Favorite Entertainment is now on its 8th episode, and the tracks of the group, ๋ค์ฏ์ฅ / Super Five, have been receiving a good amount of streams on music sites. They have released Hello and All Eyes on me as of this writing, and I'm pretty sure they're planning on releasing more. Here's my two cents about the show:
Audition shows have been ubiquitous in South Korea, and having a one for trot (just like Mr. Trot) seems like a good idea. I love the fact that all are encouraged to join. There are experienced singers, idols, and non-celebrity people who participated. I love its concept of forming a trot idol group, having trot highlighted to different ages and different nationalities.
The thing is, the audition process is not how I expected it to be. Participants were given thumbs-up as their score for both the singing ability and charm - one can get a maximum of 12 thumbs-up. Things went well and those with the highest scores proceed to the next level: the interview. They all are interviewed and that's where the head will pick the group's members. What I got confused about the formation of the group is the addition of two more members who didn't go through the audition process. I have nothing against these two artists - they're both great performers and I love their personality so, so much. It's just that, for me, they could've gone through the same audition process as everyone so some people won't find it unfair for those who auditioned. Saying that it's literally called Favorite Entertainment so they can just pick their favorites isn't that acceptable for me.
Now we have a 5-member group, two of them are idols I adore even before the show, and the other three are people I've grown to love because of their talent and personality. The show claims it to be the first trot idol group though, and it confuses me because I thought Super Junior-Trot is the first one. Yep it's just a sub-unit and all but they did release trot tracks and as an international fan, I've known that genre because of them.
I love the idea of training and retraining these artists, it really feels like having them as idol trainees. I love the show's outcome, but I probably won't rewatch it. I'll probably shove its memory on a file cabinet on my brain and won't pull it out the longest time I can. The reason is that I don't like the way one member is being treated. Episode per episode, some people from the show constantly mock him for his physical appearance and lack of self-esteem. Some may be said indirectly, some may be said straight to his face, but those words are like knives and it can literally kill one's self-esteem. I hate how he is being treated and how clips are being edited. The show makes it seem like he's the weakest link. How he gets special dance tutorials on the side was highlighted, how he needs constant reassurance that he can do something was highlighted too, and etc. FYI, that member isn't experienced like the others, plus he does have a completely different job from it, so they shouldn't expect for him to be of the same level or even close to the others. I hate the fact that they give nothing but compliments to the other members but he gets more mocking than compliments. I love the boys, I swear, and I'll most likely be supporting them even when the show ends, but I think watching a show just cos you love the people in it and not because you love the show itself goes to show how shitty one program can get.
















