time will win. As a result, competitors will often try to answer questions very quickly by attempting to predict the answer, or immediately guessing if they are unsure. In All Star Afterparty, the lowest ranked player at the end of the episode will be permanently banned from competing again.
Seasons summary
Main seasons