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| ▲This photo provided by individual providers who posters of Survival tv programs. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo captured from the TV program 'World's strongest man (literal translation)' show two men getting ready for their match. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo captured from 'Zero-sum Game' show, their ultimate goal of making it into a zero sum state. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, captured from 'The Iron Soldier2' show one of the competitors looking into a scope. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL October 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korean survival shows with pre existing representative image of Idol audition programs are taking a significant turn by showcasing various subjects such as arm wrestling, fighting, brain war and more.
According to the TV program industry on Thursday, following the lead of South Korean broadcasting provider JTBC which premiered “Over The Top,” tvN will showcase “Super Action” which will be the survival program among stuntmen in November and “Soonjeong Fighter” (literal translation) by SBS in December and more.
The first episode of “Over The Top” featured competitors who are classified under segments “General,” “Students,” “Athletes,” “Celebrities” going under qualifier rounds. The transformation of the arm wrestle from being a traditional game kids used to play to a intense competition gave out a fresh vibe.
Throughout the press conference of “Over The Top,” chief producer Yoon Hyun-joon recently stated “This is first and one and only arm wrestle program that has never been showcased before.” adding “It all started off from the question ‘who would be the best at arm wrestling’ The fun part of this is that there is always someone better at arm wrestling.”
Survival programs are limited to similar structures between those from the past therefore entertaining aspects or unique topic determines the success of the program. That is one of the key reasons why the survival programs of arm wrestle, fighting and more are flooding the Tv show industry
Success of “The Iron Squad” featuring army Reserves of Special Forces is the representative milestone of how unique survival program can be successful.
Through slack lining, diving, and more reserves overcome obstacles with their outstanding physique grasped viewers attention and lead to creation of fandom, also by creating connections between male viewers the TV show became very popular among male viewers as well.
Moreover, a survival program showcasing Korea’s traditional game Ssireum has premiered as well.
tvN Story and Channel A has premiered “King of Ssireum” and “World’s strongest Man” (literal translation) In October, these programs are survival competition TV program to find out the best Ssireum player.
Some of the comments address “I would like to root for the revival of the traditional sports Ssireum,” “I didn’t know how fun the Ssireum is until now, I only thought it was an old sports from the past,” and more.
Brain war survival TV shows are also continuously appearing throughout the channels. These programs are doing their best in order to implement differentiation in order to attract more audiences.
“Game of Blood” by MBC shows a survival program which the lone survivor gets awarded with certain amount of money, despite of his or her method of survival. Moreover Kakao TV’s “Surviving Men and Women” where two teams which consists of male and female survive in their own ways.
“Zero-Sum Game” where competitors do a lot of interesting things in order to gain more weight to win, attracted a lot of attention with their unique idea. While maintaining the total weight competitors of the game vote against one another to take them out from the competition creating more intense atmosphere throughout the series.
Greatest reason Survival variety programs put focus on the uniqueness of the theme is because without the program’s unique topic survival variety shows have extremely hard time attracting audiences attention.
For example “The Soldiers” by SBS which was showcased and premiered five months after “The Iron Soldiers” ended failed badly with recording average of 2 percent viewing rate in total.
“The Soldiers” which put focus on unique talents and skill sets of army reserves from special forces going through tasks in order to pick out a team to compete at the world level of military operator competition. “The Soldiers” put emphasis on showcasing individual operator’s strength and ability to over come difficulties just like they did in “The Iron Soldier.”
Pop culture critic Kim Sung-soo addressed “Survival reality shows in general comes down to the same exact format ‘survival’” adding “Despite of different competitors, and various missions, everyone works towards one goal which is to survive. Therefore without any changes and experiments audiences gets tired very easily.”
Moreover, “The fact that survival reality shows are taking unique turns indicate how it has been around for a while and there has been numerous shows with same exact themes,” adding “Although there is a bit of entertainment coming from the desperateness of competitors, however the world is tired of the competition. Formulation of stories and showing teamwork between members are the new direction it needs to go.” addressed Kim Sung-soo.
Also there has been concerning thought related to how provocative and violence of the program are intensifying in order to attract the audiences.
Professor Shim Jae-woong from Sookmyung Women’s University addressed “When first survival reality show appeared on TV, it was more relatable type of shows, however, it feels like we have transferred ourselves into the survival itself.” adding “On top of tension created from the uncertainty of who will win the completion, seeing or broadcasting the reaction of the competitors due to extreme environment they are put into should be avoided it because it will lead to rumors and problems in the end.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo)
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