Host Yoo Jae Suk urging (from left) Lee, Park and Song to dance in one of the show’s many challenges.
Host Yoo Jae Suk urging (from left) Lee, Park and Song to dance in one of the show’s many challenges.
Nam Seung Yong
Nam Seung Yong

Mega popular variety show Running Man is unstoppable. Shuib Taib talks to its producer on the South Korean show’s longevity

Considering how tight-lipped everyone is about where Running Man, one of the longest-running South Korean variety programmes, is being shot, our Press group were pretty lucky indeed.

During our recent visit to Seoul, the city which hosted the Olympic Games in 1988, we got the chance to see the recording of this vastly popular game show as well as interview its chief producer, Nam Seung Yong.

The venue for that particular Running Man episode was the Taeneung Training Centre (or Korea National Training Centre), a sports complex where Olympic-bound South Korean athletes train daily.

The regular line-up consists of main host Yoo Jae Suk, rapper Gary, host and rapper Haha, comedian and host Ji Suk Jin, singer Kim Jong Kook, actor Lee Kwang Soo and the only rose among the thorns, actress Song Ji Hyo.

As we spot the show members, one by one, making their way to the lobby of the complex, we could only wave and admire them from afar.

Lee was the tallest and Kim was all muscles. Also spotted were three cast members of Doctors as guests. They were actress and model Lee Sung Kyung, Yoon Kyun Sang and the gorgeous Park Shin Hye.

Minutes later, everyone gathered outside the lobby where the shoot was about to take place.

Even though we didn’t understand what they were saying in Hangul, it was obvious that everyone was having a ball.

STRONG STRIDES

With a production crew of close to 200, Running Man is still going strong. How does a show like this remain so after all these years?

Nam offered his perspective: “Our audience doesn’t know what to expect each week. The secret is to keep them guessing. By doing that, we make the show seem fresh all the time.”

However, Nam, who also produced other top variety programmes such as KPOP Star and Fantastic Duo, agreed that it was a challenge anyway to get growing fans glued to their TV sets.

The show is already in its sixth year with over 300 episodes aired.

“The audience can be picky these days and the biggest challenge is to come up with something new and fresh day in and day out,” said Nam.

“To keep the audience continuously hooked, we made some changes to our production crew line-up. Even so, in a worst-case scenario, we may change one or two members of the regular cast,” said Nam, much to our surprise.

Surely nobody wants to be booted out of a show that is not only popular in South Korea, but also throughout Southeast Asia.

If so, who will be the unlucky ones?

“I can’t answer that now but that’s the worst case. I haven’t made any decision yet,” said Nam who added that the newly-changed production crew had been given until Autumn (roughly in September) to prove their mettle.

If you’ve not seen the show, Running Man revolves around having cast members and celebrity guests playing games and completing missions to avoid punishments and to win prizes.

How is the quality maintained then?

“The formula is all about creativity and the creativity lies in constantly changing the writers and producers. Usually, the director who is in charge of a particular shoot, will also be in charge of editing the show,” said Nam.

“We believe that since the director had spent the whole day shooting, he would know best which part to keep and which part to cut.”

Fair enough, but what happens when ideas run out?

“When we first ran the show, the way to choose what game to play was to look at our guests. Who would appear in this week’s show? Once we knew, we created games customised to fit the personality of the guest,” said Nam.

“For example, if we had an actor known for action-packed movies, then the games will be physical and active. If we had a couple on the show, then the games would be designed for couples.

“Due to its popularity, there are many sponsors willing to come in, so in future we may customise games for our sponsors which means there might not be creativity left in the show and there will be more commercialised versions of games. Now that will make it even more challenging and difficult to create interesting games,” he said with a laugh.

CHINESE CONNECTION

The show’s popularity has sparked interest in China, where a Chinese version is aired. Has this made the South Korean version any less popular?

“The Chinese version is famous in almost every part of China and Hong Kong. They have invested a lot of money in the show and made huge profits. They have recouped their investments. The advantage in having something like this is that we can export our content,” said Nam.

“However, the co-production with China was an exceptional case because the Chinese bought the rights and the licence to re-produce their version of the show. The bad thing is that it is like plagiarism. The technical know-how can sneak into China.”

He added that another advantage was that it created a robust entertainment scene in Korea, with a stronger demand for more variety game shows to be produced.

On what’s unique about Running Man, Nam said: “This is a show where nationality, cultural background and religion do not matter.”

He added that the show was for “kidults” (kids and adults).

“They are our main target audience. The games, mostly based on slapstick comedy, are easy to understand. The other thing is that when you see adults running around doing kids’ stuff, you will laugh. What more if these adults are celebrities!”

Now you surely can’t go wrong with that!

Running Man

airs on Fridays at 11pm on One HD (Astro Channel 393).