The latest variety show directed by the renowned Na Young-seok PD consisted of 6 segments, lasting only 15 minutes per segment. The 6 segments were:
- Life experience factory hosted by Lee Seung-gi, featuring Na PD
- Amazing Science Wonderland hosted by Professor Kim Sang-wook, Jang Do-yeon, Eun Ji-won and Song Min-ho
- Amazing Art Wonderland hosted by Professor Yang Jung-moo, Jang Do-yeon, Eun Ji-won and Song Min-ho
- Lee Seo-jin’s New York New York hosted by Lee Seo-jin, featuring Na PD
- My Friend’s Home’s Very Special and Secretive Recipes hosted by Hong Jin-kyung
- We’re cheering for you hosted by Han Jun-hee and Park Ji-yoon
The 6 segments covered different genre such as labour, science, arts, travel, cooking and sports, allowing viewers to gain information of various topics they were interested in.
It was a eye-opener for many of us on how some goods were manufactured in the factories, such as the bamboo salts, or cotton work gloves, as Lee Seung-gi was tasked with 1-day labor at different factory each week. Sometimes when more labor was required, Na PD also joined in performing the factory tasks. It was also interesting to have a reflection interview at the end of the segment for Lee Seung-gi to reflect on what he had not done well for that factory. In fact, at the end of episode 5, Na PD was instead asked by Lee Seung-gi to reflect on his poor performance.
The Amazing Science and Arts Wonderland invited a Physics professor Kim Sang-wook and an Arts professor Yang Jung-moo to discuss on various topics in Science and Arts respectively. As the hosts were neither trained in both Science and Arts, it was interesting to hear the questions they had for the professors as commoners. This 2 segments were really informative for me, especially for on Arts as I know very little about this topic. I was really surprised to learn that Mona Lisa had been stolen by an Italian thief before, but he managed to justify his thievery as a patriotic act.
The highlight of Lee Seo-jin’s New York travel was not on introducing New York to us with an old New Yorker (Lee Seo-jin studied in New York University almost 30 years ago, and thus was familiar with the area), but on the endless bickering between Lee Seo-jin and Na PD. Well, the show already warned us there would not be nice views from New York. Neverthess, it was still funny to see how Lee Seo-jin insisted on eating at New York’s Chinatown when Na PD was asking for New York’s signature food, Lee Seo-jin having fun with roller coaster rides (during winter) while Na PD avoided roller coaster due to fear for heights, and also Na PD insisting on Lee Seo-jin cooking or ordering takeaways at their accommodation when many restaurants were just outside their accommodation.
Personally, I find the cooking and the sports segment uninteresting as compared to the other segments. The cooking segment was on Hong Jin-kyung visiting parents of her good friends to learn of their special recipes. Probably due to the shortage of time, I feel that the cooking procedure was not adequately introduced, and therefore the dishes were less appealing to me. Furthermore, the story behind the dished was also not fully shared as sometimes Hong Jin-kyung may cut short the conversation when time was running out.
The sport segment covered mostly unpopular sports, such as judo or sumo wrestling, showing clips of some local competition among part-time athletes or primary school students. The unfamiliarity with the sports as well as the athletes made it difficult for me to invest into the competition.
Overall, I think this show is still worth watching, perhaps only for the segments you will be interested in, although I highly recommend the first 4 segments in the list.
The cat that watches TV 