Running Man (TV series)

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Running Man (Korean: ???) is a South Korean variety show, forming part of SBS's Good Sunday lineup. It first aired on July 11, 2010.

Running Man was classified as an "urban action variety"; a genre of variety shows in an urban environment. The MCs and guests were to complete missions at a landmark to win the race. The show has since shifted to a more familiar reality-variety show concept focused on games. It has garnered attention as being the comeback program for Yoo Jae-suk, the main MC of the program, after leaving Good Sunday's Family Outing in February 2010.

The show has become popular in other parts of Asia, and has gained online popularity among Hallyu fans, having been fansubbed into various languages, such as English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, Burmese, Arabic, Russian, and Turkish.

The show has made it to the list of Business Insider's 20 TV Shows of 2016.

Since April 2017, Running Man is airing as the first part of Good Sunday at 4:50 pm KST and competing against KBS2's The Return of Superman and MBC's King of Mask Singer. Running Man previously aired at 6:25 pm KST on Sundays, as the second part of Good Sunday, airing after Flower Crew, competing against KBS2's 1 Night 2 Days and MBC's Secretly Greatly.

Video Running Man (TV series)

Format

Current

As of episode 48, the members take part in a series of missions to become the winner(s) at the end of the race. Missions form the basis of Running Man as members try to avoid punishment in earlier episodes or to win prizes. Multiple missions are presented in each episode, with the highlight of Running Man being race missions. The format of the show moves away from the "race mission + others", to "one continuous race + missions"

Previous

Special series

Throughout the history of Running Man, special series have progressed with storytelling and movie-like episodes. Many of these series have been praised for their thrill and excitement, and are considered some of the more higher quality episodes of Running Man.

Yoo-mes Bond

The Yoo-mes Bond series is famous for its protagonist, Yoo Jae-suk as Yoo-mes Bond, who is known to use a water gun to eliminate his foes to complete his missions. This series features Yoo Jae-suk against the other Running Man members, who do not know Yoo Jae-suk's identity or mission. At the end of both episodes 91 and 140, the words "Yoo-mes Bond Never Die" appeared, hinting at future episodes in the series. These two episodes have been praised for being like a movie instead of a variety show.

Best of the Best Match

The "Best of the Best Matches" take place once in a while as the opportunity to decide who is the best "Running Man".

Running Man-Grasshopper Hunting

"Running Man Hunter" is an epithet given to Choi Min-soo who is tasked to eliminate the Running Man members. There is a rivalry between him and Yoo Jae-suk, who betrayed him during his first attempt in the mission. Since then, he had return to appear in the program to hunt the members and always leave Yoo Jae-suk to be the last surviving member.

At the end of the episode 118, Choi Min-soo hinted at a possible return to the Running Man Hunter series in the future.

Running Man Olympics

The Running Man members competes with guests and each other in order to win the "Olympic" battle.

Running Man Football

The Running Man members were given a chance to participate in charity football matches alongside Park Ji-sung. Each year, the members would participate in training missions with Park Ji-sung to prepare for the football game prior to the match.

Fan-based episodes

Aside from the episodes created by the team, the Running Man members undergo challenges suggested by fans or made by the team through their fans' ideas.

Tru-Gary Show

Gary, who is gullible and unable to lie, has been asking the production staff to give him a spy mission. However, when the production staff decided to give him the mission, they decided to trick him and created hidden camera episodes instead.

Long-term projects

Since 2017, Running Man has been initiating various long-term projects, which span over multiple episodes with a single objective, rather than the previous episodic format.

Member's Week

This is a Running Man project to celebrate the members hard work for more than seven years, which allow members to choose a theme for each week and allowed to construct the episode as they wish.

During the course of the special episodes, Lee Kwang-soo is the only cast member that did not get water-bombed. Yoo Jae-suk is the only cast member who got water-bombed twice, while Ji Suk-jin's water-bombed moment during the preparation episode for the Member's Week project was not aired.

Global Race

• Episodes 346-354

This is a Running Man project to commemorate the new members and production staff shift. It involves filming the program in overseas locations with penalties involve visiting dangerous tourist attractions around the world. The penalties are given to members that have collected three Tourist Cards, which are given when they lost during missions.

