Korean variety shows are a form of television entertainment in South Korea. Variety shows were developed in 19th century Europe and the United States, and adapted from stage to television in the 20th century. In the late 20th and 21st centuries, variety shows decreased in popularity in Europe and the US. The variety show format was exported to Asia from Europe and the United States, and became popular in South Korea. Variety shows are currently a major part of television entertainment in South Korea. They are usually composed of various stunts, performances, skits, quizzes, comedy acts, etc. Popular celebrities and K-pop idols are also featured on Korean variety shows.
History of Korean variety shows
Background
Television was first introduced to South Korea in the late 1950s, and the first South Korean television broadcasting station was created in 1956. Television was used for entertainment, but also by the government to promote desired values, and the dissemination of other forms of propaganda.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the government increased their control over the media in South Korea, including television broadcasting. President Park Chung-hee's declaration of martial law after the South Korean election of 1971, and his subsequent revision of the Korean constitution into the Yushin Constitution, created a highly authoritarian government which centered power in the hands of the president. This required all television content creators to review their programs in accordance with governmental restrictions. After the breakdown of the Fourth Republic of Korea and the Fifth Republic of Korea, reforms were made, although relative freedom of the press and media was not established until the 1989 Act on Registration of Periodicals and the Broadcast Act.
In 1998, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis in South Korea prompted fears around the collapse of the traditional family and social systems, and media shifted to reflect those desired values and to raise public awareness of everyday life. While television during the Park Chung-hee military regime focused on enlightenment, television began to shift towards focusing on personal and emotional subjects around 1998, as well as entertainment that promoted comfort and fun. It was said that "the television program crews who accurately grasp the demand of the public will concentrate their efforts on the television show program, which includes a 'fantastic element' that will tackle personal everyday life and break down the boundaries between inside and outside the broadcast". Cable channels and satellite broadcasting were also introduced in the 1990s, with cable channels reaching over 15 million viewers by 2010.
History of variety shows
Korean television has broadcast music-oriented programs and performances since the creation of broadcast stations in the early 1960s. These music programs involve singing, dancing, playing instruments, and other forms of artistry, usually as part of a competition or talent show. One such program is KBS1's National Singing Contest, which has aired since 1980, making it Korea's longest-running television program.
In the 1990s and 2000s, entertainment centered around talk shows and confrontation. Examples of similar Korean reality-variety shows include g.o.d's Baby Diaries and Happy Sunday. However, because of the limitations in material and format, this type of show has generally not continued into the modern day, except for some representative programs.
The combination of talk show and confrontation entertainment became a signatory program of each broadcasting company such as Happy Together Season 3, Running Man, Radio Star, and Infinite Challenge which ended in summer 2018.
In the early and mid-2010s, styles of variety shows favored "love variety" and "audition" formats. Unlike the confrontational and scripted style of previous shows, many programs invoked human elements and emotions, although there were controversies over the legitimacy of the supposedly unscripted events. This type of Korean variety show gained popularity because "it strikes chords in both human instinct and happiness and is not just a simple 'entertainer personal show', which is considered to be the limit of existing confrontation entertainment, by adding various fun factors centering on the psychological changes of entertainers and ordinary people".
Characteristics Korean variety shows form a large part of modern television entertainment in South Korea.
Korean variety combines human emotional elements with various entertainment formats that have flowed based on talk shows and confrontational entertainment in the 90s. "Observation entertainment" or "real entertainment" has emerged and is matching the public's taste. However, entertainment has recently attracted the public's attention as a kind of social phenomenon as it has developed into the form and style of Korean entertainment. It is not merely an entertainment program that attracts an enthusiastic response from the public.
Korean variety shows do not have a fixed format but combine various television genres such as dramas, documentaries, and information programs. As material for the entertainment programs, the public's daily life is actively utilized. The story of events or characters is combined with the basic storytelling of the main event, and the entertainment program is enriched.
