Broadcaster Lee Hwi-jae, who returned to broadcasting after about four years by appearing on ‘Immortal Songs’. Photo by reporter Lee Sun-Myung 57km@kyunghyang.com
Despite viewer backlash, the production team of the KBS2 variety program ‘Immortal Songs’, which pushed ahead with the return of broadcaster Lee Hwi-jae, accepted nothing but a paltry report card that exposed the limits of shallow planning.
According to ratings agency Nielsen Korea on the 5th, the 750th episode of ‘Immortal Songs’ that aired on the 4th recorded 4.7% (nationwide household basis). This is a slight drop from the 4.8% rating for episode 749 on the 28th of last month, when Lee Hwi-jae returned.
It shows that the team is not enjoying any of the ‘Lee Hwi-jae effect’ it tried to force. Compared with other episodes, this planning failure is even more painful.
‘Immortal Songs’ recorded 6.8% for the ‘Lim Young-woong and Friends’ special in August last year, and as recently as February this year ratings climbed to 6.4% for the ‘Seol Woon-do Special’.
In March, when there were no special guests, regular-episode ratings for ‘Immortal Songs’ stayed in the 4.7% to 4.9% range. Even after taking a gamble on so-called noise marketing in defiance of public antipathy, the numbers indicate that the influx of new viewers was close to zero.
Broadcaster Lee Hwi-jae appearing on ‘Immortal Songs’. KBS2 broadcast screen
The production team is being criticized for misreading public sentiment. When the preview announcing Lee Hwi-jae’s return was released on the 21st of last month, the viewer message board was flooded with protests such as ‘I do not want to watch an unlikable celebrity with my license fee’. The team issued no statement of position and pushed ahead with recording and airing. Some even described it as a ‘public broadcaster cartel’.
The production team came under fire for an outdated directing approach. On stage, Lee Hwi-jae wiped away tears while saying, “It has been a long time since I greeted you,” and the camera captured and aired this in a sentimental way. Critics said this tear-jerking approach, in which a celebrity who stepped down due to public dislike sobs and the footage is packaged to elicit public sympathy, is behind the times.
Rather than raising the fundamental quality of the competition program, the team’s reliance on a tear show as a shield to manufacture buzz laid bare its complacency.
After a showdown with viewers, the 0.1 percentage point in ratings, at the level of statistical error, clearly pinpoints the grim reality of the KBS entertainment division, which has turned away from the public while clinging to outdated ideas.
