My Thoughts on Knowing Bros After Watching the First 50 Episodes
I was scrolling through YouTube one day, and that’s when I saw the thumbnail of BLACKPINK wearing school uniforms in what seemed like a school. When I clicked on the video, there were seven men, also in school uniforms, as well as one big guy wearing what appeared to be a police officer hat, and a black cloak. This variety show was called “Knowing Bros”, with Kang Ho-Dong, Lee Soo-Geun, Kim Hee-Chul, Min Kyung-Hoon, Lee Sang-Min, Kim Young-Chul, and Seo Jang-Hoon, and that was the moment that I discovered this absolute treasure of a show.
Going into the first episode of Knowing Bros, I had no idea what to expect from it. I’ve never watched a Korean variety show, besides watching a couple of episodes of “Chef and My Fridge” a few years ago. The reason why I wanted to watch this show was partially to see if it was going to be interesting or not, but the main purpose was so I can improve on my Korean. Since it’s been over 11 years that I’ve lived in Korea, I started to forget most of my Korean as I was just a kid, and have been living in Canada for a larger portion of my life.
The first episode of Knowing Bros was a bit unexpected, as it was nothing like the clips that I’ve seen on YouTube. I had absolutely no idea what kind of show it was, and knew nobody from the cast, as I knew practically no Korean celebrities at the time. The first couple of episodes were pretty good, and I’ve slowly started to figure out the personalities and what each person does/did on the show. There weren’t any guests in the first five episodes, but I think that is what helped me get started and know what type of show and what type of people I’m going to be seeing for future episodes. It wasn’t until episode 17 where the show changed to the “Brother school” format, which was familiar to the clips on YouTube that I was watching before watching the show itself. When I started to get to know the cast of Knowing Brothers, I realized that their cast makes a perfect team, as everybody has their own roles that make the show as entertaining as it is. The whole cast is very funny, and it’s a big reason why I’ve stuck on to this show for over 50 episodes so far. The jokes themselves are hilarious, with Hee-chul’s cigarettes, Jang-Hoon’s divorce, Sang-Min’s debt, Kyung-Hoon’s “head voice”, Young-Chul’s “no fun” personality, Ho-Dong’s food, and Soo-Geun’s gambling. It’s very refreshing to see the cast members take the jokes very cooly, and joke about it themselves, as it shows just how close the brothers are to one another, even if it’s just for entertainment purposes, and it makes the show more enjoyable to watch.
As well as the members’ chemistry, the show itself is quite entertaining to watch. Each episode is different, as there are new activities with new guests every week ever since they switched to the school theme. The jokes are funny, as mentioned previously, and the skits with the guests are usually unrealistic but also hilarious. The comedy comes in naturally, as they all go with the flow and the situation instead of having it scripted. During the first half of each episode, it is about the same: Introducing the guests, having the guests promote their new song, and having the guests ask questions to the brothers, while they try and answer them. While they are answering questions, the guests also sometimes show off their skills in a particular activity, and the brothers try to beat the guests at the activity, and it’s always entertaining to watch as it’s very competitive, and both the brothers and the guests bring positive energy throughout the activity. Near the end of an episode, they have a random activity organized for them such as a game, quiz, music time, skit, etc. Although nearly every episode progresses this way, it never gets old for me, as you would never know what type of activity they were going to do next, and it would usually end up being new activities with mixtures of activities done in the past, but doing it again in a slightly modified manner. Although having the big celebrities come onto the show is cool and all, I think that it’s the activities inside of the show, as well as the comedy that keeps me attracted to the show. For this reason, I think that Knowing Brothers is a very competent show even if the guests were to be some random people that we’ve never seen before. I’ve never skipped an episode of the show, and never felt the need to skip an episode because each one was unique in its own way.
Cons
Although I personally enjoy everything about the show, there may be some cons that others may notice when watching Knowing Bros.
Repetitiveness
Since Knowing Bros always takes place in their school-themed set, people may find this repetitive as it’s the exact same set every single episode, and not elsewhere, unless there’s a special occasion. Viewers may find this boring and lose interest in the show. Some other things that viewers could find repetitive are:
- the uniforms of both the guests and the brothers,
- Activities that were previously done multiple times
- Repetitive jokes
Entertainment
People watch episodes of Korean Variety shows for three main reasons, which are for:
- Comedy
- Activities/Games that are played in the show
- The Guests
If people don’t feel like the comedy, activities, or the guests are appealing to them, they probably wouldn’t want to watch the show. For this reason, viewers who watch Knowing Bros and weren’t entertained may drop the show because they believe it’s simply not entertaining.
Could be boring to some
If you find something boring, then you would obviously have the urge to quit doing it. If viewers find the show itself boring, why waste their time on it? There are several things from Knowing Bros that could cause this boredom to viewers, which include:
- Repetitiveness
- Not Entertaining
- The Guests are not who they would’ve wanted
Throughout the first 50 episodes of Knowing Bros, I can assume that this show won’t be for everybody. It may not be as action-packed as other variety shows or could boring to others. Despite all of this, I can assure you that this is the best variety show that I’ve ever watched, and if you’re looking for a great Korean variety show that you can watch and be entertained, then Knowing Bros is the best option for sure!
