By Jae-Ha Kim
Kocowa.com
February 13, 2019
Four years after “The King Of Mask Singer” premiered on MBC in South Korea, “The Masked Singer” made its U.S. debut on FOX. The American remake — in all its gaudy splendor — is a bonafide hit. The Jan. 2nd series premiere not only had the highest viewership of any FOX series for its 2018-2019 programming season, but — according to the Nielsen ratings — it was also the most watched series premiere for the coveted 18- to 49-year-old demographics.
As with its Korean predecessor, the concept is simple: a team of judges listens as masked singers perform well-known songs. Without seeing their faces, judges critique the singers on everything from their vocal abilities and performance skills to their charisma (or lack thereof).
One of the most popular guests on the Korean series has been BTS’ Jungkook (Jeon Jung-Kook).
The second was … wait for it … “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds.
That’s right. The A-list Hollywood actor disguised himself as a unicorn and sang “Tomorrow” from the musical “Annie.” He doesn’t have the greatest singing voice, but the judges — assuming he was a Korean guest — praised his pronunciation of the English lyrics.
This isn’t the only time a western celebrity has appeared on Korean TV. Tom Cruise battled wits with Yoo Jae-Seok on “Running Man” and Golden State Warriors’ star Stephen Curry played basketball with Ha Ha and Nam Joo-Hyuk on “Infinite Challenge.”
And herein lies the primary difference between the “The King of Mask Singer” and its western offshoot. Reynolds would never appear on FOX’s series, because it doesn’t hold the same prestige to show up on a U.S. talent show.
Korean variety shows are a whole different animal than their U.S. counterparts. Idols and famous actors all appear on Korean shows such as “Running Man” to promote their latest projects, which means viewers will get to see a higher caliber of celebrities. But would BTS — arguably the world’s most famous boy band — ever appear on the FOX version?
Highly unlikely.
The judges on “The Masked Singer” include Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke. I appreciate that the producers paid homage to the show’s Korean roots by including Korean-American actor Jeong and also for casting Korean-American comic Margaret Cho as one of the competitors. (In case you missed it, Cho was the Poodle and showed off her considerable vocal chops, before being eliminated.)
But the original version carries a certain charm I find lacking in its U.S. spawn. The latter includes over-the-top costumes and full production numbers with backup dancers and laser light shows, whereas the Korean version emphasizes the purity of the vocals. “The Masked Singer” also doesn’t carry over the duet round, where two competitors are judged on singing the same song. On the U.S. version, the performers choose their own material, making it more difficult to judge on a one-on-one basis.
As mentioned before, American superstars have an aversion to appearing on television. So it’s unlikely that Beyonce or Shawn Mendes will ever appear as guests on FOX’s “The Masked Singer.” (The unmasked competitors so far have been people who were better known for their work in previous years: former football players Antonio Brown and Terry Bradshow, comic Tommy Chong, actress Tori Spelling and talk show hostess Ricki Lake). Compare that to South Korea’s lineup, which includes singers from some of the country’s most famous groups, like EXO, Super Junior and Blackpink.
But with all that said, it’s not likely that viewers of the FOX series are familiar with the Korean version. And sometimes when you don’t know what you’re missing, you don’t really miss it at all.
For those who would like to see the original series in all its glory, you can catch up on the episodes on KOCOWA.
Our family watches masked king (Korean version) almost every week 🙂
I had the same thoughts in terms of comparison between the US and
Korean version. The US focuses more on the concept of the Mask whereas
the Korean version rests heavily on the purity of the voices. In the
end, however, I think the voices are winning out in the US.
Your point about the caliber of the stars is also intriguing. As
ratings in the US continue to rise, we may see bigger stars but maybe
not musical ones. Singers like Ariana, Halsey, Miley, etc have such
distinctive voices that I feel we would guess who they are right away
but maybe we will see higher profile actors and actresses? It really
does depend on how high the ratings grow and whether it becomes a
valuable promotional vehicle.