'Five Actors' aims to narrow generation gap
Cast members of MBN's reality show "The Five Actors" gesture during a news conference to preview the show at the Imperial Palace Hotel in southern Seoul. Courtesy of MBN
Veteran actors explore hit trends
By Kang Aa-young
It's not easy for a reality show to combine comedy and heart-warming elements.
But this is not so for MBN's new reality show “The Five Actors.” The show proves that fun and emotion can go together.
The show started off with an impressive 3.5 percent of viewership, according to Nielsen Korea, as its first episode aired on Thursday night.
This is not a surprise considering that even prior to the premiere; the show had drawn much attention mainly because of the cast members. Some of them are highly sought-after actors.
The new show, starring Kim Yong-gun, Park Jung-soo, Lee Mi-sook, Jeong Young-ju and Nam Sang-mi, started out with raising a simple question: What if veteran actors emulate the latest trends that are popular among young hipsters?
In the reality show, the senior actors try something new in vogue among the younger generation to understand what caused them to have fun with it and put themselves in the younger generation's shoes.
In the first episode, the cast members explore internet cafes and virtual reality game rooms.
Director Kim Si-joong said he and the cast members just wanted to show the cast trying new things, with hopes to bridge a generation gap.
During a news conference at the Imperial Palace Hotel in southern Seoul on Thursday, Kim said his teenage son inspired him to come up with the idea of the show. His son asked the director if he knew new slang terms he mentioned. “I had no clue,” he said, adding he felt left out.
“I used to lead the trends, when I was young, as part of generation X. Then I came up with this idea for the show. We just thought it might be interesting if the veteran actors and actresses tryout new hipster fads,” Kim said.
Kim said he hopes the show will grab both present and past generations.
“I hope families can watch the show together, bridging the generation gap,” he said.
Though the cast members were not familiar with some newly introduced latest trend, they shone as trend leaders in the past, Kim explained.
With seasoned actor and actresses, the show also put the spotlight on their “raw” experiences.
For Nam Sang-mi who's best known for her role in mystery thriller series “Let Me Introduce Her,” it's the first time to reveal her real life.
“I hope the audiences can see us differently from our roles on TV and films,” Nam said.
“We thought our task is to bridge the gap between generations,” Kim added.
Aiming to bridge the generation gap with a comical twist, the reality show won on both counts, while also invoking a great deal of laughs.
"The Five Actors" airs on Thursday at 9:40 p.m.