Ode to 1 Night 2 Days

 

Sigh. I can't believe the moment has finally come. The 1 Night 2 Days that I love dearly, that I look forward to every weekend for 3 years, has finally come to an end. I know, I know, they're going to have a "2nd season" but we all know this is not the same. I heard Kim Seung-woo is going to be in it. And I adore! him on KBS's Win Win as the quirky main MC. I'll be looking forward to that. Joo Won and Sung Si-kyung is also going to be there. But no matter what, there will never be the same 1 Night 2 Days like the ones before.

Just a little precaution. I don't really know the direction or structure of this post so just bear with me.

I first watched 1 Night 2 Days about three years ago when I was bitten by the K-pop crazy bug. I remember it was a Friday night. I didn't know what I was getting myself into and just took the plunge. Turns out it was a really great decision. Even though I watched during the middle, I still laughed my socks off. Not really sure why it made me do that. I assume it was the perfect combination of slapstick, stupid remarks, unique personalities, and overall great chemistry between the members. At the time, the cast consists of what I'd like to call the best cast of them all which includes Kang Hodong, Kim C, Lee Sugeun, Eun Jiwon, MC Mong, and Lee Seunggi. The mix of all these personality just balances so gracefully and made to be such a great cast.

The concept of the whole show was rather simple. They were there to showcase Korea's landmarks and holiday destinations. From the outside, though, it seems like this variety show was strictly for entertainment purposes, making more jokes than providing insights. But I think they have a great balance between the two. In the day, the cast and crew will try to show you the best of each location, while at night the emphasis was mostly on the entertainment portion where they play their infamous bok-bul-bok games to determine who gets dinner and who gets to sleep outside. This is often the most hilarious portion of them all. Of course this was all possible with the evil genius named Na Young-suk PD who won't flinch ordering the cast consisting of some of the biggest names in Korean entertainment.

Of course during its running the cast would change and even though over times the viewers become attached to specific cast or combination, the transition is rather smooth. When Kim Jongmin was drafted to military in the beginning of the show, he was quickly replaced by Lee Seunggi. When MC Mong had his problems with the law, the editing was choppy (they tried to edit him out overall. It was awkward, but it was fine), but he was soon replaced with Uhm Tae-woong, possibly changing his image forever. When the two elders Kim C and Kang Hodong (they left at different times), the space they left felt empty but the cast went on. I think this was a crucial factor in the show because they can mix up the cast so effortlessly, unlike other shows who can't seem to change up their fixed cast.

The other thing that I love about this show is how tight the cast and crew are. The chemistry between the cast is obvious; they really do seem like blood brothers to me. But they are also very tight with the crew. And all the crew. I guess this was possible because they had to endure many hardships together over the years which made them more like family than co-workers.

The "new" season will come in the March, consisting of original members Lee Sugeun and Kim Jongmin, last years newcomer Uhm Tae-woong, and three brand new cast of Kim Seung-woo, Joo Won, and Sung Si-kyung. The three new cast isn't completely confirmed; Korean entertainment tend to do that until the last minute, but these three are the most possible. I'm actually more excited than not about the casting. I loved Kim Seung-woo in Win Win. He has that nerdy ajusshi persona in that show, although through acting he can show his badass-ness (case in point: Iris). But we all know acting is all fake (case in point: Uhm Tae-woong). Joo Won hasn't done much variety shows. In fact, he's only a newbie overall, debuting in last year's makjang galore Bread King Kim Tak-goo. I'm excited to see what he has up his sleeves. As for Sung Si-kyung, he's the Korean nation's beloved ballad singer. He was actually on the last 1N2D viewers special where he took delicate care of old people. He's nice, but he seems secretly sassy which is always fun.

I guess an ending remark from me will be: Thank you 1N2D for bringing me laugh out loud comedy, wonderful brotherhood, and the beauty that is Korea. I'm sad that we have to say goodbye to three great people, no, great friends who have given their best to give us that bit of laughter we all need at the end of the week. Seunggi, Jiwon, Na PD, you will be missed. To the ones who stayed and the ones who are coming, good luck and may you bring more entertainment to out weekend nights.