In the past, the way variety shows became successful was simple.
[“With the Nation’s MC”... How about a combination of Producer Ju and the Nation’s MC?]
First, before the broadcast, they secured an initial viewer base by drumming up attention through the cast or viral articles.
Then, in the first episode, they satisfied expectations while ending in a way that sparked curiosity about the second episode, thereby maintaining the ratings.
Of course, even back then, it wasn’t as simple or easy as it sounded.
But now, it had become even more difficult.
The first reason was the tendency for the cast of variety shows to become too predictable.
One could immediately feel it by looking at any common variety show.
In many cases, the ages of the cast members known as the so-called “youngest line” were limited to at least their thirties, or at best, their late twenties.
In other words, the broadcasting industry was undergoing a stagnation of old-timers.
Yet it wasn’t easy to cast ordinary people either, so finding new faces remained difficult.
The second reason was that in today’s diversified mainstream era, viral content that captured the public’s interest no longer worked so easily.
For one thing, completely watching an episode in front of the television was no longer all that common.
Especially among the younger generation, people first watched highlights edited into clips on platforms such as YouTube, and only afterward sought out the full episodes.
As if to prove it, the ratings of TV programs continued to trace a downward curve day after day.
Im Hyeonung, the main producer who had been in charge of the entire production since Season 3, had no choice but to wrestle with the same concerns during the editing process.
Of course, it wasn’t as if Season 4 was bound to fail.
Not only was it being aired simultaneously on Netflix, making failure unlikely,
but because the previous season had been a mega-hit, a trickle-down effect was bound to occur.
Paradoxically, however, his main concern was the pressure stemming from Season 3’s mega-hit success.
“It’s not easy to do as well as Season 3... Haah.”
With the higher-ups within the company expecting so much from it, he couldn’t help but feel pressured.
“Let’s think this through one more time.”
Im Hyeonung pictured the current situation in his mind.
First, the cast.
Of course, apart from a few participants making their debut again, they were all charming rookie trainees.
But the problem was—
“There’s no one among the participants who can make the same impact as last time.”
He needed participants who could generate buzz even before the show aired.
And Season 3 had been overflowing with them.
“Three of the Big Four agencies participated.”
That was why, despite being new faces, they had been able to attract tremendous public interest by promoting the slogan that this was the greatest season ever, backed by the Big Four agencies.
And finally, there was Lee Do-hui, who had exploded everyone’s expectations in Episode 1.
“Come to think of it, separate from the program itself, there was no way the ratings could have been bad.”
That was the problem.
The higher-ups wanted something beyond that this time.
“This time, only one of the Big Four, Zy, is participating, and Baek Hwi from that agency is only in his first year as a trainee... He couldn’t even become the center for the title track. Should I link him with Lee Do-hui? No. That won’t do.”
Of course, the participants weren’t so lacking that they couldn’t sustain the ratings after attracting attention once. Even if they weren’t on the level of the previous season, they had gathered trainees who were all exceptional in their own ways.
If he could just focus the public’s attention once, he was confident he could use editing to pull up the ratings.
“In the end, I think we’ll have to tie it to Season 3 if we want to generate buzz...”
Im Hyeonung went on to envision an interesting clip that could pique the viewers’ interest.
“This is decent enough.”
Im Hyeonung shifted his gaze to the YouTube window displayed on the monitor.
[JUSTDOL Season 4 [First Reveal] _ Wait (Rush on U) Performance]
It was a pre-released performance of the title track that had been drawing considerable attention even before the broadcast.
It was a time-honored prologue that had never failed even once from Season 1 through Season 3, so there was no way it could fail now.
The pre-released performance of the title track “I’m Smitten,” unveiled a month before the broadcast, had already drawn attention to Lee Do-hui, who was being called the “Center Girl.”
On top of that, the trainees from the Big Four agencies had been mentioned an extraordinary number of times.
-Who’s the winking guy? He’s freaking handsome.
└They say he’s a Zy trainee, but I don’t know his name yet.
-The ending fairy in the second row is totally my type. What’s her name?
└Apparently she’s Sihwan from Top East.
-Gasp gasp, I love the center.
“But there still seem to be fewer mentions than in Season 3.”
That was when the editing room door opened.
He turned his head and saw an assistant director standing there.
“Producer, the bureau chief would like to see you.”
“...All right.”
Im Hyeonung left the editing room and walked toward the bureau chief’s office, speculating about what the bureau chief would have to say this time.
That bastard was the one who had arbitrarily changed the number of members in the Season 3 project group from eleven to seven.
*I wonder if he’s going to spout some more nonsense.*
Before he knew it, he had arrived at the bureau chief’s office.
