tvN show popularity surprises producer
By Yun Suh-young
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Producer Yang Jeong-woo
The "Dictionary of Useless General Knowledge," a nine-episode series aired on cable channel tvN, has been reviewed positively since airing its first episode on June 2.
When the program ended on July 28, many netizens commented that they were looking forward to a second series and they were happy to finally find a program that was worth their time.
The "Dictionary of Useless General Knowledge" is an intellectual entertainment program where four professionals in their fields talk about various issues including society, politics, arts, science and literature during a visit to a particular destination. The panel members are novelist Kim Young-ha, writer and former health minister Rhyu Si-min, food columnist Hwang Kyo-ik and Jeong Jae-seung, scientist and professor of bio and brain engineering at KAIST. The four talked about topics which they had broad general knowledge about or specific expertise. The program ended with a 6.1 percent viewer rating according to Nielson Korea.
"At the beginning it was an unfamiliar style of program. Internally, everyone said 'What were you doing?' and looked at us with curiosity. But I'm grateful the program was well received," producer Yang Jeong-woo, who co-produced the program with celebrity producer Na Young-seok, told Yonhap news in an interview.
"It's called general knowledge but the topics are basically all related to our lives. I think that's why it became popular. I was deeply touched when I saw historical figures or books that were mentioned in the program ranked on the most-viewed list in search engines."
The crew visited 125 venues in 10 regions across the country, ate 57 types of food and discussed 282 themes. The topics start with soft issues like food but move on to gentrification and cryonics.
"They would talk for hours and hours that the filming time would be insufficient to include all the conversations. They even created a separate group chat room on a messaging app to continue the conversations," Yang said. Interestingly, Rhyu and Kim still used 2G phones which made them quieter online than in offline conversations.
"At the beginning, Rhyu refused to join the program saying he was not an entertainer and had work to do as a writer. But we visited him every week to convince him," Yang said.
"Kim was trendy and sensible. He could empathize easily with any topic. Jeong was full of curiosity while Yoo was a good listener."
Yang said he wants to try music entertainment next time, but first he will take a break.