Variety Shows...

As I have been learning Korean, one of the most helpful ways for me to hear "normal" conversations has been by watching Korean Variety shows...and I LOVE them.  First of all, they are very very funny.  I can not tell you how long it has been since watching an American Variety/Talk show made me laugh out loud.  Very often American television relies on sexual humor or vulgar language in order to be what is considered funny by many Americans.  However, I do not find that kind of humor funny at all.  In fact, it truly irritates me.  So, finding these Korean Variety shows that have truly witty hosts who have real talent as comedians without stooping to those types of jokes was AMAZING!


One show in particular, called "Happy Together" often makes me laugh out loud and one of the reasons I love it is because the conversations they have (albeit with celebrities) are the same types of conversations my family has when we are sitting around a dinner table.  I told a friend of mine that if someone put a camera up at one of our family dinners, we could be this show.  HA HA!  The clip I posted shows how the show is put together.  It's just a fun and comfortable show that always brings a smile to my face.  You can find full episodes on youtube and on Viki.


Another show I really liked was called "Roomate" and while it's no longer airing, both seasons of the show can be seen on Drama Fever.  I love this show because it was so fun.  It reminded me a little of the "Real World" that was on MTV, but this show was way way better because it was so inoffensive and clean while being interesting to watch.  I liked seeing and learning about different celebrities from various forms of entertainment.  Some of the cast were actors, come were musicians, some were comedians, and at least one was a sports figure.  They were of various ages and stages of life and that too made watching their interactions interesting.  Plus it was neat how each episode was narrated by a different cast member.  I really enjoyed watching this show.  This clip from youtube shows just a bit of the very first episode.  You really have to see more that this to get a feel for the show though, so I highly suggest watching the episodes on Drama Fever.

I also really enjoy watching "Running Man."  That show gives me such great game ideas that I can use for my work.  I know it might seem odd that I would need games for work, but I do.  You see, I am a Pastor and I also plan events and help with programming such as Camps for kids and families, so many of the games shown in this series, with a little tweaking can be used for the things we plan.  For example, the game shown in this clip, just needs to be played at a kids camp sometime.  Don't you agree?   Plus, the cast is really fun and I often find myself laughing out loud at their antics.  You can see this show on Drama Fever as well.

However, my favorite variety show that I have come across is "We Got Married."  This is a show that seems like it shouldn't work, but it does and I can't resist watching it.  The basic premise is two celebrities come together and fake a marriage for a certain amount of time.  They refer to each other as husband and wife (even when not filming the show, but are on other shows), wear wedding rings (or couple rings), and even share the same house during filming.  In the States this type of show would deteriorate into something filthy very quickly, but this show doesn't do that at all.  In fact, it's very clean, very chaste, and just super fun to watch.  Often times, even though it is totally a fake marriage, it seems like they become a real couple...even if they don't really become one.  I always hope they end up really good friends though.  Not sure how you could film a show like that and not become friends since you have to be together so much.  Anyway, it's my favorite.  You can see episodes of this show as well as the Global Version on Viki.  The above clip shows part of an episode with Yook SungJae and Joy who were one of my favorite couples on the show.  They were just too cute.

So those are a few of shows I've enjoyed.  There are others, but those will have to wait until another time.  What variety shows do you like to watch?

Until next time!