Popularity of Reality Audition Programs
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The range of reality audition programs have gradually increased on national television, with “Hidden Singer”, “Superstar K”, “K-pop Star”, “Korea’s Next Top Model”, “Master Chef” and “Project Runway Korea”, among others, gaining commercial success.
The shows listed above were all popular enough to be renewed for more seasons.
In a society based on competition, it is no wonder these shows are doing so well. Conflict, survival and success come naturally to Koreans, who are usually engaged in one or more of those struggles each day.
High school students strive to score higher than their classmates to advance to topnotch universities, just to battle it out all over again by racing neck-and-neck with others to get accepted to the most prestigious companies.
Viewers feel empathy for the contestants on audition shows because they identify with those characters. Shows with high rating also reverberate with the audience in a way other programs can’t.
And the way in which their contestants cope with the hardships they encounter is admittedly entertaining to watch as well. And many ordinary viewers feel like they’re experiencing a dejavu – that “ah hah” moment when one thinks they’ve been there or done that.
However, some argue that the popularity of such programs is not as good as it may seem.
The Korea Herald reported in 2011 that “critics are skeptical about whether the current audition programs are really able to offer hopes and dreams for the ordinary.”
In the article, pop culture and broadcasting industry critic Kim Hun-sick took special aim at MBC’s “The New Recruit” (2011), an audition program that selected three announcers.
All three winners were found to have received professional training from a private institute before entering the contest, when the broadcaster particularly stressed that it would recruit “raw talent,” Kim was as saying.
Others worry that the spate of audition programs is pushing people to take fierce competition too lightly.
