Guide to Korean variety shows and tv shows

Korean variety shows are unique and extremely hilarious. If you have not watched any Korean variety shows in you entire Korean addiction period, then I am sorry but you have not reached the full capacity of being a Korean mania. To fill you in, here are my must watch Korean variety shows of all time:

Running Man - 런닝맨 

This is the first Korean variety show that I watched. I remember watching this during my school break from morning to evening, not budging a single inch out of my room. This show is extremely hilarious. The concept of the show is to basically invite guests such as famous actors, singers, comedians etc to play games with the cast members. Normally the very last game that they would play is the "name tag elimination", where everyone will try to rip each other's name tag attached on the player's back. The last man/woman standing then becomes the victor. The quality of each episode varies on which guest(s) they have, what games they're playing and the location they film. I have enjoyed almost every episode of Running Man. It's a must watch!

Infinity Challenge - 무한도전

Infinity Challenge is another show that I dearly love. The cast members all have different personalities from each other which makes the whole show hysterical. The concept of this show is that there isn't one. Every week is different and it often revolves around a certain theme, for example, the recent "Wedding Singers" episodes, where each of the cast members partnered up with famous Korean singer/band to perform a surprise wedding song performance to a lucky viewer who is getting married. One thing I love the most about this show is that they often mix laughter with a few melodrama scenes. It's not a dramatic variety show, they just know when to put dramatic and heartfelt scenes at the right time.

We got married - 우리 결혼했어요

This show will make single people feel really lonely. If you think that the last couple you saw on the street was a bit gooey and cheesy, well then wait until you watch this show! The concept of the show is to get a pair of famous celebrities and have them "marry" each other. The celebrity line up here is extremely amazing; currently, my favourite couple is Eric Nam and Solar. Ahhhh, look at them in those pictures. The couples in this show remains "married" until they are given a "red card" which terminates their couple title. It makes me really sad when a good couple leaves, like what do they do after the show? Isn't it awkward? Like how can you move on after doing all those sweet stuff with each other? Anyway, this is one of my highly recommended variety shows to watch!

The return of superman - 슈퍼맨이 돌아왔다

If you love cute, naughty and funny little kids (in a non-creepy way), then you would enjoy this show. The concept of this show is that Dads and their kid(s) spend two days with each without the help of the mothers. This is often catastrophic but the Dads have managed to handle their kids over the years. I extremely love the cheeky twins (Seo-eon and Seo-jun), the beagle sisters (Seol-ah and Soo-ah) and Daebak. I also enjoy how nice So-eul and Da-eul are to each other. Until now, I still miss the Song triplets and Haru; they were the reason why I started watching the show.

*If anyone is interested in finding updates and photos of the Song triplets and Haru, their fathers have an Instagram accounts: @songilkook and @tabloisdad

2 days, 1 night - 1박 2일

Another unique variety show. The concept of this show is about six members going on a 2-day and 1-night trip together. The trip is often somewhere around South Korea, however, they have also done a lot of episodes overseas. The members are very hilarious, typical bubbly, energetic, male persona. They also recruit guest stars to go on the trip with them and games and will be played throughout the entire travel. I love this show because they show a lot of South Korea's rural areas where not many tourists go to. It shows you how beautiful South Korea is in terms of its modern society architectures as well as its humble traditional greeneries and houses found on the outskirt of Seoul.

Please take care of my refrigerator - 냉장고를 부탁해

This show makes me hungry every time I watch an episode of it. The chiefs are famous restaurant owners in Seoul and they compete against each other in a cooking battle based on the request of the guests. The show will often have two guest celebrities and their fridges will be transported to the set as is; leaving them with no time to clean up or dispose their leftover and expired food. A lot of celebrity's cleanliness were questioned in the show because of the state of their fridges, however, that is one of the main comical sides of the show. Seeing embarrassed and shy celebrities because of the state of their fridge are cute. My favourite episode was when Jinusean were the guest. Sean's wife is amazing! Their fridge is seriously organised and I'm in love!

Show me the money (SMTM) - 쇼미더머니 

This show got me into Korean hip hop and rap. I seriously think that South Korea is up there when it comes to hip-hop culture. The amount of amazing and talented people who comes and compete in the show are plentiful! They can rap their lungs out alright! The recent season of Show me the money is the best by far (SMTM5). The teams were incredible and the people who made it to the top 16 were deserving of their spots! If you love hip hop and would like to venture a bit more into Korean hip hop, watch this show and fall in love with the hip-hop culture in Korea.

Law of the Jungle - 정글의 법칙

This show reminds me of Bear Grylls' Man v Wild show. Kim Byung-man, the main star of the show is an incredible dude and is really knowledgeable when it comes to survival in the wilderness. He leads a team of guest celebrities into the wild only eating and using things that are already in their surrounding. This show is almost like an extreme extension of your normal "camping trip", except almost all the necessary things are not provided.