• Results:

• In ep 350-351, Yoo Jae-suk, Haha, Ji Suk-jin, Lee Kwang-soo, Jeon So-min and Yang Se-chan collected three Tourist Cards and selected for the dangerous mission.
• In ep 351, The venue for the dangerous mission was chosen, which was "Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear" in Fuji-Q Highland, Japan.
• In ep 352-353, Kim Jong-kook exempted Haha from the dangerous mission.
• In ep 353-354, Yoo Jae-suk, Haha, Ji Suk-jin, Lee Kwang-soo, Jeon So-min and Yang Se-chan visited Fuji-Q Highland for the scary labyrinth penalty in Japan.
• In ep 353-354, Haha, Kim Jong-kook and Song Ji-hyo visited Yokohama as a reward for avoiding the penalty.

1% People's Recommendation

• Episodes 355-359, 369-371

This was a Running Man project where the production staff solicited fan recommendations for relatively unique tourist attractions, selecting from those that received only 1% of the total vote. Two Running Man members were chosen to complete the project, signified by the accumulation of three I-Go Stickers.

• Results:

• In ep 359, Both Haha and Jeon So-min individually received three I-Go stickers with the former being accompanied by Yang Se-chan and the latter by Lee Kwang-soo.
• In ep 370, it was revealed that their visit to the Giant Canyon Swing at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado, U.S had to be moved to the Nevis Swing in Queenstown, New Zealand due to visa complications.
• In ep 369-371, Jeon So-min and Lee Kwang-soo visited Timang Beach for the cable cart ride penalty in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
• In ep 378-379, Haha and Yang Se-Chan visited Nevis Highwire Platform for the Nevis Swing penalty in Queenstown, New Zealand. Kim Jong-kook and Song Ji-hyo who accompanied them also took the penalty due to a chance card they chose.

Half and Half Tour

• Episodes 365-369, 372

This is a Running Man project where the members are competing against the production staff, where the former is requesting for the program to visit vacation venues for delight missions while the latter want to send them to visit distinctive venues for dangerous missions. Each episode will have both sides compete where the winner is allowed to put their recommendation into a spinning wheel with a member's name attached to complete the mission. The final decision will be conducted after 4 venues have been decided.

• Results:

• In ep 365, Yoo Jae-suk was chosen to visit the Nevis Swing in Queenstown, New Zealand for a dangerous mission.
• In ep 366, Jeon So-min was chosen to visit Bora Bora, French Polynesia for a delight mission.
• In ep 367-368, Yoo Jae-suk was chosen to visit Rome, Italy for a delight mission.
• In ep 369, Lee Kwang-soo was chosen to visit Darwin, Australia for a dangerous mission.
• In ep 369, the final penalty was given to Lee Kwang-soo and another member where they will visit Crocosaurus Cove's Cage of Death in Darwin, Australia.
• In ep 372, Lee Kwang-soo chose Yoo Jae-suk as his partner to visit Crocosaurus Cove's Cage of Death.
• In ep 378-379, Lee Kwang-soo and Yoo Jae-suk visited the Crocosaurus Cove for the penalty in Darwin, Australia. Ji Suk-jin was forced to take the penalty as well, due to a chance card they chose.

Maps Running Man (TV series)

Personnel

Cast

The original members of Running Man are Yoo Jae-suk, Gary, Haha, Ji Suk-jin, Kim Jong-kook, Lee Kwang-soo, and Song Joong-ki. Song Ji-hyo was originally a guest for the second (episode 2-3) and third landmark (episode 4-5). She officially joined the program in the fourth landmark (episode 6) but was unable to attend until the fifth landmark (episode 7). In April 2011, Song Joong-ki recorded his last episode (episode 41) in May, and has left the program to focus on his acting career but returned on episode 66 as a guest after leaving for almost half a year, and later made cameo appearances in several episodes. Lizzy was initially a guest for episode 13 and episode 14, but later officially joined the program, starting episode 18. However, she has left the crew since episode 26 due to schedule conflicts with After School, the K-pop group she joined. She later makes a comeback as a guest in episode 292, after 5 years since her last appearance. On October 25, 2016, Gary announced to be leaving the show to focus on his music career after being with Running Man for 6 years, but later returned as a guest, only a week after his final recording. On April 3, 2017, it was confirmed through various media outlets that Running Man is adding actress Jeon So-min and comedian Yang Se-chan. The decision came after seeing their chemistry with the other members and their performances during their time as guests.

Current cast

Former cast

Timeline

Relationships

Former relationships

Production staff

The staff run the games, often showing up on cameras either by actively participating in the game or influencing the outcome of various missions. This includes the personal cameramen (VJs), production directors (PDs), floor directors (FDs), stylists, boom operators, etc.

