Featured Photo by Viki
Story by Larry Rincon
K-POP has been a music far outside of my interests, but when my love television starts to bleed into the world of K-POP, I cannot say I am not surprised that I am now addicted to the genre.
I watch a lot of queer television primarily from Asia, and one such series called “Roommates of Poongduck 304” introduced me to K-Drama and consequently an actor called Kim JiWoong. I became a fan of his, so when I discovered that his primary goal in life was to become an Idol, I dedicated myself to following his career.
Back in February of this year, a brand new Idol survival reality show aired in South Korea called “Boys Planet”. The female equivalent was released in 2022 and resulted in the formation of the girl group Kep1er.
I only watched one episode back then, but since then the group that was created from “Boys Planet”, Zerobaseon, has released two mini albums. I have fallen in love with the music and the members, so I decided to give the program a watch.
At the start of the program, 98 participants, half from South Korea, K group and half from around the world, G group, do a test called the Star Placement Test. A group of judges called Star Masters rank the boys from Zero Stars to All Stars after watching them perform.
There was a large range of talents, some better than others, but what stood out to me at first was the editing style of these tv programs. I feel like most reality tv shows don’t linger so long on the reactions of others when something interesting happens. On “Boys Planet,” you would get a specific moment then cut to one reaction, repeat the moment then cut to another reaction. Sometimes there would be a third reaction cut in as well.
It was annoying for the most part. Especially when performances were really good, this intercutting made the episodes last too long. For anyone interested in watching the show, be prepared to watch two hour to three hour long episodes.
There were a total of three elimination rounds. The original 98 dropped to 52 then to 28 and finally for the last round 18 participants. Since this was my first time watching an idol program, I gained a lot of insight on how hard it is to debut as an idol.
For starters, the entire show is physically demanding in how much practice the participants have to put in for the different battles they have. They have to go through a lot of critiques from the Star Masters and even their fellow contestants, which can be really demotivating. I was concerned for the participants who were 16 because I feel like no 16-year old should face that kind of stress.
The interview scenes that revealed the thoughts and feelings of the participants were at times heartbreaking. Some of them have been training for years trying to debut, and it was sad to see most of them fail to debut. It was especially sad when some of these individuals were losing to people who had been training for a lot less time.
The worst part of the whole survival aspect of course comes from the elimination rounds. Television and entertainment are so cruel to the hearts and hopes of the participants. For elimination rounds they would call up different groups at a time. The person announcing the survivors would name the rank the survivor is in and then provide clues as to who it could be before finally revealing the name. The only survivors who don’t get named are the top 9 candidates and the last rank you could get to survive.
This concept is really messed up, and I personally did not like it. Idol programs are unfortunately not for me. They’re too long, and psychologically messed up. I only watched “Boy Planet” because I wanted more context on the individuals I am supporting.
Even though Zerobaseone will only be active for another two years, I am glad that they have introduced me to reality television in South Korea.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
