javabeans: New Sunday variety show Barefoot Friends premiered to lowish numbers three weeks ago, but the real test was whether it would be able to climb up from its initial 5.6% numbers to challenge Dad! Where Are We Going?… but instead the numbers have dropped. Yesterday’s Episode 3 pulled in a frankly shockingly low 2.9%.

girlfriday: That is dismally low.

javabeans: I would hate for Kang Ho-dong to get another show cancelled so soon after his comeback, but let’s be fair: I’ve seen all three episodes and I see why people are zoning out. It’s got a great cast, a confusing non-premise, and a lot of boring filler “missions.”

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Read the rest of Barefoot Friends logs perilously low ratings (1,056 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 104 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conversation post, Eunhyuk, Kang Ho-dong, Kim Hyun-joong, UEE, variety shows, Yoon Shi-yoon

Get your rackets ready for another round of Variety Roulette where we’ll take a swing at the fairly new sports show on the KBS lineup, spearheaded by nation’s MC Kang Ho-dong: Our Neighborhood Variety Sports. The premiere beat out its Tuesday night competitors (namely Incarnation) with a solid 6.2% in ratings.

And the numbers continue to climb week after week, as Episode 4 hit a new series high of 7.2%. Who knew that table tennis could be so intense, so funny, and so alluring?

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Read the rest of Variety Roulette: Our Neighborhood Variety Sports (3,701 words)

© gummimochi for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 33 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Choi Kang Changmin, featured, Kang Ho-dong, Lee Su-geun, Min-ho, Variety Roulette

EPISODE 1. Broadcast on April 21, 2013.

javabeans: Next on the Variety Roulette wheel is a brand-new show, Barefoot Friends, which heats up the Sunday variety race — KBS has 1N2D as its flagship program for Happy Sunday (and also airs Mamma Mia), MBC’s Sunday Night is doing well with Dad Where Are We Going? (and has that new army show Real Men — way to be subtle with that naming), and SBS’s Good Sunday has Running Man, now with Barefoot Friends.

girlfriday: SBS has the prime MC lineup, with the Kang Ho-dong/Yoo Jae-suk one-two punch, but the first episode of Barefoot Friends didn’t rake in the numbers — it came in at last place with 5.6% ratings — so it definitely has some serious competition.

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Read the rest of Variety Roulette: Barefoot Friends (4,454 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 106 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eunhyuk, featured, first episodes, Kang Ho-dong, Kim Hyun-joong, UEE, Variety Roulette, Yoon Shi-yoon

Throw a stone and hit a new variety show these days, and no one’s busier in that arena than star MC Kang Ho-dong, who’s finally got a title and a cast confirmed for his new SBS show, set to be part of the I Like Sunday lineup in the timeslot after Running Man (someone over at KBS’s Happy Sunday is crying into his cornflakes). It’s called Barefoot Friends, and has confirmed an eight-member cast that’s a pretty bizarre if interesting mix: MCs Kang Ho-dong, Yoon Jong-shin (Hwashin), and Yoo Se-yoon (Knee Drop Guru); singers/idols Eunhyuk (Strong Heart), Kim Hyun-joong (Playful Kiss), UEE (Jeon Woo-chi), Kim Bum-soo, and actor Yoon Shi-yoon (Flower Boy Next Door).

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Read the rest of Kang Ho-dong’s new SBS show gets name, finalizes cast (447 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 85 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eunhyuk, Kang Ho-dong, Kim Hyun-joong, UEE, Yoon Shi-yoon

Oooh, this is an interesting development in varietyland. As Kim Seung-woo’s talk show Win-Win gets ready to go off the air, Kang Ho-dong’s new KBS variety show has secured Win-Win’s time slot… which is in direct competition with his old SBS show Strong Heart. (One of the many programs he left behind when he took a temporary leave from showbiz.)

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Read the rest of Kang Ho-dong goes head-to-head with Strong Heart (315 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 41 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Choi Kang Changmin, Kang Ho-dong

girlfriday: Aw, time to say goodbye to another variety show. Kim Seung-woo’s KBS talk show Win-Win has officially announced that it’ll be shooting its last episode in early January.

javabeans: I don’t watch Win-Win so I’ll let you answer this one: Is this sad news?

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Read the rest of Kim Seung-woo’s Win-Win gets cancelled (440 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 45 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conversation post, Kang Ho-dong, Kim Seung-woo

Varietyland was teeming with news the last few days, so I thought it’d be worth waiting till the dust settled and summing up some news, rumors, and developments that have been going on. First: Star variety PD Na Young-seok (or Na PD, Evil Genius Extraordinaire) of the original 1 Night 2 Days, has been developing a new show for KBS, which sent everyone’s speculation meters running wild.

Rumors that he’d reteam with Kang Ho-dong or Lee Seung-gi came from every direction, but in the end, neither proved to be true. *sadface* But Na PD has announced his new show, and meanwhile both Ho-dong and Seung-gi are reportedly in talks to headline new variety shows as well, but each separately. Guys, what do we have to do to get the band back together here?

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Read the rest of News updates from Varietyland (625 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 58 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Go Hyun-jung, Kang Ho-dong, Lee Seung-gi

Aw, sad day for variety. As if his leaving 1 Night 2 Days isn’t already enough, Lee Seung-gi has confirmed the rumors that he’s leaving his MC post on SBS Tuesday night talk-show-thunderdome Strong Heart. WAH. I’m actually mad at the dramaverse right now, for stealing away my weekly doses of Seung-gi, left and right.

Right on the heels of the initial rumors that Seung-gi would drop Strong Heart was the news that Kang Ho-dong might return. Okay, so there’s a silver lining on this cloud after all. It broke my heart when Ho-dong temporarily retired from the industry last September, after which 1N2D continued on without him, and Seung-gi flew solo on Strong Heart.

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Read the rest of Lee Seung-gi drops Strong Heart, Kang Ho-dong to return? (215 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 35 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Kang Ho-dong, Lee Seung-gi

 
EPISODE 353. Broadcast on September 25, 2011.

girlfriday: Last stop on the Viewers’ Tour! Ji-young performs and so does Ji-won (Am I the only one who misses his idol days? I wanna see him dance to happy music!) and Byung-man and Su-geun do a gag routine.

javabeans: The gag is basically Su-geun stealing Byung-man’s spotlight at every turn, which amuses me because isn’t that his basic function on 1N2D? But then Byung-man gets to the real meat of his routine, which is his jump-roping skills…which I suppose doesn’t sound that impressive, until you SEE him doing all his variations. Like shortening the rope to about a foot long and managing to get his entire body through it.

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Read the rest of 1 Night 2 Days: Episode 353 (3,579 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 66 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Baek Ji-young, Eun Ji-won, featured, Kang Ho-dong, Kim Jong-min, Lee Seung-gi, Lee Su-geun, Sung Shi-kyung, Uhm Tae-woong

 
EPISODE 352. Broadcast on September 18, 2011.

girlfriday: Wow this viewer’s tour is lasting forever. Not that I’m complaining, because it’s adorable. But the boys are on their best behavior because of all the elders, so there’s less misbehavin’ afoot.

javabeans: I think I read that they decided to add the fourth ep when all that Kang Ho-dong stuff went down. Not that they had to scramble for material, I’m sure, since there’s just so many people.

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Read the rest of 1 Night 2 Days: Episode 352 (2,390 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 50 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Baek Ji-young, Eun Ji-won, featured, Kang Ho-dong, Kim Jong-min, Lee Seung-gi, Lee Su-geun, Sung Shi-kyung, Uhm Tae-woong