All-female TV shows fail to meet expectations

Scenes from a KBS reality show "Guesthouse Daughters" / Courtesy of KBS

By Park Jin-hai

“Sister’s Slam Dunk” and “Guesthouse Daughters,” two variety shows with all-girl casts on KBS, failed to meet viewers’ expectations as they fell short of coming up with new elements of female roles on TV.

Unlike the initial attention the two shows gained on their premieres, the two shows’ viewership ratings have dropped to 2 to 3 percent, hitting the bottom of the viewership list among rival variety shows in the same time slot.

Friday night show “Sister’s Slam Dunk,” starring seven female hosts, shows them form a girl idol group under the direction of popular composer producer Kim Hyung-suk. “Guesthouse Daughters” goes by the concept where five actresses -- including veteran actress Lee Mi-suk, Park Si-yeon and Lee Da-hae -- invite a special guest each week and do the talks and games.

The former premiered relatively well with 5.4 percent viewership, but since then its second episode dropped to 3.8 percent and the third further down to 3.2 percent. The latter is no different. The Tuesday night show started out with 5.4 percent viewership last month, which slipped to 3.1 percent in its second episode and to 2.8 percent in the third episode.

Local critics say the shows not only lack freshness but also turn the clock back 10 years in terms of female roles on TV variety shows.

“In the perspective of nurturing female entertainers and developing female shows, KBS’ two new shows make no difference,” culture critic Kim Kyo-suk said.

“Sister’s Slam Dunk,” launched under the banner of “all-female show,” has a father and teacher-like male figure composer Kim, who helps guide those female hosts to grow into a proper girl band.

The previous season featured the girls help each other to make their dreams come true, which ranged from getting a bus driver’s license and making a documentary to becoming a K-pop idol and building a house. The second season seems to have focused on the group-making process of the past season, which garnered nearly 8 percent viewership last year.

“It seems that Sister’s Slam Dunk focuses on fancy visuals, lacking fresh ideas. That makes a ridiculous situation where the show’s two co-hosts -- now disbanded 2NE1 member Minzy and former I.O.I member Jeon So-mi, winner of a talent show competition -- were featured nervous before their gird-band-making challenge.”

“Guesthouse Daughters” is even worse. Veteran male entertainer Lee Soo-geun, on the role of guesthouse owner Kim Mi-sook’s uncle, comes as the instructor of the show and pushes actresses into various games, in the name of breaking the shell of themselves as actresses.

Under Lee’s guidance, actresses make slapstick comedies. They blow candles out with their noses, have their faces stained while trying to eat Chinese noodles with long chopsticks, swallow lime slices and do a fashion show wearing funny red tight clothes as if the show believes that showing actresses’ true colors would do all the magic.

Their first guest actor Park Joong-hoon was asked to pick who is the prettiest among them, while the subtitles read “because of the pretty daughters, the guesthouse has male guests lined up.”

“The show’s hosts are supposed to be actresses. But what leads the show are two veteran male entertainers,” Kim said. “It is not a problem of characters. The format of the show is outdated, spun out of the perception that females are passive and peripheral.”

Comparing with JTBC’s “With You,” where female entertainer Kim Sook built a fresh and strong female character, chartering a new chapter in the entertainment industry and having created a “Sook Crush” combining her name “Sook” with “girl crush,” critic Kim says KBS’s two new shows are disappointing.

“Kim Sook showed that a female can lead a variety show into success and be funnier than male counterparts. Her success has been a cultural phenomenon that has shown the potential for female entertainers,” Kim said. “The ongoing two KBS shows, in this context, are outdated and disappointing. I want to see genuine female shows in the future, not where those females make appearances but where females can lead the show.”