Chief producer, Nam Seung-yong, is responsible for the production of the program, with PD Jo Hyo-jin, Im Hyung-taek, and Kim Joo-hyung mainly responsible for the directing and production of the recordings of the program since inception. Other PDs have joined the program to assist as the program shifts from a single landmark to multiple locations for recording, notably Hwang Seon-man and Lee Hwan-jin. FD Go Dong-wan assists in the recordings of the program and is known to be shown on camera many times, as well as delivering and assisting the members in missions. Producer Kim Joo-hyung has left the show as of episode 182 as he was reassigned to Inkigayo.

Each member has their own personal cameramen who follow them around exclusively during recordings. Notable cameramen include Ryu Kwon-ryeol (Yoo Jae-suk's primary VJ), Kim Yoo-seok (Ji Suk-jin's primary VJ), Choi Yoon-sang (Lee Kwang-soo's primary VJ), Yoon Sung-yong (Haha's primary VJ), Sung Gyu (Song Ji-hyo's primary VJ), Jo Seong-Oh (Gary's primary VJ, now Yang Se-chan's primary VJ), Kim Ki-jin (Kim Jong-kook's primary VJ), and Kim Si-yeon (Jeon So-min's primary VJ)

On November 19, 2014, the show's head director, Jo Hyo-jin, announced his departure from the show after working with the members for four years.

On March 20, 2016, the show's main PD, Im Hyung-taek left the show (as of episode 291) as he became the producer of Hurry Up, Brother, resulting in new generation PDs to take over, notably PD Lee Hwan-jin, PD Jung Chul-min, and PD Park Yong-woo. FD Go Dong-wan also announced his leave via his Instagram.

On July 3, 2016, SBS confirmed the return of producer Kim Joo-hyung to the show. That same month, it is confirmed that he will be the new main PD of the show. However, it didn't last long as PD Kim Joo-hyung announced that he is leaving the show shortly after. Subsequently, PD Lee Hwan-jin has taken over as the main PD of Running Man until March 2017. As of April 2017, Running Man main PD is Jung Chul-min.

Guests with the most appearances

During its run, some of the guests were occasionally featured or invited to the show. These guests were notable for their constant appearances and were often considered to be the "8th/9th/10th Running Man". The following list is the list of the guests who appeared the most often as of 4 February 2018.

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List of episodes

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List of guests

Many guests have taken part in Running Man. The following is a compilation of guests and the number of times they have been on the show. With regards to guest-turned-members (Song Ji-hyo, Jeon So-min, Yang Se-chan) or former members of the show (Lizzy, Song Joong-ki, Gary), only the times they were a guest are counted. The guests were sorted according to their appearances and the number of episodes appeared.

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Reception

The first episode of the show received mixed reviews. According to Asiae the show concept was promising but the crew could not use the location to full potential and the pace was not fast and dynamic enough.

Despite a slow start, Running Man became increasingly popular in South Korea and throughout Asia. In its home country the show is watched by 2.1 million people on average. Due to the existence of fansubs, it is watched outside of Asia as well, being translated into English, Spanish and Arabic, among others.

According to The Straits Times, the popularity of the show is due to its unpredictability, the comedy involved, the celebrity guests and the chemistry between the regular cast members. Assistant professor Liew Kai Khiun at the Nanyang Technological University attributes the appeal of Running Man to the ability of using public space in a creative way: "Running Man is about taking audiences to the various corners of not only South Korea, but the region as well. In the rather fast-paced urban societies in Asia, the show helps to provide release from the daily tensions that such streets and buildings are associated with." Liew thinks that the cast members are not particularly good looking, thus have nothing to lose, even if they "wrestle with one another like children".

According to producer Jo Hyo-jin, the show is popular because the concept of having to choose a winner is culturally easy to understand. He also named the good relationship between the regular members as one of the reasons for the show's success. Celebrity guests like Super Junior, Girls' Generation and f(x) play an important part in the success as well, although they sometimes induce criticism. For example, after the airing of the Big Bang episodes, some viewers complained that the band won too easily. Jo Hyo-jin, however, denied any special treatment of the celebrities. Jo explained that fans are also highly critical of the games, therefore it is not possible for the crew to reuse games without changing them.

The regular members of Running Man have held several fan meetings throughout Asia. In October 2013, their Singapore fan meeting drew a crowd of 3000. When the cast arrived for shooting in Vietnam and other countries, they were greeted by thousands of fans at the airport.

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Ratings

In the ratings below, the highest rating for the show will be in red, and the lowest rating for the show will be in blue each year.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

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International

In November 2011, the rights to air the show was sold to nine areas in Asia, namely Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Cambodia, and Malaysia, proving Running Man's rise in popularity as a Hallyu program. In January 2013, SBS announced Running Man in Asia as one of the big projects of 2013. Producer Jo Hyo-jin stated that the program would be touring two countries in Asia in the first half of 2013. The program has previously travelled to Thailand, China, and Hong Kong for filming. Jo Hyo-jin has also mentioned interests raised by Singaporean television stations in purchasing the Running Man format, which reiterated Running Man's popularity in Asia.

