was a Japanese quiz variety show on Fuji Television, airing Wednesdays from 19:00-19:57 Japan Standard Time. The show began airing on October 19, 2005, ending on September 28, 2011 with 247 episodes aired; its predecessor, aired from June 5 through October 12, 2005.
Summary
Quiz! Hexagon II was hosted by Shinsuke Shimada and Hitomi Nakamura. Guests on the show often included Japanese owarai comedians and tarento. Since 2007, a number of music subgroups have formed that have released singles; among the most popular of these have been Shuchishin and Pabo.
During each episode, three teams (the membership of which was determined based on a paper quiz show participants took prior to each episode) competed for points in various quizzes, testing team members' knowledge on a variety of topics.
Change from Quiz! Hexagon
Due to the low ratings of the previous show "Quiz! Hexagon" (which aired from July 7, 2002 - October 10, 2005) chairman Shinsuke Shimada accepted a request for an update to the show, and beginning the following week (June 15, 2005) - with the added subtitle "This Evening is a Quiz Parade" - the show became a battle between three six-member teams. Later, Shinsuke said in an interview published in the special extra-large summer issue (August 14/21, 2008) of the magazine , "It was not the renewal season, but the producer quickly agreed. All around it was like the quick fix of a government office."
Change to Wednesdays at 19:00 JST
From October 19, 2005 to the present, the name was changed to , and the broadcast time was moved up one hour to Wednesdays at 19:00 JST. The official title was "Quiz! Hexagon II," but within the show in the logo and in Shinsuke's title call, it became "Hexagon II Quiz Parade!!
Recently, it has become a common occurrence for the ratings to rise in the last 10% of the show (last 20% of a special), and there have also been times when the show surpasses the competing program . Also, around the times of reorganization and in exceptional instances, the production of 2-3 hour specials has become common, but recently even in times of reorganization the production of regular shows also occurs.
On January 2, 2008, from 19:00 - 21:54 JST, it was broadcast as the replacement for the year-end special program that had run on January 2 from 2001 to 2007 (with a New Year's show in 2005 and a special show in 2005) but had ended regular production. (The same occurred in 2009).
The show's best ratings were on September 3, 2008, when it received 23.5% in the Kantō region (Fuji TV). In the Kansai region (Kansai TV), the August 1, 2008 2-hour special had a rating of 29.6%. (According to Video Research, Ltd.)
According to the Children & Media Opinion Poll sponsored by the Japanese National PTA Convention, under the category of "Programs Parents Do Not Want to Show Their Children" it ranked 6th in 2009, having been 7th in 2008, but on the other hand it was ranked 8th in the category "Programs to Show Children."
O-baka Tarento
Those who give strange answers are mocked as O-baka Tarento, 'Foolish celebrities'.
In the early stages of the program, people like Shin Koda, Akane Osawa, and Saki Fukuda became semi-regulars, and within the program they were dealt with as "O-baka," but beginning around the time of September 2006, when Mai Satoda became a semi-regular, the situation changed. She did not once beat the other regular guests in the preliminary test and came to monopolize the lowest ranking, and the "Obaka tarento" who had appeared to this point little by little stopped being treated as "Baka." Due to this, from all around the image of "Last Place = Satoda" became strong and it often became joke material. However, in 2007 guests at the same level or worse than Satoda - such as Takeshi Tsuruno, Yukina Kinoshita, Suzanne, Yusuke Kamiji, and Naoki Nokubo - became semi-regulars, and Satoda's monopolized status was reduced. From there, the six people - joined with Satoda - were called the "6-man Baka Group," and became featured performers on the show. In 2007, the CD debuts of the three women, as Pabo, and the three men, as Shuchishin (when together, the six-person group was called aladdin), were huge hits. Currently, they have moved from semi-regulars to become regulars, and have become popular tarento, become regulars on other shows as well.
In 2008, the popularity of misono, who was at the same level as the other six, rose when she became a semi-regular. She appeared as a guest on various shows, and the song , released in June, entered into the top 10, her first since her debut as a solo artist.