When he opened the door and entered, the bureau chief welcomed him with a delighted expression.
“Oh! Producer Im, you’re here?”
The bureau chief had been acting rather chummy with him ever since Season 3 became a huge success.
He gestured for Im Hyeonung to sit down.
“Come over and sit. Have a cup of coffee.”
*What coffee... Haah... What is he going to say this time?*
But he was a company employee too, so he couldn’t show it on his face.
“Yes, thank you.”
“You must be having a hard time these days. Your face is ashen.”
After he sat down, the bureau chief began spouting insincere pleasantries.
“Is it?”
“Yeah~ Even if it’s important, take it easy and don’t overwork yourself.”
After exchanging a few more mundane pleasantries—
-Clack
The bureau chief set down the cup of coffee he had been sipping.
His expression had now grown considerably more serious.
“So, how’s the editing going?”
*Here comes the main point.*
“Yes. Well, the participants this time are decent too, so I don’t think it’ll be bad.”
“Hmm, I see. If you say they’re decent, then I’m sure they are.”
But the look in the bureau chief’s eyes still suggested that he wasn’t satisfied.
“You know this too. The higher-ups have high expectations for this project group.”
There was no way Im Hyeonung didn’t know.
How much pressure had he been feeling because of it?
He was practically at the point of regretting that Season 3 had become a mega-hit.
“Yes, well...”
“Right. The higher-ups are discussing entering the entertainment industry using these kids as a starting point, so this is a very important project.”
Producer Im Hyeonung listened in silence.
“We have to choose the members well. Ah, of course, I’m not telling you to rig it. We’d be bound to face a backlash, just like in Seasons 1 and 2. Right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But at least the broadcast editing should be provocative, shouldn’t it? Ah, of course, it would be good if the advertisements were like that too.”
Several participants immediately came to Im Hyeonung’s mind.
*Come to think of it, there were a couple of participants who had gotten into a fistfight while practicing.*
Unlike girls, boys practicing together had occasionally led to direct physical clashes.
Both were decent kids, so he had planned to edit the footage appropriately according to the viewers’ reactions and create a growth narrative for them, but—
“Well... I understand that much. We’ll make it provocative.”
“Exactly, exactly. We absolutely have to pull good ratings...”
The bureau chief let his voice trail off.
“Which brings me to the point. I heard that the trainee from Zy is a childhood friend of one of Seven’s members?”
Producer Im Hyeonung also thought it was a good subject for generating buzz.
Even if they merely mentioned it in Episode 1, it would probably draw in a fair number of viewers.
“Ah, yes. We’re planning to mention that as well.”
“Try tying it together a little more.”
The bureau chief’s sudden declaration left him flustered.
“Pardon...? With Lee Do-hui?”
It wasn’t because he felt sorry for Do-hui or anything like that.
*She is cute, of course... but that has nothing to do with me.*
The important thing was that Seven was bringing a considerable amount of money to its parent company.
And now he was telling him to tie them together?
“The higher-ups will strongly oppose that. Seven is doing extremely well right now as it is.”
The bureau chief gave a small, amused laugh.
“The higher-ups agreed to it.”
It was an answer he hadn’t expected.
“Seven? Yes, they’re doing great right now. But even so, they only have a little over half a year left. How much money do you think they can bring in during that time?”
Before Im Hyeonung could even ask why, the bureau chief explained.
“Hyeonung, this project group is for two and a half years. That’s much longer than Seven’s year and a half.”
The bureau chief formed a circle with his index finger and thumb.
It was a gesture representing money.
“The term is longer. Besides, boy groups have twice the profitability of girl groups. Is there any reason not to do it?”
From a profitability standpoint, there was certainly no reason not to consider it if the project group did well.
There was, however, one more thing that bothered him.
No matter how much Mwave’s parent company, LE, stood in the position of the one giving orders, it still wasn’t powerful enough to simply disregard the Big Four agencies.
“With Js, Zy, and Haru all involved, if this causes trouble for no reason...”
The bureau chief made an exasperated expression.
“That’s why I’m telling you to only touch Lee Do-hui. Do you think they’ll dislike it? Not at all.”
The bureau chief then rose from his seat.
“If anything, they’ll like it. There’s absolutely no reason for them to hate it.”
He approached Im Hyeonung.
“If you were them, would you want Lee Do-hui, their next-generation rival, to keep doing this well?”
Then he patted Im Hyeonung on the shoulder.
“So just do it. Hyeonung.”
Im Hyeonung—
After a brief moment of deliberation, the main producer nodded.
Whether it was true or not didn’t particularly matter.
*All we need is to generate buzz at the beginning.*