Out of this cast, I am really familiar with 6 of the cast members well, 1 I've heard of & the other 2 not so much. I am not a Korean Variety Show expert by any means. I've seen more than 1/2 of the 1N2D eps, & probably a little over 1/3 of the Strong Heart eps but only a handful of Running Man, & a couple Taxi episodes. That's it. But what I have seen I have loved!
There were lots of funny little moments like this. There were 2 scenes w Eunhyuk that made me totally lol. Earlier, in his video intro, that all the cast watched, he claimed to be so popular, as an idol, he was afraid production & filming would come to a stand still when they were in public. Hinting that his fans, due to his extreme popularity, would swarm them & make filming impossible. {{Way to be humble Eunhyuk-ssi}} Then at the airport, they {{meaning the PD}} revealed what when the members got to pick only 2 other members of the group they could email & ask questions, he {{Eunhyuk}} was the 2nd to the least popular. LOL Poor Hyukkie! The other Eunhyuk moment I loved was, when he got lost while he was working as a tour guide of all things! So Daebak!~~ I LOVED it, when he told his customer, "I lost your boyfriend." Thank goodness he was being filmed or she might have been terrified she was being kidnapped, by a strange man, in a foreign country. But she knew who Super Junior was, so I doubt she was too worried.
But I'm not a big fan of Reality in my own country. Which brings me to what I see as the glaring differences between our two countries versions of "Reality TV". ALL of this is just MY opinion. The reason I have never cared for US reality is simple. Class. There seems to be striking lack of class on US Reality. The competitors get fierce, disrespectful, rude, foul mouthed, & quite frankly a lot of the time their version of entertainment is 'let's be as raunchy as we can & get attention, even if it's bad attention'. That US mentality there is no such thing as "Bad Press". Between the Kardashians, the Housewives, the Hicks & the Races its all so much trash. They paint us in our worst possible lights & I have such a low tolerance for stupidity & lack of class, it's not even worth my notice.
Now I did watch the first 2 seasons of American Idol, but I couldn't stand those first few episodes where they would put the most horrendous people through simply because they were scandalously bad & therefore good for people to watch & mock. And Simon was so mean. I don't like "mean people". And I watched & still on occasion tune in for Dancing with the Stars. But that one is far less tacky than the others. They all 'seem' to be really rooting for each other. And while I am sure they are all happy when they aren't eliminated each week, they also 'seem' to truly feel badly for the ones who had to go home. Good sportsmanship. I like that. Korean Reality does not paint it's people as classless, tacky, drama kings & queens, who will back stab & talk bad about someone the minute their back is turned. They truly try to show dignity & respect to each other, even in competition. Lots of good sportsmanship & kindness. Coupled with zany, wacky antics & I love it. Even the laugh track & the triple repeat shot are well loved by me. Now you know how I really feel. LOL
I am not going to give you a play by play of what happened on the show. In fact, I am not even going to do my Dramatic Friday Reviews like that any longer. Takes too much time. And if you haven't seen it, I'm giving away spoilers & if you have seen it, then you don't need a detailed recap from me. I will just give my opinions & view points & maybe share my favorite pictures. I have found myself spending so much time away from my family lately, so that I can reach the goals of this blog, & I feel guilty. It's not like I get paid to do this & I find all the extra work is taking it's toll on me & my family. But I love this blog so much & I love you guys, so I am not ready to say I am going to stop, I'm just going to not put so much time into this anymore.
Back to Barefoot Friends:
The premise is these 8 celebrities are taken to a foreign country & then separated into 2 groups of 4 each. Then they are taken, by blindfold to a different part of that country & told you will now live as these people for 24 hours. We'll provide you w a local job, but you have to work like the natives do, & earn money to buy yourselves food & lodging. And you don't have to find the lodging, we've also found that for you, you just have to earn the money to pay for it. They get a little training in their jobs & are then followed by camera as they set out to work. This first show takes place in Vietnam. Such a beautiful country. Honestly I am not sure why it's called, barefoot friends as none of them are actually barefoot....at least not yet. The first episode is about an hour & twenty minutes long & it's only the first half of the episode.
