Kang Ho-dong's crisis after 'New Journey to the West' with no box office hits

Kang Ho-dong, who has been loved as a 'national MC' for a long time, is shaking in his position. It's a thing of the past that Yoo Jae-seok and I were called 'the two great mountains of the MC world.' This is the current state of Kang Ho-dong, who has not been able to produce any notable box office hits or buzz since the tvN ‘New Journey to the West’ series.

Aside from JTBC's 'Knowing Bros', which is currently in its 9th year of running, Kang Ho-dong's only entertainment show is SBS' 'Eating on the Side and Gongchi-ri 5 Competitors'. Kang Ho-dong, who newly joined in season 5, is a famous golf expert in the entertainment industry, and is forming a rivalry with Lee Kyung-gyu, the head of 'Gongchiri'.

However, 'Gong Chi-ri', which has reached season 5, is recording poor performance despite its spectacular lineup and expansion into Vietnam. Even though it has been aired until episode 3, the viewership rating has not gone beyond the 2% range. This is a disappointing figure compared to the highest viewership rating of 4% in seasons 1 and 2.

'Knowing Brothers' has also been in a slump for a long time and has long since fallen out of the public's interest. Although it was aware of the recession and attempted to change by introducing various formats to escape the crisis, there was no rebound in viewership ratings. The addition of new member Lee Jin-ho also did not help much. The most recently broadcast episode 377 recorded the lowest viewership rating of the year at 2.1%.

Accordingly, Kang Ho-dong tried to expand his diversity as an MC by challenging new types of entertainment. He has led programs with a variety of subjects ranging from cooking programs to sports, reality, and talk shows, such as 'Mamma Sorry', 'Super DAN Blood Can't Fool', 'Representative of National Affairs', 'Daughter Thieves', and 'Goblin Who Steales Wisdom'. The results were below expectations. Most programs ended after about 10 episodes, and pilot programs failed to become established as regular shows.

The same goes for 'Hell Court in Wonderland', which returned to SBS after 4 years and garnered much anticipation. Kang Ho-dong, who took on the challenge of a fresh subject called a trial entertainment, had to lead a large cast including lawyers, defendants, plaintiffs, and judges, but was unable to bring anything new with his unique energetic and noisy progress.

Currently, Kang Ho-dong's last box office hit is the 'New Journey to the West' series. The long-running entertainment show 'New Journey to the West', which started as a web entertainment show and continued until Season 8, received great love, recording the highest viewership rating of 6.7% in Season 8, which aired in 2020. tvN's 'Great Escape' series also succeeded in gaining a solid fan base. However, it is unclear when ‘New Journey to the West 9’ and ‘The Great Escape 5’ will be released. Na Young-seok, producer of 'New Journey to the West', is currently concentrating on filming 'Earth Arcade', and producer Jeong Jong-yeon of 'The Great Escape' left CJ ENM and moved to TEO, founded by producer Kim Tae-ho.

Kang Ho-dong is ready to seek a new rebound by teaming up with Lee Seung-gi, whom he has been working with since '2 Days & 1 Night', for the first time in a long time. It's been 8 years since Lee Seung-gi and Kang Ho-dong appeared together on a variety show. The two will appear together on SBS' 'Strong Heart League' (working title), which will be broadcast in May, and TV Chosun and Discovery Channel Korea's entertainment show 'Brother Ramen'. In particular, 'Strong Heart League' is the second season of 'Strong Heart', which returns after 10 years, and the point of attention is how Lee Seung-gi, who has grown from a rookie MC to a veteran MC, will show off his wit on the talk show with Kang Ho-dong. Prior to this, Kang Ho-dong is scheduled to participate in a meat mukbang with Kim Ho-young and Song So-hee on Channel A's 'Meet Me at Meat', which will be aired for the first time on the 11th.

Although he is not a 'national MC' as loved by the public as he used to be, Kang Ho-dong's presence in broadcasting circles still remains. In the end, it is up to Kang Ho-dong to turn the crisis into an opportunity.

Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr