‘Infinite Challenge’ Real Competitor Is… Itself?

MBC entertainment program "Infinite Challenge" is at their 9 year anniversary, and the show's real competitor is not another entertainment program that airs during the same time slot. As time passes the 'greedy' viewers want to see "Infinite Challenge" episodes that are more entertaining and more moving. That's why this program, in its 9th year of airing, finds itself as the true competitor, namely, its past episodes.

"Infinite Challenge" hit its 9 year anniversary on the 23rd. The first episode aired on April 23rd in 2005, and already it's been 9 whole years. But the staff didn't prepare a special 9 year anniversary episode. This can be attributed to the fact that the entire nation of Korea is in mourning over the Sewol ferry sinking tragedy. Instead, they will be focusing on the 400th episode this coming autumn.

"Infinite Challenge" was one of Korea's first real entertainment programs that achieved its goal of bringing laughter to the viewers. They took on new challenges, triumphs, and disasters with the audience. Entertainment programs are usually short-lived, but "Infinite Challenge" is an exception, and also the reason for being dubbed a legendary entertainment show.

Yoo Jae Suk is the leader of the 7 member cast, who works with Park Myung Soo, Jung Joon Ha, Jung Hyung Don, Gil, Noh Hong Chul, and HaHa to bring laughter and heartwarming stories to the viewers. (Leessang's Gil recently left the show because he was caught driving under the influence of alcohol. Now the cast is composed of only 6 members, until further notice.) This powerful cast has managed to become friends and family with the viewers, and has managed to keep its seat as one of Korea's main entertainment programs. They bring enjoyment to the viewer and dominate with a flow that is unhindered. They also create a cultural phenomenon with this program that has a widespread impact on the audience.

Regardless of the intentions of the cast and crew of this program, it has risen to the top of the entertainment industry as the leading entertainment program. The show was originally created simply to laugh and talk to make the viewers laugh along with them. However, now the show is highly regarded by viewers, who have increasingly higher expectations as the seasons pass. Oftentimes they are harshly assessed as being not as entertaining as past episodes, and some even say that the show has lost its entertainment power.

Not only that, the challenges may not seem as 'new' as before, just because the cast members have become accustomed to the context of challenges in the past 9 years. However one driving force of the show is that the members' care and passion that go into tackling the challenges.

It cannot be helped that "Infinite Challenge" has to compete with the past episodes of the show, in topicality and viewership. The show is faced with the difficulty of having to compete with itself in producing episodes that are more fun and more moving than before. That's why the cast and crew are not very concerned with competing against other entertainment programs that air at the same time period in terms of viewership.

They don't really care about ratings and other entertainment programs. Just as they have in the past, their main concern is to bring laughter, excitement, and impressive content to the viewers at home. That's one of the main reasons why "Infinite Challenge" was able to survive up until now.

"Infinite Challenge" plans to focus only on the viewer for each and every episode that it airs. This unchanging attitude is the recipe to extending the life of "Infinite Challenge."

Tags
Infinite Challenge
Yoo Jae Suk
Park Myung Soo
Jung Joon Ha
Jung Hyung Don
gil
noh hong chul
Haha
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