What Is Terrace House and Why Is It So Popular? Explained

What Is Terrace House?

The premise ofTerrace Houseis simple: 3 men and 3 women come together and live under one roof at the “Terrace House.”

These people have jobs, families, and ambitions. They aren’t locked in or forced to go anywhere—they continue to live their lives, study for school, head to work, go on dates, and everything else that comes with life while staying at the house.

Housemates stay at Terrace House for however long they want, and they can choose to leave at any point. Over the course of the show,housemates are replaced as they leaveand the cast continually evolves, but always with 3-and-3 members.

This perpetual evolution is one of the things that makesTerrace Houseso interesting to watch. The loss of one person can effect monumental shifts in house energy, and the addition of a new member can completely disrupt the house’s established dynamics.

If there’s ever a period where you’re bored by the members, the show still strings you along because you’re wondering “Who’s going to leave next?” and “Who’s going to replace them?”

There are cameras throughout the Terrace House, and sometimes there are camera crews who follow the housemates when they leave the house for activities elsewhere—shopping, commuting to work, meeting with friends, going on dates, etc.

It’s an extremely mundane show in many ways, and that’s whyTerrace Housestands out in a sea of overdramatic reality TV shows: it’s calm, collected, and as close to genuine as reality TV gets.

Consider the fact that one of the most exciting and iconic moments ofTerrace Houseis when some housemates eat another housemate’s expensive meat that he’s been saving—followed up by three episodes on the aftermath of that incident.

BecauseTerrace Houseis so subdued compared to normal reality TV, every little interaction matters that much more.

Much of the show’s magic can be attributed to the Japanese production team, who clearly have different ideas as to what makes a great reality show compared to American production teams.

And seeing the various Japanese cultural nuances and how the Eastern social dynamics play out between housemates is intriguing.

Each episode ofTerrace Housegenerally covers about a weekin the life of the housemates. When something interesting happens (like the aforementioned meat incident), episodes can become more compact and cover less time. It’s structured but fluid.

Terrace Houseconsists of several different separate series. Each time a series ends and a new one begins,the location of the house changesand thecast starts afresh with six new members.

As of this writing, there have been fiveTerrace Houseseries:

Is Terrace House Real?

The answer depends on how you define “real.”

IsTerrace Housecompletely authentic and divorced from all outside influence? No, of course not. The logistics of television make that impossible—and at the end of the day,Terrace Houseis still a work of television that needs to turn a profit.

However, it would be truthful to say that whileTerrace Houseis produced, it isn’t scripted.

What’s the difference?

For starters, there’s anaudition processthat people who want to live at Terrace House must go through, and the producers filter out applicants who are too boring or awkward to be on camera.

And you have to imagine that the kinds of people who’d apply to be on a show likeTerrace Houseto begin with tend to be the typewho want to be on camera for whatever personal reasons. That alone self-selects for people with big personalities.

And when a housemate leaves, the next member to come in may be selected according to how the producers want to affect the dynamics at Terrace House. Whether they think the house needs more energy or more romance, they’ll adjust the cast accordingly.

Furthermore, filming at Terrace House doesn’t happen every day.The cameras are set up at the house on certain days of the week, and housemates are asked not to have “big discussions” or “big encounters” on non-filming days.

If housemates have a big event going on outside the house—such as meeting with a romantic interest or going to a job interview—they let the producers know ahead of time so the camera crews can obtain permission to set up their cameras on location.

And according to a few former housemates,the producers do prod the housemates in certain ways.They may discourage boring behavior and whisper ideas to spice things up, particularly when it comes to romance. They love capturing love on camera.

All of that means thatTerrace Houseis produced.

ButTerrace Househas never been scripted. The producers never tell housemates what to say and never force housemates to do anything they don’t want to do. They don’t craft storylines ahead of time and force housemates to play them out.

What you see on screen is true to what’s really happening at the house. There may be some deceptive editing at times, but none of the storylines are staged—at least by the producers. (Some housemates have been known to act differently when cameras are around.)

The housemates ofTerrace Housedevelop real relationships with each other,and a lot of their relationships persist even after they leave the house. You can see how this holds true by taking a peek at some of their social media accounts to this day.

Why Is Terrace House So Popular?

Yes, there’s a lot of romance inTerrace Houseand that’s to be expected in any reality TV series like this.

Watching the seeds of a relationship form as members flirt… Biting your nails because couples can’t align their priorities… Feeling sympathy when the one you’re rooting for gets rejected after summoning the courage… It’s all part of the fun.

But romance isn’t everything onTerrace House.

What’s even more captivating than love are the friendships, bromances, and rivalries that develop between platonic housemates. Mentor-student relationships and brother-sister relationships between housemates are insightful as wisdom passes from one to another.

But the most interesting thing aboutTerrace Housefor me? Seeing housemates resolve conflicts with each other.

The people on screen are real people with real relationships, with real problems and real solutions. They fight and glare at each other, but they also talk things out and find resolutions.

I’ve actually learned a lot about myself while watchingTerrace House.In the housemates I detest, I see my own flaws and weaknesses reflected back at me. In the housemates I admire, I see how much more I can still grow in my own life.

Other reality TV shows are so disconnected from reality that they leave nothing to glean. And if you ask me, that’s the special ingredient inTerrace Housethat draws in viewers from all over the world.

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