::A Geek in Korea::

Morning Yard: Family Singing Contest (Achim Madang: Kajok Norea Charang) is an interesting show on television. During the week, it’s a family interest show, showing how people live and work in Korea. They have real families on television, not celebrities, and how they live their lives. On Saturdays it turns into a sort of American Idol for the most pitiful, or Star Search for the Saddest people ever. The only reason I know about it is because one of my wife’s coworkers quit her job over the show. What happened was this:

This show allows people to write in with stories about their families. Then the show choose a story to follow up on their show. Other people write to be allowed to come on the show and sing for their family. It’s a way for families to honor and show pride in their relatives and thank them for whatever they need. There is also a competition for air line tickets to a resort in Jeju island. People that are on the show have to talk about their families, why they wrote in, why they wanted to thank their families. Then they have to perform a song on stage. While they sing, people call in to vote for their favorite act. Usually the quality is low grade Karaoke quality.

The reason my wife’s coworker almost quit was because she was going to be on the show. Her father was paralyzed in a stroke a seven years ago. Her mother that took care of him was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The daughters wrote in, explaining their story and were chosen to come and sing. They had to arrive at the show at 4:30 am for the pre-taping. The coworker asked to go home early to memorize the script and sleep. She needed to rest her voice so that she could do her best. Her boss got angry. She threw the script at him, and she told him she had a lot to memorize before the taping, and needed to leave early. She said that the show was much more important for her job, so she would be resigning at the end of the month because of how the boss reacted.

The next morning, we got to see the show when it aired on television. The two daughters, the challengers, explained their sad tale. They even had a banner set up in the audience declaring their love for their family. They sang their song and did well enough to make it out of the first round. Then they had to go up against the current pity champions, who were returning from a previous week’s showing. This duet was a blind brother and the sister that took care of him. They sang moderately well. The coworker and her sister did their same song for a second time, and even messed up some of the lyrics. However, they garnered more of the pity vote and pulled out a victory.

The coworker and her sister won the trip for their parents. It’s a nice story. The fans of the show weren’t happy about the decision, and some left angry comments on the website about how the other group deserved to win. They basically boiled down to the fact that the show was all about the most pitiable group always advancing to the next show despite their talent, and that people shouldn’t be voting for people for that reason.

The next round, the coworker was up against some tough competition. Their challenger had a mother that had terminal lung cancer and was diagnosed with only months, if not weeks, to live. Unsurprisingly, the coworker’s family didn’t survive the cut.

My wife’s coworker later admitted, "I knew we were going to lose that round. Our mom was too healthy."