'Produce 48' exits, failing to make splash

A scene from last episode of Mnet's idol survival show “Produce 48” / Courtesy of CJ ENM

By Park Jin-hai

The third franchise of Mnet's idol show, “Produce 101,” “Produce 48,” which began with the grandiose vision of creating a megahit Korea-Japan mixed girl band by cherrypicking both countries' music entertainment systems, ended its three-month-long journey Friday, announcing the 12 finalists who will debut and perform in Korea and Japan.

In the last episode, two teams comprised of 10 trainees who competed and those who successfully made the cut for the final 12 were announced. Jang Won-young, of Starship Entertainment, got the most votes, 338,366, and became the center of their debut band “IZ*ONE,” the name of which was also voted on meaning the 12 members like 12-colored stars shine united as one. The finalists included three Japanese participants, including Miyawaki Sakura, who had been a lead singer and dancer of AKB48 multiple times, Yabuki Nako, of HKT48, and Honda Hitomi, of AKB48.

From the onset, the third season of “Produce 101” got a lot of media attention, as it combined the preceding Mnet's popular idol survival format of “national producer” system and recruitment of Japan's talent by joining with Japan's AKS, the entertainment company for the popular Japanese girl group AKB48.

"With Asia's presence expanding in the global music markets including North America and the U.K., we believe it is high time for the countries to join hands and build up more steam," the show's chief producer Kim Yong-beom said, explaining the purpose of the show during a press conference.

But, the show's initial popularity fizzled in the end, getting comparably low viewership in the range of 2 percent all along. Its first seasons which create smash-hit fandom-based project groups such as I.O.I and Wanna One in 2016 and 2017, had maintained viewership ratings in the range of 4 percent to 5 percent.

The show has been involved in many controversies, though. Before the show hit the airwaves, some Korean fans claimed some AKB48 members were involved with ultra-right political groups, posting stage props of the Rising Sun Flag and photos of tanks associated with Japanese imperialism and colonial dominance, and who visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for Japanese war dead including Class-A war criminals. As a tit-for-tat, one of Korean trainee's wearing a badge to commemorate the war-time sex slaves provoked a heated debate among AKB48's Japanese fans claiming the contestant was trying to buy votes from Korean fans exploiting nationalism.

Other disputes followed involving the broadcaster having given more airtime to trainees of particular talent agencies, while some fan clubs supporting their trainees gave expensive free gifts to those who voted for their trainees. As the show neared its end, Korean website Gmarket's ids and passwords that can be used for online voting were even traded on the popular Chinese online shopping site Taobao, sold for 1,640 won per id, which was later blocked.

It had the mission of having synergy between Korea and Japan's entertainment system, but viewers had little chance to see the expected synergy. In the same format of previous seasons, where the trainees compete in each mission they are given, there was no difference showing it had Japanese trainees specialized in the performance in theaters under the concept of “idols you can meet.”

It was just one episode near the end, where the final 20 contestants went to Japan to participate in the AKB48's handshake event in celebrating their “Teacher Teacher” single album release.