This Japanese reality show just became your next Netflix binge

There’s a new Japanese reality show on Netflix called Terrace House, and it’s blowing up the internet. The premise of the reality show is what you expect. Six young people live together in a house and agree to be filmed around the clock.

That sounds pretty familiar so far.

So, what makes this show any different than Big Brother or Real World? Well, there aren’t any games, no inventive studio-implemented plot twists, no artificial conflicts, no cash prizes, no ousting. Nothing! You are essentially watching six strangers live together, in relative harmony, who came to Terrace House to make friends. (Oh, it’s called Terrace House, because the first house had a terrace.)

Wow, a show focused on the mundane?

Except it isn’t boring! It’s completely binge-worthy, because it’s all so relatable.

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Yes, that’s right. Episodes revolve around a trip to Costco, an athlete struggling to stop eating junk food, hunting for retail jobs, having crushes, etc.

It’s as The New York Times puts it, “extremely, hypnotically boring.

So, a reality show about young people who are actually polite to one another? Who do normal stuff and are decent human beings? How could that be anything but snooze-worthy?

Yet viewers from near and far are going crazy for the new reality show.

I have just finished all 45 episodes of #TERRACEHOUSE: Boys & Girls in the City and already miss all those sweet humans deeply AMA

— Liz Hull (@lizmhull) May 29, 2017

Hooked on Terrace House on Netflix. It's like the first season of Real World..back when it still left something to the imagination.

— Marika Yi (@marikapedia) May 31, 2017

If you're not watching Terrace House on Netflix yet, well, WHY NOT????

— FOUR EELS (@4eelspodcast) May 24, 2017

Without the usual game show manipulations, viewers have a chance to really get to know the housemates and relate to their struggles. As you saw from the overwhelming internet buzz, the mundane can be poignant and arrestingly good.

Who can get over this housemate cutie?

Obsessed with #terracehouse on @netflix 😂 Hansan is like my fave Japanese reality TV yoda pic.twitter.com/0BPxyxlKiy

— Sha-Lene Pung (@pungshalene) May 10, 2017

Next time you are scrolling through the endless programs on Netflix, give Terrace House a chance. A reality show about nothing and everything. Bingeing feels inevitable, for us.

(H/T The New York Times)