Idol TV and Why You Need to Tune In

I’m not a big drama fan, and it’s hard for me to follow weekly variety. When it comes to commitment to entertainment in general, serials are a greased pig, and I am the sad, desperate little woman just trying to hold on.

But perhaps my one of favorite things to watch is idol TV. The beauty of idol TV is that its mostly non-committal, as in there’s no serious story line one has to follow, and it’s utterly brainless, meaning you can just watch and enjoy. No emotional investment into unrealistically good looking chefs, spies, bosses, no dramatic plot twists that have you rewriting plotlines into fan fiction gold, no idol whose acting is just about as entertaining as the DMV. Idol TV is an arena for candidness, inconsistency, and overall goofiness that opens up any viewer to a whole new and organic side to the idols you already hate to love and love to hate.

For instance, would you have ever guessed that there was a time in my embarrassingly long K-pop career when I didn’t absolutely adore Park Bom? At the 2NE1 debut, I thought she was grossly over-hyped and that her aegyo was contrived. But one episode of 2NE1 TV, and I was a goner.

Idol TV is also great for tracking the way a group has grown because it provides a first hand look into an organic and imperfect behind-the-scenes environment. One of my favorite groups of all time for this is 2PM because they have more or less always had the same chemistry (except for Taecyeon‘s super douche bag phase when he couldn’t keep a shirt on ever anywhere). I’ve always looked at 2PM as being the original 4-D idols, and they break the fourth wall in a way that’s always been all their own. I truly believe they were among the first idol groups actually unafraid to troll on camera, and it changed a lot of the way idol TV went from that point onward. Of course, the last thing I’m trying to do is get philosophical about Hot Blood or Real2PM, but — c’mon — they don’t make ’em like this anymore!

Back in the day, Super Junior stints in idol TV were my absolute favorite. Their TV bits were one of the biggest reasons I fell into the dark black hole that is ELF-dom. Super Junio13 ELF 4eva am, I right? Long live.

But of course, the appeal of idol TV lives on, and it’s often proven a great way for nugus to get face time and rack up points with fans. B.A.P. did this with their Tah-dah! It’s B.A.P pre-debut series and also B.A.P Killing Camp post-debut. BTS also has a consistent channel called BANGTANTV stacked with goodies and goofy serial called BangtanBOMB. YG‘s latest pet project WINNER also showed off in their series WINNER TV, jam packed with pearly white smiles from resident heartthrob and panty dropper Mino. Yum.

So if you’re looking for something new to watch, jump on the bandwagon and learn a little more about who lives behind the cake-faced picture of perfection that is K-pop idols. New on the air is VIXX TV Season 2 (bless) and SNSD TTS‘s The Tae Ti Seo. A little less new are the SM sisters very own Jessica&Krystal and A Pink‘s Showtime, both a little dated now but still recently aired and super fun.

But of course I don’t have all the time in the world to be watching idol TV, so this clearly isn’t a comprehensive list. Let us know what your favorite idol TV series and stints are! Spread the viewing joy.