Fantastic Dou - 판타스틱 듀오

I got hooked with this show because Bigbang Taeyang was one of their celebrity guest singers in the very first episode. Way to get viewers! The concept of this show is that viewers across South Korea can upload a video of themselves singing a duet with their favourite celebrity singers. Three out of the hundreds will be chosen, and then those three viewers will compete with each other in order to get a chance to sing a duet with the guest singer; the guest singer will choose the viewer that he/she wants to sing a duet with. There are three celebrity guest singers and those three celebs will again compete with each other to win the "throne" and become the defending champion on the next episode. I love how amazing the singer and the chosen viewer can do a duet together with only a couple of hours to practice. This show will not disappoint you because it is not lip-synced!

I can see your voice - 너의 목소리가 보여

The little of this show is literally the concept of this show. Professional singers will be invited on the show and sort of act as an investigator to guess the correct person that can actually sing well. There are at least 7 contestants who are divided into two groups: "skilled singers" and "tone deaf" singers. The guest celebrity singer(s) will get given hints on which contestants are skilled and aren't without hearing them sing. Eliminated contestants will then reveal their singing ability. The aim of this show is to choose a skilled singer at the very end. If the last person standing is a skilled vocalist, he/she will receive a chance to release a song with the guest celebrity singer. But if he/she is a tone-deaf person, he/she will win 5 million won or roughly around 5 thousand USD.

Exchange study and travels.

Hello friends,

So this is sort of like a late introduction about my blog, but basically, I started this blog in hopes of recording the exciting events that happened (will happen) in my life. Next year, I will be going on an exchange study to Seoul, South Korea during the spring semester and I have already finished applying to the school. I'm just now waiting for their acceptance letter to arrive so that I can process my visa and other relevant documentations. The school I'm going to is Yonsei and I've heard soo many great things about that University and how beautiful South Korea is in general.

Here are some photographs of Yonsei that I found on the internet. I'll make sure to put up more photos that I took myself once I get there.

Photograph from HumanLiberty.org

Photograph found on Pinterest

Logo from Yonsei

There will be lots of posts coming up so I hope you guys stay tuned!

xxx

Where to watch korean drama and movies?

If you are new to Korean dramas and movies, finding the best website to watch online videos could be challenging. So here's a list of all the websites that I have used to watch Korean dramas and movies:

www.myasiantv.se - This website is my number go-to when it comes to watching Korean dramas. They have a great list of current Korean dramas and they normally upload subbed videos within a day or up to a week after the show/drama was shown in Korea. They also have a good variety of Asian movies and most of it are in HD, however, not all movies have English subtitles. The one downside of this website is that they don't have a lot of dramas that are dated back in 2013, 2012, 2011 and so on.

www.kshowonline.com - If you are into Korean variety shows, then this is the website for you. They've got almost everything! I like watching Running Man, Infinity Challenge, We Got Married, 2 Days & 1 Night and much more through this website! Their videos are normally between 720p to 1080p, which is great for a picky person like me. They don't have Korean dramas in here, just an extensive amount of hilarious variety shows. This website also works great on phones and tablets.

www.kissasian.com - If you want to watch Korean dramas that aired before 2013 then this website may have it in store. They have lots of older Korean dramas as well as a great list of other Asian dramas such as Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Filipino etc. I have watched Full House (2004), Boys Over Flowers (2009), Rooftop Prince (2012) and many others using this website and its great! I sometimes prefer this over MyAsianTv when I'm missing the old school Korean dramas. This website is also mobile and tablet friendly.

www.mydramaon.me - This website is my backup website to watch current Korean dramas if myasiantv is down for maintenance. It doesn't happen a lot but just in case! The layout of this website is very easy to navigate and very straightforward. If you prefer a very minimalistic web page design, then this could be for you! They also have Japanese, Cantonese, Chinese and Taiwanese drama.

www.dramafever.com - I don't really use this one because it has a lot of restriction on their dramas and movies, and you have to be registered in the US for this to properly work. This website set up, however, is the best out of all the websites I recommended. No annoying advertisements on the side of the page, however, they do have ad interuptions in their videos if you are not subscribed. If you want your dramas to be uploaded on time, have the best quality and the best subtitles, then paying a subscription fee could be worth it for you.

www.viki.com - This is another website that I don't use because it only works great if you live in the US. If you live outside the US, then some videos will not be available. It is such a shame that I can't use this website freely. Its got an amazing list of Asian dramas, not just Korean. They also sub some of their dramas in other languages other than English. Once again, I believe you have to pay a subscription fee to view some of the videos and to take away the annoying advertisements that come out every 5-15 minutes.