I don't watch a lot of Taiwanese TV. I only really turn on the TV to watch sports. More and more they do have american shows, but they are usually a season behind, so I prefer to watch online instead. I know I should spend more time with the TV on though, if for no other reason than for the benefit of hearing Chinese in the background.
One main reason for my lack of TV watching is because years ago they took away my favorite channel. It was a channel all about apartments and houses for sale. It was the ultimate time killer channel. If I had five or ten minutes i didn't need, I'd turn on that channel and just day dream about what life would be like living in whatever home was being advertised.
Unfortunately that channel went off the air long ago. I do have s back up channel though. The channel that is all puppetry programs. TV shows and movies which use puppets to tell classic Chinese stories. They also have these type of shows in real life and I have seen a few, but the special thing about the TV programs is that they have special effects.
Yep each performance looks less like puppetry and more like a crazy cartoon, with puppets having super powers, such as super speed, flight, and shooting lightning. It's all very exciting, especially in short bursts. It's not something you could watch for an hour, as it gets quite repetitive, but when you have a few minutes to spare, it's a great watch.
Pictured above is a shop that sells some traditional puppets. the kind you will see in both live and televised performances. This particular shop is just a souvenir shop, so they are not of the highest quality. however there are some shops in that are dedicated puppet shops which also hand make puppets there in the shop. Some of the puppets in these sorts of establishments are quite majestic. I'll be sure to get some pics in the future.
