[Why you should watch] The Producers

by Unit

What’s a Kim Soo-hyun fangirl’s next step after writing him an entire love letter disguised as an OPO post? It’s convincing everyone else to watch at least one of his dramas. (Or to maybe just watch his entire filmography?) Anyway, after a very long and very serious deliberation on which Kim Soo-hyun drama to write about, I’m here to convince the Beanie populace who haven’t watched The Producers yet, to give it a try.

What’s so special about this slice-of-life/comedic take on variety shows and their producers, you ask? For starters, it’s a Kim Soo-hyun drama. Duh! He’s the entire reason this post exists in the first place. As always, Kim Soo-hyun nails his role as Baek Seung-chan, the bumbling rookie PD who jumped into the profession because of his crush — but he soon finds out that there’s more to being a variety show producer than acting like a love-struck puppy.

By default, Seung-chan is such an earnest and by-the-book character which is not such a bad thing — except in the variety show world in which he now finds himself, it takes flexibility, compromise, and some white lies here and there to get through the day. A semi-rigid Seung-chan is nearly out of his element at work, but he has a surprisingly petty side to him. And the combination of his dorky, petty, prone-to-mistakes, and emotional sides makes him an interesting character.

Dismounting my fangirl horse, I will actually hesitate to watch a drama solely for an actor’s sake. So let’s get into what The Producers has to offer story-wise. The Producers takes its audience on a dive into the world of variety shows, and everything that goes on behind the scenes: from ideating a show, to casting, planning the episodes, editing, broadcasting accidents, and the rat race of ratings, among other things. Ready or not, the show must go on!

The drama also masterfully draws metaphors from these behind-the-scene happenings to highlight a character’s personal struggles at a particular time, as well as pass on general life lessons to the audience. And much like watching a real variety show in itself, the audience doesn’t get bored because with its witty writing and excellent acting, The Producers avoids dampening the mood with the characters’ issues; neither does it go all preachy with these life lessons.

To draw its audience in even closer, the drama leverages on real KBS variety shows like 1 Night and 2 Days, Music Bank, and the like, and places its characters at the helm of these programs — instead of simply making up shows for the drama. This makes the immersion into the drama’s world seamless thanks to an already existing familiarity with the real life shows. With its meta, The Producers is a variety show lover’s paradise! Admittedly, the drama might be a bit jarring for an audience without any previous interaction with variety shows. But this drama is pretty enjoyable once you get into it.

A standout feature of The Producers is its mockumentary style format with the characters occasionally breaking the fourth wall to speak with us directly about their innermost thoughts and feelings. Think The Office, but set in the variety show department of a TV network. The Producers is already a quirky drama on its own, and the mockumentary style adds a little more oomph to it. The drama was also filmed like a reality/documentary show where the audience is placed behind the cameras that follow the characters around. Sometimes, I felt like a co-conspirator to their actions, and at other times I felt like I was intruding into their private moments. This back and forth between the emotions I felt per scene made the watch an interesting and absorbing experience for me.

One of the reasons I watched The Producers was because I was excited about its experimental format, and it was refreshing to see a drama branch out from the normal storytelling style in dramaland. If you’re looking for something fresh to switch up your drama palette, you should totally check out this drama. But I must warn you that the drama bowed to the whims of the disapproving domestic audience and cut back on its experimental style after the first two episodes. The format wasn’t scrapped in its entirety, but it wasn’t as prominent in the rest of the drama as it was in the first two episodes.

Now let’s talk about the characters — who were essentially the driving force of the story, because The Producers was very much character-driven. Aside from Kim Soo-hyun, the drama stars Gong Hyo-jin as the PD of the successful Music Bank, Cha Tae-hyun as the PD of the failing 1 Night and 2 Days, and IU as an ice queen-like top K-pop idol. That’s a fantastic lineup right there, and the drama also had a solid supporting cast to balance them out. So you need not worry about bad acting or whatnot in this drama.

More than a general overarching plot, The Producers makes its audience care about the characters. Sure, we get to root for a failing show as it grapples to find its footing, but more than that, our interest lies in how the dynamics of that show affect the team behind it. We’re drawn to each of the characters’ professional and personal struggles, and the relationships existing between them. All of the characters from major to minor are compelling in their own right, and they give off a great synergy as they interact with and rub off on each other. But one to really keep an eye on is IU’s Cindy — her character arc was by far my favorite of the main quartet.

And speaking of cast, The Producers has a ton of cameos by real life celebrities and variety show personnel. It’s so much fun spotting them out — especially since back when the show aired, some of these celebrities weren’t as popular as they are now!

At 12 episodes, The Producers makes for a good binge. It’s a super entertaining and breezy watch without serious plot twists or high stakes. While the drama has humor aplenty, it also hits some really emotional beats — but not to the extent of drowning out the fun in a sea of tears. Like every K-drama, The Producers has a number of familiar tropes: childhood friends-to-lovers, secret cohabitation hijinks, office politics and drama, unrequited crushes, and the like. Nothing too dramatic — except for the love square which drags on a little too longer than necessary. At some point, it was starting to give the Answer Me series vibes with the whole “who will end up with whom” guessing game.

Despite this, the drama is a feel-good one that’ll leave you thoroughly entertained, armed with an insight into the variety show industry, and with a number of life lessons for the takeaway. And if you’re a fan of good OSTs, The Producers has a great lineup of upbeat OSTs to get you grooving. So, are you reaching for your remote control already? If yes, great choice! If no, *bats puppy lashes*

TL;DR: Kim Soo-hyun, variety show shenanigans, celebrity cameos, and Kim Soo-hyun.

 
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