They come from South Korea. One has been a fixture at news for over four years. The other could boast of having over a million viewers on average per episode last year. Both “Maskorama” and “The Game” on TV 2 originate from the new Mecca of entertainment in Asia – namely Seoul. In a relatively short time, Korean productions have enjoyed worldwide success: HOLDS THE RECORD: “Squid Game” is now in its second season. A total of 330 million viewers have seen the first season of the series. Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix Revenge drama “The Glory” is one of the most watched Korean productions on Netflix, ranking in the top 10 in more than 90 countries when it arrived in 2022. Photo: Graphyoda/Netflix Korean drama series, also called K-drama, became seriously known internationally when the thriller series “Squid Game” became the most watched series of all time on Netflix during the pandemic. Which it still is. In addition, recent reality series such as the cooking program “Culinary Class Wars” and the muscle competition “Physical: 100” have topped the charts on the streaming service. Why has Korean TV suddenly become so popular? THE ORIGINAL: In the Korean version, it is the celebrities on the panel of judges who decide who goes on and who is out of the competition… Photo: Xin Li / news … which they do together with the ecstatic audience in the hall. Photo: Xin Li / news Unlike “Maskorama” in Norway, there are no backup dancers in the show, but the masked ones are led onto the stage by agents in suits. Photo: Xin Li / news Off with the mask! When news shows up at MBC’s premises in the Korean capital, there is a hectic atmosphere. MBC is one of South Korea’s largest broadcasting companies, and it is precisely here that the two Norwegian TV favorites originate from. Both masked and unmasked small runners between the long corridors. It’s warm from the spotlights in the giant studio. The live audience cheers. It is recording day for the biggest Korean TV success of them all: “King of Masked Singers”. At home in Norway, we call it “Maskorama”. – The program is available in 58 countries worldwide. Here in South Korea, it’s on TV every Sunday, says producer Sung Young Kim. Yep. Here they have “Maskorama” every single week of the year. It has been like this for almost ten years, and the program is approaching 500 episodes. Have you seen the Norwegian version? – Not yet, unfortunately, but I’ve heard that the Norwegian costumes almost look like they come from a musical! Here we mostly use cardboard masks, says the manufacturer. Perhaps not so strange when you have to wear new masks every week. ON THE THRONE: Sung Young Kim is a producer in “King of Masked Singers”. Here with the masked contestant with the mysterious name “Carnival”, who is currently leading the competition in South Korea. Photo: Xin Li NORWEGIAN MASK: One of this year’s Norwegian “Maskorama” participants, “Vampyren”. Maybe a bit musical, yes? Photo: Espen Solli She herself thinks there are several reasons why the concept has been a hit in so many countries. It is definitely a program that brings the family together on the sofa, she believes. – And then I think people think it’s fun to see different types of people in a music programme. For example, it could be a comedian or an actor who actually has a wonderful singing voice. Through the mask, they can show a completely different side of themselves, says Kim. She says that the interest in Korean TV programs is linked to a growing international popularity of Korean culture in general, including through K-pop, Korean films, K-beauty and Korean food culture. This phenomenon has been given the name hallyu, which can be translated in Norwegian as “the Korean wave”. In South Korea, trends change often and quickly, says the producer. – Right now, the new trend in South Korea is more light-hearted documentary programmes. In other words, TV shows where you follow people who live their normal everyday lives, and who are not so staged. People want genuine TV, she says. But internationally, it is the so-called survival shows, i.e. competition-based reality programmes, which are the best, says Kim. “Culinary Class Wars” is an example of a “survival show”. The programme, which can be described as a kind of “Masterchef” in high gear, has been one of the autumn’s big reality shows. Photo: Sangwoo Kim/Netflix Throwing billions at Korean TV Last year, Netflix announced that it will spend NOK 28 billion on the production of Korean content over the next four years. The total is double the amount it has spent in South Korea since 2016, the company reports. Other major streaming services, such as Disney+, Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ are also in the process of expanding their lists of Korean programs. In other words, you can expect to see even more Korean content in your player in the future. “Physical:100” has become a viewer favorite on Netflix. The series brings together a hundred highly trained people in a sweaty competition to see who performs the best physically. Photo: Netflix – Today’s TV viewers get bored extremely easily. That’s why you have to capture their attention right from the start, says MBC producer Jung Wan Hyun. When we meet him at the office in Seoul, he has taken a break from the cutting room. There are only a few days left until the third season of the reality series “Bloody Game” goes on air. “The Game” was the very first adaptation of the format outside of South Korea, but is currently also in production in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. – I have learned that “The Game” is very popular in Norway, which is very nice to hear, he says. Producer Jung Wan Hyun is the mastermind behind the original version of the Norwegian “The Game”. He meets news at the headquarters of MBC in Seoul. Photo: Xin Li / news He himself is a little surprised by the great international interest in Korean TV. – But I think part of it is about the fact that the Korean TV audience is among the most discerning in the world. They want something new to watch all the time, and it has to be good, says Hyun. The concepts that do well in South Korea are easy to understand, while at the same time they have to be entertaining and keep the tension up. – If something can attract Korean viewers, it will often also be able to attract foreign viewers, he says. POPULAR: “The Game” is the biggest streaming success on TV 2 ever. In the spring, it will be ready for season two. Photo: Vegard Breie/Mastiff/TV 2 The producer believes that it is still traditional celebrity programs that are most watched on linear TV in South Korea. But it is definitely competitive reality, such as “The Game”, that is most popular on streaming platforms. – Especially the younger generation loves “survival shows”. It’s definitely what makes the most sense, he says. Was immediately fascinated – “Everyone” in the TV industry actively follows South Korea. Many want to secure the rights to the formats that emerge from there, because you have seen that they have done very well in the past, says Jostein Olseng. He works as managing director of Mastiff, which produced “The Game” for TV 2. Olseng believes that many of the Korean concepts are perceived as innovative, which was one of the reasons why they chose to focus on “The Game”. Photo: Marta Komarnicki/news – We were immediately fascinated. The “game” had exciting elements that were, among other things, inspired by the Korean film “Parasite” and the series “Squid Game”. It was simply a format that had several layers, and which looked completely different from anything we had seen before, he says. We will probably see even more from South Korea in the future, predicts Olseng. – There are several strong South Korean formats that I think will be on TV here in Norway or in Europe before too long, he says. But.. the mask must come off! Back to the recording studio in Seoul. Producer Sung Young Kim tells me that they have toyed with the idea of doing an international version of the singing competition. – A “Maskorama” where all the different countries are involved would have been fun, she says. Anyone who has seen “Maskorama” knows that someone has to be voted out in the end. And in all versions of the competition, the mask must fall. That’s sort of the whole point. So – if you’re wondering how they throw away the mask in the Korean version of “Maskorama”: It was the rapper Emma of the K-pop group BADVILLAIN who hid behind this very mask. You can watch the Norwegian “Maskorama” final on Saturday at 19.50 on news TV. Hello! I am a journalist in the culture department of news and write about everything from popular culture and art to music and film. Do you have thoughts about what you have read, or tips for a case? Feel free to send me an email!
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