The Genius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genius_...)
Recently I was lucky to discover The Genius, a Korean game show that strips away a lot of what people dislike about reality TV and puts out a product that may as well be directly marketed to the 2p2 audience. It features a highly complex and varied series of games played by a strong and generally likeable cast, along with all the eccentricities of Asian game shows (that soundtrack...). Everyone I've suggested it to has loved it, and it's already taken over the Survivor thread. Even if it doesn't sound like your usual thing, I strongly recommend giving it a try.
Some kind soul has subtitled the first two seasons, with the third hopefully soon to follow, and (legal, afaict) links can be found here.
Since we're three seasons deep, it's probably worth using spoiler tags as not everybody is going to have watched the same amount yet.
13 Replies
When are we going to get a U.S. version of The Genius?
I know they'll probably ruin it, but I'd like to see someone take a swing at it regardless.
There's another Korean show on Netflix - The Devil's Plan - from the same producer. It's somewhat similar to The Genius. If a season two comes out I would definitely watch it.
While not a U.S. version, there's a Dutch adaptation of The Genius that was released in October 2022, with the episodes available on https://www.youtube.com/@notbaechusquad/....
There's a UK version coming out this year, hosted by David Tennant. It having a host makes me think it's going to be a lot worse than the real thing but we'll see
While not a U.S. version, there's a Dutch adaptation of The Genius that was released in October 2022, with the episodes available on https://www.youtube.com/@notbaechusquad/....
Watched this ~last year, can confirm this was pretty great. Would've preferred 10-12 episodes (instead of 8) and slightly more contestants, but not a big criticism.
Why it's worth watching: Good contestants, some of them are "game-botty", some are more there as characters...enough of them have fun multiple-episode arcs, and the season has just the right amount of "cheese" (e.g. not a spoiler -- see YouTube thumbnail of the warehouse being demolished in final episode), if that makes sense.
looks like an english version of this show with David Tennant as host has started
Yesssss -- this has excellent potential. First 2 episodes are out, have watched 1st and it's classic Genius, but UK.
Season 2 of Devil's Plan is starting on Netflix May 6
Pretty great season.
Episode 7 (final 5) is up there with some of the best episodes from the OG South Korea seasons.
Finale spoilers:
Spoiler
bump
Reminder that if there's ever a "Genius: English speaking all stars" (ala the recent Survivor AU season), Ken is a must-cast:
Spoiler
Pretty sure most of the OG South Korea casts are fluent in English. Kyun Hoon definitely is (per making the rounds on English speaking podcasts in ~2015).
(Not trying to invoke John Rocker or anything, just don't see how we get a "world all stars" version if it's not in English lol).
Lol at that spoiler. It's not a spoiler of anything, just funny.
