Expect a less extravagant and less vulgar Spring Festival gala set to kick off in China to welcome the Year of the Goat this upcoming Lunar New Year in February.
In an announcement posted by the China Central Television (CCTV) on the social media service called Weibo, the crew for the most watched TV show is already established.
CCTV asked their viewers to suggest what to expect on Spring Festival 2015, which is slated on Feb. 18, 2015.
In 2014, there were 704 million people who watched the festival on TV, while 110 million saw it online. The record exceeded that of the overall audience for Super Bowl in the United States when acclaimed director Feng Xiaogang took over.
However, many critics thought the show fell a bit flat.
Aside from comments saying that the Spring Festival Gala has been going way behind the online era, there were also rumors that the show would not be held this coming year.
Since 1983, the Spring Gala Festival has been sought as an important event in China and was even regarded as a "national project" just this year. But for some younger viewers, the show already lacks relevance to their generation.
As many actors and performers have been caught in series of scandals involving drugs and prostitutes, CCTV head Hu Zhanfan said that they would not stain the show with this "low style" and would avoid vulgarity for the festival's sake.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (SARPPFT), known as China's media watchdog, has forbidden these "tainted" stars to participate. Banned are those actors and performers who were involved in such drug and prostitution cases.
Recently, Jaycee Chan, son of action star Jackie Chan, was nabbed for smoking marijuana in a Beijing foot massage parlor in August, while Golden-Bear award-winning director Wang Quan'an was recently caught for "paying for sex" last month.
The Spring Festival Gala will invite fewer celebrities, but more talent-show winners, to perform for the event.
CCTV also announced on Weibo that Ha Wen, the director of Spring Festival Gala for the past two years, will return to lead the event. Ha has directed the gala in 2012 and 2013. She has also produced different programs, which included "6 +1," hosted by her husband and host Li Yong.
In 2012, Ha caused controversy when she excluded comedian Zhao Benshan, a main show attraction in the previous years, in the gala performance lineup. The first woman director of the gala once said that she would not direct the show again as it was "too exhausting."
To make the festival more appealing, foreign performers are invited to the show, such as Celine Dion in 2013 and then Sophie Marceau this year.
Although all Chinese channels are required to air the Spring Festival Gala, some local satellite channels are creating their own shows for the Lunar New Year. Online patronage, on the other hand, is growing rapidly.
With the current anti-extravagance campaign implemented by the Xi government, the festival will become less grand. Ads for expensive liquors and gold coins are no longer allowed.
Further, it has been speculated that the show would be canceled because 10 CCTV senior producers and anchors are facing a graft case with the station.