Produce 101 is an 11 episode KTV show from early 2016. The premise is simple, yet ambitious; gather together 101 young KPop girl idol wannabes from various agencies, let them battle it out with song &/or dance performances each week, then have the public vote to whittle them down over time until only 11 girls remain that will debut as the next KPop girl idol group.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Not much to spoil here. This show isn't all that different from previous & current versions of the "making of the next K-Pop artist/star/girl idol group/etc." i.e. shows like KPop Star, Girl Spirit, The Kara Project, Sixteen, et.al. It is part variety show, part drama, and part popularity contest, while the girls compete to win some singing/dancing/musical performance survival competition.
Before watching this show, the first things you should know (if you don't already) are:
1) There is apparently no end to the number of Korean girls & guys who are trying to become KPop stars every day.
2) Koreans are emotional by nature, and this is amplified when KTV shows throw 101 young girls into the spotlight and train them to perform to the point of exhaustion...so, expect a lot of ups & downs and smiles & tears throughout.
3) KTV show editors are excellent. This is a double edged sword though, as these editors tend to manipulate viewers into seeing and feeling what the powers that be want you to see & feel. Some of the girls are featured more than others, some are portrayed only in a negative or positive light, some are made to be felt sorry for, and so on.
4) I don't believe any KTV show that states/implies the public will be left SOLELY responsible for selecting the winners of a talent related contest. I'm not saying these shows are necessarily changing the public votes after the fact, but people as a whole are easily manipulated by a number of creative means...see item 3 above as a prime example. It's obviously in this show's best interest to "give the public what they want", but do not think for a minute that this public voting didn't go hand in hand with some back room maneuvering & politicking from the start, and along the way.
As the show begins, girl after girl from roughly 30-40 or so talent agencies arrive to compete in this contest as one giant collective group. Some of them are really young and just starting off on their journey to become a KPop star, while others are on the opposite end of the spectrum as they are getting older and are running out of time to chase their idol dreams. The girls are then assigned to live in various dorm rooms where they train night and day to prepare for one stage show after another. Sometimes they have to work together, while other times they compete against one another. Every two weeks or so, a bunch of girls are voted off until we finally arrive at the final 11 girls that remain standing at the end.
I knew exactly what was going to happen when this show began; pit a bunch of Korean girls against one another with the same dreams and goals and what do you get?...A stressed out semi-unified monster of Korean female fighting spirit, bonding, and a little bickering along the way. This is KTV though, so don't expect screaming matches or hair pulling fights to break out amongst the girls (at least on camera anyway), and they are all trying to appease a Korean public that expects/demands a practically unreasonable level of politeness and respectfulness from their idols (at least in public anyway).
Along their journey throughout this competition, the girls get trained and judged on a weekly basis by the 5 female coaches who each have a particular specialty (i.e. dancing, rapping, vocals, etc...). These 5 women are experienced older idols who are now coaching up the next generation to follow them. They are not always easy on the girls, but that is a necessary evil in order to get them up to snuff and weed out the weak. Their words of encouragement are few and far between, but it's clear they like them and want them to succeed as this show rolls along. Aside from the 5 female coaches, there's also the sole MC who handles the entire proceedings nicely, along with several auxiliary trainers who teach the girls better diet & exercise habits and the like. All of these people did a really solid job in their designated roles.
In the end, you get your newly formed idol group who is to debut for a one year (as they are essentially on loan from their talent agencies), but I guess their agencies didn't want to wait that long to capitalize on this show's popularity as they've already started placing their girls in their own groups. And although many people felt that several of the 11 who were chosen didn't deserve to make the cut talent wise in the first place, that's not the point of this show. Instead, the goal was to monitor who the public wanted to see most, and that's exactly what this show accomplished.
Summary: A lot of the 101 girls are quite talented already, while others still need some improving, and there's a few that should just give up asap. Some of the overall performances they put on are really good though, and, this show is more than worth watching for that alone. Of course, every girl wants to be one of the eventual 'chosen ones' and become a star, but watching them ferociously compete against one another while simultaneously helping each other out is what really drives this show. And those girls that didn't make the final cut got a lot of recognition &/or benefited greatly by competing, so, don't feel too sorry for them.
Bottom Line: I liked this show a lot. 8 out of 10 stars!
