Korean variety show fever has spread worldwide. Na Yeong Seok has emerged as the most popular PD among many talented entertainment show producers. So, let’s look at the best Na PD shows available on streaming platforms.
Na Yeong Seok began his entertainment career as an assistant director of KBS (Korean Broadcasting System). Later, he moved to CJ E&M to explore creative opportunities in cable television. Since then, he has produced over 30 shows and worked with several globally renowned Korean stars.
The 48-year-old actor’s unique approach to variety shows and quick-thinking ability to make any game enjoyable has led to many accolades. Recently, Na PD snagged the Best Male Variety Performer Award at the 2024 Baeksang Awards. So, let’s explore some of Na PD’s most entertaining variety shows that have a certified feel-good factor.
Jinny’s Kitchen
Na PD’s famous Amazon Prime show Jinny’s Kitchen teases salivating foods and a star-studded cast that fans can’t get enough of. The show’s first season occurred in Mexico. Cast members set up a Korean street food shop in a foreign country to entertain tourists and locals.
Jinny’s Kitchen’s cast included BTS V, K-drama stars Park Seo Joon, Choi Wooshik, Lee Seo Jin, and Jung Yumi. All the cast members except Lee Seo Jin prepped and cooked the food they served for lunch and dinner.
The show helped highlight the best of Korean culture. The viewers also loved the hardworking side of their favorite Korean artists, who went out of their way to make the show more enjoyable.
Jinny’s Kitchen season 1 has eleven episodes in total. The show is also returning for season 2, though reports claim that the location and cast members will change.
Youn’s Stay
Na PD’s Youn Stay also has some Jinny’s Kitchen cast members. In Youn’s Stay (previously Youn’s Kitchen), the celebrity cast members help run a guest house and tend to any needs of the tourists who are coming to stay at Youn’s place.
Only foreigners staying in South Korea for less than a year will be eligible to stay at the guest house. Senior actress Youn Yuh-Jung is the ‘owner’ of the guest house, K-drama actor Lee Seo Jin is the Vice CEO, Jung Yumi and Park Seo Joon are the managers, and Parasite actor Choi Woo Shik is the intern of the guest house.
Youn’s Kitchen ran for two seasons, and the spin-off show Youn’s Stay continued for a single season with twelve episodes. Nielsen Korea revealed that the show crossed the viewership mark of 10% in multiple episodes, and its average rating ended at 6.613%.
New Journey To The West
Na Yeong Seok’s New Journey To The West was among the most popular Korean variety shows worldwide. The project ran for eight seasons from 2015 to 2020 and included a famous cast that included Kang Ho-Dong, Lee Soo-Geun, Eun Ji-Won, Ahn Jae-Hyun, Cho Kyu-Hyun, Song Min-Ho, and Pyo Ji-Hoon.
The Chinese novel Journey to the West, where cast members travel to places searching for dragon balls, inspires the show’s concept. If a participant can find all seven dragon balls, the show makers will grant their wish. All the cast members enact an assigned character throughout the show.
Due to its high popularity, New Journey To The West also won recognition in award shows. The show won the Best Content Award, Variety, in the 2010 TVN10 Awards.
Three Meals a Day
TVN’s Three Meals a Day has a rustic charm that helps viewers connect to rural life through celebrities. The show takes celebrities to the countryside, where they will live for three days a week and cook three meals per day using whatever ingredients they will find.
Three Meals a Day has seen some of the most popular Korean celebrities as cast members, including Lee Seo Jin, Ok Taecyeon, Yoo Hae-Jin, Son Ho Jun, Eric Mun, Yoon Kyun-sang and more. The show ran for nine seasons and had three main themes: Jeongseon Village and Fishing Village, Gochang Village and Mountain Village.
Each theme explores a specific concept; in the Mountain Village season, the cast members were all female (except guest cast Nam Joo Hyuk), whereas, in Gochang Village, the participants went to the heritage site Gochang County to explore the best of the rural side offerings.
The Game Caterers
One of the most popular shows of Na PD is The Game Caterers, which incorporates a variety of games in the show in exchange for a few prizes. As participants lose missions, they eliminate gifts from the table. The show has run for two seasons, and several globally renowned K-pop stars have appeared.
BTS, Seventeen, YG Entertainment artists, Girl’s Generation, and more K-pop artists have joined the game show in special episodes. The most entertaining part of The Game Caterers is the type of games Na PD chooses for the artists. For the HYBE family episode, K-pop groups like Le Sserafim, TXT, Enhypen, Seventeen, and more had to participate in a relay race, dancing challenge, and fun quizzes.
Apart from K-pop stars, several K-drama casts appeared on the show, including Hospital Playlist, Vincenzo, and The Silent Sea. Among K-pop labels, Starship Entertainment, BH Entertainment, HYBE Labels, and YG Entertainment artists also came to the show in special episodes.
Go Together NaNa Tour
Na PD collaborated with Billboard charter K-pop act Seventeen for a variety show. Yeong Seok is the tour guide on Seventeen’s vacation as they explore Italy. The vacation starts with a fun concept where the members get kidnapped and travel to another country without knowing any details.
The show unveils the chaotic side of the members, from Mingyu panicking about losing his passport to Seventeen stars engaging in a rap battle to win one mission. Go Together released two versions, one for TVN and another for Weverse, which fans could purchase from the app. The show had six episodes in total. The Weverse version of the episodes was one hour and twenty minutes long on average.
Go Together with Nana Tour was also sentimental for fans as they got to know the group leader, S. Coups, who was involved in planning the show while on a recovery hiatus. Even Carats, who had seen the group since their debut, had a lot of surprising moments that won the internet, including DK getting drunk and Wonwoo mesmerizing his members by playing “My Heart Will Go On” on a flute.
Besides the above-mentioned show, Na PD has been the brains behind numerous renowned variety projects. Youth Over Flowers, Sisters Over Flowers, Kang’s Kitchen, and Earth Arcade are some entertaining projects that serve as instant lift-me-up for viewers.
After wrapping up Nana Tour, reports suggest that Na PD is planning for Jinny’s Kitchen season 2, which could take place in Iceland. While the cast is yet to be confirmed, fans expect Lee Seo Jin to return as the ‘boss’ and Park Seo Joon as the manager.
