An entertainment program is one type of TV program that includes sitcoms, news and pop music programs. Even though many accidents occur and a lot of social issues come out, the ratings of entertainment show programs don’t seem to decline. We always bring up the story of the program we’ve watched when we meet our friends. Not only can we relieve our daily stress but we also can get some useful information by watching those programs. On top of that, we can easily witness when one popular TV program puts an unknown entertainer on the map overnight. From these facts, we can assume that we are affected by those programs a lot. Let’s find out which popular programs are on the air and what the current trends are. Finally, let’s predict how the trends will change. -Ed.


Infinite Challenge

  We are going to talk about three representative programs that have been loved by many viewers for many years. First of all, there is a program named ‘Infinite Challenge’. At first, this program was released in 2006, and it airs on MBC. The title was originally ‘Reckless Challenge’, but the name of this program has changed. As we can assume from the title, we can see members doing ridiculous things and doing challenging, weird things that viewers send to the program’s site. There are 6 members including the host in the program. The members claim to support men whose abilities are below the average, which goes against a competitive society, and they also act like stupid men. Surprisingly enough, the way the members act works. As a result, many viewers slowly but surely got into this program. As distinct from other programs, the main feature of this program is that each character is as important as all of the program. Therefore, each member has their own nickname such as Stupid Brother, Fatty and Green Orthoptera.

Running Man

  This program was on the air for the first time in 2010, and it is broadcast on SBS. Compared to other programs, many scenes of this program are shot abroad. It is a new genre to viewers and called ‘Real Action City Variety’. The reason why the director named the program ‘Running Man’ is because in the program members are given some missions and they have to carry out the missions. In this process of solving the missions, they can’t help running to win the game, and at the end of the game the winners get some rewards like medals, money or fancy food. This program is getting more popular, especially in Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia, and it has already been exported to many Asian countries. In addition to that, as K-Pop is getting more popular, Europeans are starting to show interest in Running Man.

A trend of entertainment programs in 2015

  We have found out about the main entertainment programs. Now, we are going to talk about the trends of entertainment programs in 2015. Among many programs, cooking programs and singing programs were the most popular programs in 2015. We call the cooking programs ‘Cook Bang’, which is a combination of cooking and broadcasting. ‘Cook Bang’ evolved from so called ‘Meok Bang’, which is a combination of eating and broadcasting. In ‘Meok Bang’, viewers could just see celebrities eating delicious food and visiting famous restaurants. However, in ‘Cook Bang’, the celebrities and chefs provide the viewers with some recipes, and viewers can see the whole process of cooking. On top of that, the chefs have a sense of humor, which attracts the viewers’ attention. The main ‘Cook Bang’ programs are as follows: ‘My Little Television’, ‘Home Made Food Teacher Baek’ and ‘Please Look after My Refrigerator’.
  Here are some reasons why ‘Cook Bang’ has become popular. In fact, cooking programs have already existed for a long time, but the former cooking programs have been targeted at only housewives. ‘Cook Bang’ is targeting not only at housewives but also at people in their 20s and 30s who are living alone. Considering the fact that people living alone are increasing because the unemployment rate keeps increasing and people are postponing marriage, it is no wonder that people enjoy watching ‘Cook Bang’ so that they can cook their meals by themselves. In addition to that, the fact that, despite the economy being in a deep recession, people still tend to spend their money eating their meals has contributed to the reason why ‘Cook Bang’ has become popular.

The singing trend in entertainment programs  in 2015

  In fact, singing programs have existed for a long time, just like cooking programs. But these days, the singing programs have evolved into new singing programs. In the former singing programs, viewers could just see singers singing on the stage, and the singers just disappeared after singing their songs. However, in the new singing programs, viewers can take part in the programs in many ways. For example, viewers can vote for their favorite singer, or people are given some chances to guess who the singers wearing masks are. The main new singing programs are as follows: ‘King of Mask Singer’, ‘Classic of Immortality’ and ‘Show Me the Money’.
  Here are some reasons why these new singing programs have become popular. First of all, people can easily understand and feel the song itself without any expertise. In addition to that, we can listen to a variety of songs and hear experts’ comments regarding songs through those programs. Nowadays, smart phones have spread out over Korea fast, so video clips of the programs are becoming more accessible. It is one of the main factors of making the programs popular.

A prediction about trends of entertainment programs in 2016

  According to some experts, ‘Jip Bang’ and ‘Pet Bang’ will be trends in 2016. ‘Jip Bang’ is a combination of house and broadcasting. ‘Jip Bang’ not only provides viewers with useful tips about how to decorate or fix their houses, but it also shows celebrities’ houses to the viewers. The programs named ‘Dignity of My Room’ and ‘I Give You Old House You Give Me New House’ are already on the air. Next, ‘Pet Bang’ is a combination of pet and broadcasting. As people are getting interested in raising pets, the experts expect that ‘Pet Bang’ will also attract people’s attention. Viewers can see a lot of adorable pets in ‘Pet Bang’, and when they raise pets, they can get professional advice from some veterinarians. The programs named ‘Mary and Me’ and ‘The Man Feeding a Dog’ are currently on the air.

By Lee Seong-ho
shl36@cbnu.ac.kr