Where did Kang Ho-dong and Lee Soo-geun's 'golden chemistry' go... The cause of the 0% audience rating crisis

TVN STORY 'Salty Golf' featuring veteran broadcasters Kang Ho-dong and Lee Su-geun as the main characters tasted the humiliation of continuously recording 0% ratings from the first week of broadcasting. Even considering tvN STORY's low channel awareness, the figure of 0.3% is painful. Concerns in the industry are growing that Kang Ho-dong and Lee Soo-geun's 20-year chemistry is showing its limits.

tvN STORY 'Salty Golf', which was first released on the 23rd of last month, depicts the golf match between Kang Ho-dong and Lee Soo-geun at home and abroad and a journey in which fate changes depending on the match. Travel variety has been added to golf, which has become popular after Corona 19.

There was an evaluation that golf entertainment has already gone to the water. The production team tried to differentiate themselves. Combining golf and travel. Various travel information and unique frames were captured in the video. In addition, the team that won the golf bet played a luxury travel course, and the losing team played a cost-effective travel course, showing extreme extremes.

The problem is that after mixing, it became neither one nor the other. In 'Salty Golf', KBS2's 'Battle Trip' was also seen, and SBS' 'Eat Yourself and Play' was also seen. Broadcasters responded that they did not know what kind of entertainment or what kind of content they wanted to create, or the identity of the program. It has been differentiated, but it means that its own color has disappeared. This is something that the production team must have been most concerned about from the production stage.

The only hill to believe in was the chemistry between Kang Ho-dong and Lee Soo-geun. If it's travel, it's travel, if it's exercise, it's two people who entertained viewers by matching their breath in various fields. The chemistry between the two is a 'golden chemistry' that has been strong for 20 years. Kang Ho-dong is a strong and strong character, and Lee Soo-geun assists him and responds tactfully. This is the breathing that has been proven in '1 Night 2 Days', 'New Journey to the West' and 'Knowing Bros'.

The golden chemistry between the two began to shake. The drop in ratings is proof of that. This is because the number of viewers who feel that they have seen the same chemistry for 20 years and have seen it somewhere has increased. Viewers wanted something new, but the production team chose to stabilize the chemistry of the cast while differentiating the program itself. The risk would have been too great for everyone to choose to differentiate.

There is also the problem of overlapping characters. Kang Ho-dong and Lee Soo-geun once appeared together in the 2021 teabing original 'Golshin Advent'. At the time, Kang Ho-dong was a golf player and Lee Soo-geun was a commentator. Although they played different roles, it was the second time they appeared together on a golf variety show, so viewers could not help but get tired of it regardless of how they directed it.

As there are more platforms where you can access various contents such as terrestrial, cable, and OTT, it is difficult to view viewership alone as a criterion for success. However, Kang Ho-dong and Lee Soo-geun are national MCs and already have star power. Even if a new challenge is daunting right now, it seems that the two of them need the process of making a new concept 'mine' in the end.

Reporter Ryu Ye-ji and Ten Asia ryuperstar@tenasia.co.kr