With his identity hidden behind a mask, a celebrity sings during a recording of MBC's "King of Mask Singer."

/ Courtesy of MBC



Lack of diversity on TV hurts viewer selection



By Ko Dong-hwan

Have you watched Korean TV recently?

As you flick through the channels, it is likely you will find a weekly program that has a person singing his or her heart out in front of a studio audience. The performance is followed by the audience and celebrity guests rating it using a "like" button on a remote controller. The votes rank the show's competitors and determine "winner(s)" for the week. Welcome to Korea's most prevalent TV variety show genre, the "music competition variety show."

But the genre is testing viewers' patience. There are just too many shows that are the same. Consequently, they lack a uniqueness to excite fans. As if having to eat the same food over and over, watching professionals or amateurs singing, getting scored and engrossed audiences shouting or crying almost daily is, if not tiresome, what else?

Take three shows now on air ― "War of Vocal: The Voice of God" and "Fantastic Duo" on SBS and "Duet Song Festival" on MBC. Not only did the weekly shows begin at almost the same time in early April, they also share the same idea of having amateurs with a knack for singing and professionals performing together in collaboration or competition. Watching the shows, it's hard not to notice the same underlying idea and question the producers for alleged plagiarism or idea-recycling.

Without competitive content, the shows can do only one thing ― hire stars. It's only natural that viewers will keep watching certain programs to see celebrities, not strangers. And to attract ratings, the shows can only depend on the popularity of the stars they hire not the creative content.

But the shows can only rely so much on the celebrities because most have had frequent TV exposure and may be losing their viewer appeal. Lena Park, Kim Jo-han, Gummy and Yoon Do-hyun, who are regular guests on "War of Vocal: The Voice of God," had regularly appeared in MBC's "I Am Singer" years ago. A similar situation applies for Kim Beom-soo and Yoon Min-soo from "Fantastic Duo" and So Chan-whee from "Duet Song Festival."

Although viewers were surprised to see Lee Sun-hee and Shin Seung-hun from "Fantastic Duo" ― who have had few TV variety show appearances ― and Yangpa from "Duet Song Festival" ― who took a long break from TV ― it indicates that the shows will have to depend more on the less-exposed stars to satisfy viewers and prevent TV ratings from falling further.

"Music variety shows have never been so prolific," a media critic said on a blog post. "But do the increasing numbers of such shows correspond to more fun? Absolutely not." While the shows have resorted to their own tug-of-war to survive, viewers are starting to ignore them.





Lee Sun-hee, right, sings with an amateur participant during a recording of SBS's "Fantastic Duo." / Courtesy of SBS



Music competition variety shows

The music competition show trend swept TV entertainment following the launch of MBC's "I Am Singer" in 2011, generating some 17 shows based on the genre on broadcast and cable networks.

Many of the shows, however, were dropped after the public's reception went cold. "I Am Singer," a seasonal program where seven professional singers clash in live performances and the audience rank them, was undoubtedly sensational when introduced. But after the first season the glamour turned vapid, with fans no longer finding it electrifying. The show also raised controversy that audiences who preferred loud, perky performances to less noisy numbers made its ranking system unfair. Left with poor publicity and plummeting ratings, the show wrapped up after the third season in 2015.

Seasonal survival audition shows for amateurs ― like MBC's "Star Audition: The Great Birth," Mnet's "Super Star K," "The Voice of Korea" and SBS's "K-Pop Star" ― also do not draw interest anymore. With some eight different audition shows introduced from 2009, it is almost pointless ― and redundant ― to spotlight a winner of each season from each show.

"The initial success of cable network Mnet's ‘Super Star K' was copied fast by broadcasters that later introduced their own versions like ‘The Great Birth' and ‘K-Pop Star,'" said a former CJ E&M staffer who wished to be identified only by the surname Lee. "The problem was that the broadcasters didn't venture to create new stuff but instead were preoccupied with rolling out imitations."

Producers desperate for public attention even had children singing songs on Mnet's "WeKid" or female stars in their 60s or older rapping about "back in the days" on JTBC's "Hip Hop Tribe." Music producers locked horns with their genius in remaking songs in 45 minutes on tvN's "The Birth of Songs." The ideas, however, did not always entail fame, as long as they were realized under the same "competition" format.

"To grab viewers' attention, the shows must keep changing," online news outlet TV Daily said. "The more there are shows with similar formats, the more producers feel diffident when hiring celebrities, because they could have been already contacted by other shows as well."

The media critic blogger said: "It is no longer interesting to see people singing and getting rated. After the success of MBC's ‘King of Mask Singer,' the follow-ups heated up, only to end up becoming a talent show for professionals. The shows, disregarding what viewers want, consider casting as a magic bullet."





Sandeul from K-pop boy band B1A4, left, sings with an amateur singer during a recording of MBC's "Duet Song Festival." / Courtesy of MBC



Trend-obsessed variety shows

For almost a decade, Korean variety shows have ridden the wave of fluctuating trends, with a mission to lead TV entertainment. Such trends only lasted a few years and did not breed legacy-worthy shows having tens of years of history and substantial fan bases ― like America's live sketch comedy "Saturday Night Live" on NBC (1975-present) and talk show "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS (1993-2015).

"Once a pioneer sets off a new trend, others naturally emulate it," said MBC's entertainment department chief, who wished to remain anonymous. "TV programs, including variety shows, reflect human lives, which is why there is an inevitable common ground across these shows. Believe it or not, producers do try to make their shows differentiate from others."

In 2006, MBC launched unscripted variety show "Infinite Challenge" and set off "real variety shows." The show was joined by KBS's "2 Days & 1 Night" and SBS's "Family Outing." The trend's popularity did not last, pushing "Family Outing" to shut down after four years.

Then came "ultra-real variety shows," which purported to depict stars in a mock-up of harsh reality to see how much fun they could make up. MBC's "Real Men" ― celebrities experiencing real military training ― fanned the fire in 2010. It was spread further by stars experiencing primitive environments without modern equipment in SBS's "Law of the Jungle" and senile male actors taking overseas trips without the help of tour guides in tvN's "Grandpas over Flowers."

"Cooking variety shows" came in 2014 when male chefs cooked (or taught us how to cook) for fun. Spearheaded by restaurant businessman and chef Paik Jong-won, the trend spiked a year of sensational popularity, generating hit shows like JTBC's "Please Take Care of My Refrigerator," tvN's "Three Meals a Day" and "House Cook Master Paik." With "King of Mask Singer" stealing viewers' hearts in April 2015 and signaling the birth of "music competition variety shows," the chefs were not serving up hot dishes anymore.

"Past TV trends used only two mediums ― broadcasters and cable networks," said Lee. "Producers must expand platforms where they can try out diverse content like Internet dramas, smartphone app-based shows or one-man online broadcasting. That should be accompanied by an adjustment within the shows ― especially seasonal ones surviving over their seventh season ― to upgrade their content so that viewers don't get tired of them."