KBS revisits “variety drama” format with upcoming comedy The Best Hit

by javabeans

KBS hinted at this last year, and now we have confirmation that the station is indeed reviving its hybrid “variety drama” format, which it initially attempted back in 2015 with The Producers. The new comedy series is titled The Best Hit, and although it’s not technically a Producers Season 2, it’s being unofficially called that because the same chief producer will be in charge of the new show.

The Best Hit will be a mix of family and rom-com genres and centers around an immature father and his mature son. In the ’90s, Dad was a top star twentysomething, and recalls his glorious youth as a time when he could do anything he set his mind to. Twenty years ago, Dad disappeared from the public eye, only to reappear two decades later as the neighborhood slacker. Meanwhile, the son’s life as a twentysomething is quite the opposite of Dad’s, full of frustration and worry, and the show will follow their father-son bromance in a cheerful story of growth and maturation.

Personally, I found the variety-drama concept refreshing and loved the dry humor and mockumentary style of The Producers’ early episodes much more than its later (standard) style, so I’m looking at The Big Hit with interest. I was bummed when The Producers dropped the experimental hybrid angle after only a couple episodes, because although it’s true that audiences had trouble grasping the concept, the show abandoned it and switched over to a conventional rom-com style without even allowing viewers a chance to get used to the format. But perhaps PD Seo Soo-min, the variety veteran who initially headed The Producers, wants another shot at trying her original vision.

PD Seo has had quite successful career as director, producer, and then chief producer on a number of variety programs, among them Music Bank, Gag Concert, Happy Sunday and Yoo Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook. The writer attached to this project is Lee Young-chul, who has a number of sitcom titles to his name, including the campus comedies Nonstop 5 and Rainbow Romance, the three seasons of High Kick, and tvN’s Once Upon a Time in Saengchori and Potato Star 2013QR3.

According to Seo Soo-min, the project is still in the planning stages; aside from the writer, nothing else has been decided, such as director, cast, or scheduling. A synopsis has been completed, but is reportedly still being revised. It hopes to air in the latter half of this year.

Via IS Plus

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