Honestly last few Running Man episodes have been brilliant. I want ratings to get better so it runs for years. Soshi episode was just goddamn hilarious. Name-tag ripping needs to be a constant on this show.
Still the funniest thing from the last 10 episodes, is Verbal Jint's amazing physicality and skills. Dude was pure unstoppable beast...
The problem with the recent RM episodes is due to the fact it became a guests show, where the guests are just there to promote their shit meanwhile the main cast just basically sit in the sidelines. 90% of it's viewers watch it for the cast itself, not the fact that Soshi, the SMTM4 crew, or whoever else shows up. Just look at the ratings for the Soshi ep(9.7%)... it couldn't even beat Real Men 2(10.9%) or 1N2D(15.8%).
For the record, Big Bang's episode had 10.7% and the SMTM4 ep had 7.4(!!!!!!). The highest rating it ever got just for the last month was when Haha's wife, Byul, guested on the show... sure the other guests were on another variety and are big time stage actors... but I guarantee you the viewers tuned in to watch how Haha would act with his real life wife on camera.
The sad thing is, they actually can't drop RM easily. Not because it's got some BS contracts with the cast or whatever, but the brand is too lucrative overseas. The cast and show make so much money with their appearances everywhere, plus they've been licensing the rights to the show to anybody who wants it and charging top dollar.
Me personally, I actually gave up watching the episode with Haeryung and whoever else because it was boring as fnck. It didn't matter that Haeryung was a cutie or Seung-eon was a goddess, that games were just stupid and uninteresting to watch and they have been for a while. It's the cast interaction that makes the show imo.
On the other hand, you've got Infinite Challenge which for the moment isn't as popular as Running Man internationally, but that show never disappoints. And those guys have been through shit the entire year. Gil and Hongchul's drunk driving incidents for example... they were at the verge of cancellation in December until TOTOGA aired and it literally saved their asses.
Maybe RM needs some kind of scandal to light a fire under their ass but for now the only way the show can be as great as the old ones is to sack the current writers and PD's and give it to somebody with fresh ideas.
_Oasis (Feat. ZICO)