Producer Im Hyung-taek confirmed that the program would be filming in Macau, China and Hanoi, Vietnam in early February, and the respective episodes were aired on television in late February and early March. In February 2014, Jo Hyo-jin announced that the program was invited by the Australian Tourist Commission to film in Australia, and did so in mid-February which aired in March.

A spin-off of Running Man, titled Keep Running, was announced in May 2014. The spin-off, which is the Chinese version of Running Man was scheduled to air in the fourth quarter of 2014 on Zhejiang Television. Cast from the Korean version will participate in the Chinese version as well. The spin-off was a success, and currently the show has aired its fourth season. There was also an Indonesian adaptation of the show, titled Mission X, following a similar format on the show, with the exception that the members would using armbands, and the games would be played just for fun rather than playing it to win the prize.

In February 2016, it was reported that the crew were considering an episode set in Dubai, UAE, which they eventually filmed in the end of February. The episodes were aired in March.

International episodes

The popularity of Running Man throughout Asia provided the opportunity to take the show outside of South Korea. Running Man has traveled to various countries including China, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates. International episodes are notable for their ability to draw large groups of fans to mission venues.

Tour

The popularity of Running Man throughout Asia has also provided the opportunity for the production team to organize fan meeting tours in Asia since 2013.

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Other works

Merchandising

In order to "relay the feeling of Running Man", Running Man has made merchandises available on sale since 2015. The products ranging from stickers, socks, hats, shirts, and shoes.

On May 26, 2015, a special project called the "Running Man Challenge" was made in collaboration with a footwear co-created platform, ROOY. Its main objective is for the fans to design a shoe that "would unify and coordinate between the cast members." 777 submissions were made, and in June 2015, a design made by a fan named Noh Seung-soo was selected to be the official design for the shoes. The shoes went on sale on February 22, 2016. Currently, a second "Running Man Challenge" is held. The winner for this challenge will have his/her design to be the new shoes.

In 2016, Running Man collaborated with NBA to make a 300th Anniversary special hats and shirts.

Animation

On June 14, 2017, it was announced that Running Man will be adapted into a half-hour animated show. It will features the original seven members, including former member Gary, in animal form. The show will have 24 episodes and EXO-CBX will provide the theme song for the show. Additionally, the animated show will be the first show to be broadcast in UHD in South Korea.

Comic book

In March 2013, a comic book adaptation of the series was published. The series, titled Running Man: How do I Find the Kidnapped Idol?, is written by Hong Yong-hoon and illustrated by Kim Moon-shik. The comic book, which is aimed for children, was released on March 25, 2013.

Other appearances

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Controversy

Gary's departure

On September 2012, Gary made a surprising announcement on social media about his intention to leave the program. It is believed that his intention came from the recent criticism concerning the "Super 7 Concert" which his company, Leessang Company, was producing. Gary decided to take responsibility for its failure by resigning himself from any activities. Due to this, Running Man production staff and the members decided to postponed their filming schedule on September 24-25, 2012 to convince him to stay in the program. A week later, Gary officially apologized due to the controversy that he created and confirmed his decision to remain as a member of the program.

Season 2 proposal

On December 14, 2016, it was announced that Kim Jong-kook and Song Ji-hyo were leaving the show, as a new season with a new format starring the remaining cast members and new member Kang Ho-dong would air in January 2017. Initial reception was mixed. However, it was revealed that Song Ji-hyo and Kim Jong-kook were not given any notice about their removal, resulting in an overwhelming negative reaction. In addition, news of Kang Ho-dong refusing the offer to join the new season resulted in a possible cancellation of Season 2 of Running Man.

On December 16, 2016, an emergency meeting was held with the consensus reached that all members would leave, ending the program altogether in February 2017 with a subsequent program taking its place.

However, on January 24, 2017, SBS announced that the show will continue airing with all of the remaining cast members. The decision came after Nam Seung-yong, the new Vice President of SBS Entertainment Headquarters, who was involved in conceiving Running Man, had further conversations with every member in regards to the show's future. Subsequently, after apologizing to Kim Jong-kook for all of the issues regarding the program, the latter then became actively involved in convincing the other members to continue working on the program.

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Awards and nominations

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References

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External links

• Official website on SBS The Soty (in Korean)

Source of the article : Wikipedia