My favorite parts were when they were all looking at the other cast mates (on the laptops) & watching their quick video intros and every single member of the show, all said in awe, when watching MY KHJ, "Oh he's so handsome!" So funny hearing all those men say KHJ was good looking. Daebak!!~~ And the other was when they all laughed at the hat that Yoon Jong-shin was wearing in his video intro. So cute. I also liked when Yoon Si Yoon got his 1st early morning Variety Show wake up & he said, "So this is what it's like." & "So this really happens." LOL Yes sweetie, this is what really happens. Welcome to Variety!
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| Come on now, you know, I had to make this all about MY KHJ |
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| Yes, even the way he breathes is art! LOL The only part of this scene I didn't care for was the usage of "Almost Paradise" as his intro song. Come on guys BOF was 4 years ago! Move on! He's released a lot of really popular songs & albums since then. Kiss Kiss would have been a far greater choice! Let it go Unnie. |
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| Bless your SuJu heart Hyukkie you are so cute! |
Overall, I liked the show. It's just barely started, still finding it's footing & has potential, especially with this diverse cast, to be really funny & popular. Kang Ho Dong was his usual verbose & funny self. I adore him, he makes me laugh like no other. And yes, he was hungry in this show too. LOL But not all variety shows make the cut & this one had low ratings so it seems. Too bad. I like it. And no, not just because MY KHJ was in it, aish! Give me some credit for impartiality guys. It has a 1N2D flavor to it, & I love 1N2D. We'll see. If you haven't watched Barefoot Friends, give it a try & then come back & tell me what you thought. I'd love to hear your favorite moments or cast member.
Now remember, I am taking this week off while I try & decide what drama I want to give reviews on, I may decide since I am going to stop w the recaps to talk about 2 dramas, who knows? but this week I am Spring Cleaning, taking care of my son, who in the Spring has a much harder time with his health & is in fact home super sick the last 2 days & watching dramas to catch up. Have a wonderful week & I will see you next Wednesday.
Saranghamnida,
Hmmmm maybe I should start watching this too... When I started watching dramas, I kept hearing about variety shows and immediately said to myself "Rosie! Don't you ever start watching KOREAN Reality shows!" Note: Yes, at the time I equated them with U.S. reality TV, of which I have a similar opinion as you. However, after digging around various Running Man shows (thank you Bigbang) I start to learn how veeery different these little beauties are. My husband and I are trying to catch up with RM, which means we still have about 100 episodes to go before we even get to the new season... Phew!! But they're so much fun.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about Korean variety programs not being about the raunchy dramatics and baseless backstabbing. It really does infuriate me. But I do sort of love the shameless plug to make everything as comical as they can in the Korean shows. Talking to the camera men, not even trying to pretend that this is 'reality' most of the time. And if they ever backstab and betray one another, there's always a comical angle that clearly says 'we do this because the viewers will laugh and have fun', not because they want everyone to get mad and have the ratings go up appropriately. It's so nice to see these things. :) :)
Couldn't agree more, especially with the keen observation of how they interact with the all of the people behind the scenes, on camera. I am looking forward to to watching this one come together. I think the different dynamics in the cast could make for a really good Reality show. The only thing I didn't really care for, although it doesn't ruin the show for me, is splitting up into teams. I'd rather, like 1N2D & Running Man they kept them together, just my opinion. They're still learning the format & what's expected so we'll see but I admit I am, cautiously, optimistic for Barefoot Friends.
DeleteLoved Barefoot Friends and can't wait for more! Eunhyuk cracked me up too what with all his humility and all. And yes, even your Hyun-y was cute and very handsome and classy. Great cast!
ReplyDeleteAnd episode 2 was just as awesome, in fact more so because we really got to see the personalities of our favorite stars begin to show. Ho Dong is sincerely hysterical, when the ahjumma smacked him, the look on his face was priceless! And Omo!!
DeleteKHJ: "It reminds me of the Grand Canyon."
KHD: "Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?"
KHJ: "No. I saw a documentary on TV."
Oh Kim Hyun Joong-ssi so funny! I've been to the Grand Canyon, many times...it's gorgeous! Anytime you need a tour guide sweetie, call me. LOL I cannot wait for next week's episode.