K orean variety shows have been one of the tentpoles of Korean television – there’s nothing like watching someone get dunked into a pool, or racing against the clock to complete a mission, both of which happen equally often on-air. These shows are typically comprised of a mixed cast industry veterans and rising talent, across a large pool of actors, singers, comedians, models, you name it. An exception: as K-pop groups gain more of a following, the group as a whole could be cast in their very own serialized variety show, a capital-v-very-big-deal moment that could catapult the group into the spotlight. I set out to complete the circle: if fans are ultimately the ones that fuel the creation of these K-pop-based variety shows, and fans are the ones consuming it — why not have the fans be a part of creating it too? In 2016, I flew to South Korea to meet with 9 members of a K-Pop boy band, Topp Dogg. With two cameras and a handful of local staff, we created “Topp Dogg: All-Kill,” Soompi’s first foray into original content. The resulting 10-episode series, which incorporated all fan-submitted missions and games, crashed the Soompi website during launch. *hates Mondays with a burning passion*@soompiallkill : all kill will air every Monday — 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 (@S0FTYONG) June 18, 2016
While the show was on-air, we managed to:
me: Monday is my favourite day of the week I lov-
This project would not have been possible without the help of Hunus Entertainment, Soompi editorial staff, and all of the fans who showed us so much love over the course of the show’s run.