Trends Pilot programs A pilot program is a program that determines television regular programming based on viewer responses with a trial production and a test broadcast. Before the program becomes a regular program, the test program is produced in the format designed by the production team. When it is broadcast, the producers determine the reaction of viewers, and if the response is good, it will go into production to produce programs for regular broadcasting.
Since the mid-2010s, Korean entertainment programs usually begin with a pilot program. After reviewing the reaction of viewers, the program's format often changes and the premise of the show becomes more concrete. These programs do not end with a single broadcast, but attempt to determine the audience's taste and change to fit the audience. The reason for producing pilot programs in Korean broadcasting is simple: no matter how carefully broadcasters plan, no one knows the fate of the program until it is broadcast. It is a natural procedure for broadcasters to research the public's reaction to a program before they pay the huge production costs associated with a series.
Observational variety shows Observational entertainment shows the habits and thoughts of entertainers in everyday life, as well as their mistakes. It gives the audience an insight into their personalities rather than their talents. It is not that there was no real entertainment in Korea in the past, however, mobile has had a big impact on the emergence of various types of reality entertainment. Since the spread of smartphones in the late 2000s, the Korean public has begun to concentrate on viewing mobile content rather than terrestrial and cable. In particular, MCN has expanded its influence to the extent that it threatens existing broadcasting by actively approaching and describing life or interested information that individuals want along with information transmission through interactive communication. Since the popularity of tvN content such as Three Meals a Day, which has a big MCN character in the existing broadcasting type, and Youn's Kitchen, and New Journey to the West have become more popular.
The beginning of Korea's full-scale observational entertainment is MBC TV's I Live Alone.I live alone. I Live Alone uses the format of observing the daily life of stars who live alone. And in August, SBS TV Ugly Our BabyUgly Our Baby' appeared. Initially, it was pointed out that it copied I Live Alone, but Ugly Baby was a variation of I Live Alone. The concept of observing the life of entertainers is the same, but the performers are limited to male entertainers and their mothers appear as observers. As the program's ratings exceeded 20%, the trend of observation entertainment is accelerating.
Music audition shows Recently, Korean entertainment programs have been losing popularity; however, audition programs have been loved for quite some time and are still enjoyed by many viewers. In a country with a population of 50 million, a record of two million people participated in a program's preliminary auditions for the 2012 edition of Superstar K Season 4 (Mnet). When Superstar K came out, each broadcaster with an audition program experienced the same or slightly different audition trend at the same time. Several examples include: the survival audition for K Pop Star (SBS), and Voice Korea (Mnet).
Dating and relationship shows This category includes programs such as We Got Married, Heart Signal, etc. Recently, the category has been popular with viewers, which has not gone unnoticed by broadcasters. In the 2020s, love variety programs featuring ordinary people began to flourish. TV programs include I'm Solo, Single's Inferno, and so on. In addition, a love variety program aired through various over-the-top media service was also very popular. Examples include TVING's EXchange and Kakao TV's Change Days. The love variety programs were so popular that they were made into a series.
Food shows
Mukbang Mukbang has already become popular content for broadcasting companies and Internet broadcasters. According to a survey, 65 percent of respondents said that these shows are their favorite TV or online programs.
The real "eating broadcast", which only has scenes of people sitting and eating food, has begun to appear on one-person broadcasts such as AfreecaTV.AfreecaTV The Internet audience began to grow to see BJ in an online streamer eating food, and the word mukbang (a host eats food and interacts with an audience) was coined. There were many programs, such as Tasty Roadstasty roads and Wednesday Food Talk.
Cook-bang In the past, most of the Korean cooking programs were life information programs where cooking experts and cooking researchers appeared alone and taught cooking. It was programing clearly aimed at Korean housewives. But cook-bang is different. Most of these shows are in the form of entertainment. There are programs where different chefs compete and tell the story of winning through fair competition. An example is Please Take Care of My Refrigerator. There is a cooking room with a story of relaxation, co-prosperity and empathy in Mr. Baek's Home Recipe (집밥 백선생).(집밥 백선생)
Globalization of Korean variety shows
Globalized variety shows
Major Korean entertainment programs
Running Man