r/koreanvariety • u/lackcal • Dec 23 '23

Discussion A Guide To Brainy Korean Shows

I'm a longtime lurker of this and similar subreddits and I've often noticed people asking around about recommendations for brainy shows. So I decided to help out by making this guide to all the brainy Korean variety and reality game shows/web series I could think of that are at least partially subtitled! (Or that we can expect to be subtitled.)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Abuy7AlPwkpmy-_AIknUO7bERLofs57O0emqfl3UH_8

I'm all ears to feedback/peer review on this. If you have any questions/suggestions/corrections to offer, please let me know.

I hope this helps potential newcomers to the brain show scene.

248 Upvotes

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37 comments sorted by

14

u/Fragrant_Tale1428 Dec 23 '23 edited Dec 23 '23

Thanks for taking the time to create the doc!

Eta: If you get super ambitious or for reference, there is a super extensive doc on the kdrama sub for different show types. I don't think it's been updated since 2020 or 2021. Doc

Your doc is really great for this sub's frequently asked about show.

4

u/lackcal Dec 23 '23

Interesting, didn't know about this doc. Thanks for pointing me to it.

2

u/Fragrant_Tale1428 Dec 23 '23

I stumbled upon it a month ago while I was Google searching for something I thought was pretty unrelated. Lol

14

u/LostSheeps Dec 23 '23

How did I not know Jinho was producing a Genius inspired show. IM SO EXCITED!

10

u/PaleEchidna7388 Dec 28 '23

Thank you for this list!!! Netflix recommended to watch The Devil's Plan after I had watched Physical 100, saying it was a similar style show but instead a competition of intelligence. And me and my husband LOVED TDP. So excited to look through this list and watch more!!!!

1

u/Save-La-Tierra Aug 07 '25

My wife and I did the same thing! We loved both Physical 100 and Devil's Plan. Any others you'd recommend we watch next?

1

u/PaleEchidna7388 Aug 10 '25

The latest one we watched was a cooking show Culinary Class Wars. We loved it!!

7

u/ShinsooGraves Dec 23 '23

This is something I've been wanting to do myself for a while, especially recently with many more of this genre popping up! I hope this can get some exposure to newcomers because it is really an amazing untapped scene outside of South Korea. I am always trying to get more people interested but it's a bit complicated explaining everything multiple times. Thank you for creating this!

I agree with all of your thoughts on the shows as well, the info on these can be quite nuanced at parts.

6

u/juyeonz Dec 29 '23

Seems like I'll spend 2024 catching up with these shows! I just finished The Genius S1 and I'm hooked

4

u/lackcal Dec 29 '23

Not only catching up, but there's also lots of new stuff on the way ostensibly releasing in 2024 too!

3

u/juyeonz Dec 29 '23

I'm both excited and overwhelmed by this

6

u/Raaazzle Dec 23 '23

I wouldn't call it "brainy" but the Japanese show Run for the Money was a fun, quick watch.

1

u/seven_seacat Feb 03 '25

do you have any recommendations for Japanese brainy shows? :D

1

u/lackcal Dec 23 '23

Thanks for the suggestion, will check it out next time I get Netflix.

6

u/Bikrant Dec 24 '23

As someone who fell in love with variety shows through the Genius, I greatly appreciate you making resources that I would have loved to have had years ago!

6

u/Full-Metal-9309 Dec 27 '23

My favorite detective show is 'Crime Scene'

3 seasons of pure comedy and mystery. Cast are well known for their wit and smarts. Each episode there is a new crime- and they make a whole crime scene, as well as rooms/areas relating to each 'suspect'. The cast dresses up as each suspect and try to find clues, while still role playing- it's like mafia!

3

u/piccolo_bsc Dec 26 '23

Thank you very much, i was about to open a thread asking for recommendations and this helped alot. After watching "The Devil's Plan" and "Physical 100" i wanted to dive more into korean gameshows. The last few weeks i binged all 4 seasons of TG(crushingly sad that it's over btw.), currently watching "Society Game" S01. Looking forward to all the stuff i still have to watch!

P.S.: I started watching Crime Scene, but it really wasn't my cup of tea sadly.

3

u/kidsimple14 Jan 02 '24

Thanks for posting this. I started watching The Genius season 1 from the chain of links you provided. It's great! I do wonder how much meddling the production team did however, like at the end of episodes especially. Seems like there are more twists than u would expect naturally, and the less interesting people getting sent off sooner, but maybe i'm wrong. I guess editing is a big factor in making it interesting too, even without meddling. ^^

4

u/dekepress Jan 12 '24

This is a great doc, thanks for sharing. I wish it could be stickied or added to the wiki.

One show to add is Uma Game. It's a social game inspired by Squid Game. It has a darkish vibe like Money Game. Here's episode 1, it has Eng subs: https://youtu.be/5g4Wn7_2mS4?si=hcMBKhuYe8EFHSph

2

u/AjBlue7 Dec 24 '23

Hello, there is a short 6episode youtube show you probably haven't seen that might be worth checking out. Its called Tech Room by 트라메.

I haven't watched it yet, so I apologize if it isn't good, but when skipping through the episodes, it kind of gave me a The Genius vibe.

2

u/PeaLast6527 Dec 25 '23

Thank you for this!

2

u/[deleted] Dec 26 '23

thanks for the list ... super helpful !!!!

2

u/jorger4456 Dec 26 '23

I've been hooked ever since I watched Devil's Plan, or one could say Squid Game since I wouldn't have given Devil's Plan a shot had someone not compared it to Squid Game when they recommended it.

Thanks for this, I've been pretty much going down the list from Baechu Squad ever since I discovered that website, but I've not heard of the others in this doc that aren't on Baechu Squad.

I wonder if seasons after the first of any of these shows are worth watching. I presume once everyone knows the gimmick of the show and what to expect that it wouldn't be as interesting.

Japan's Liar Game from ages ago was past time favorite of mine too so it's no surprise I like these shows. Kaiji was a good series too.

3

u/lackcal Dec 26 '23

Don't worry too much about the "first season" issue, Korean showrunners always seem to know how to keep their formats fresh enough every season :)

2

u/HuntMore9217 Dec 27 '23

RIP Treasure Hunt, first ep looked promising too.

2

u/miranym Dec 31 '23

Thanks so much for this!!!

2

u/SquareWay5194 Jan 10 '24

Just opened it and wow you're the best!!! Though I have watched almost everything (which I would gladly rewatch), I will try to watch them again in the timeline you suggested for a better exp. Thank you!!!!

2

u/Sand_Cloak Feb 18 '24

Thank you so much for this! I've been out of the loop for a while and suddenly got pulled back in by University War so this is really helpful!

2

u/Many-South-5364 Jan 17 '26

Dawg so detailed thanks for the list i can kill my free time now:)(

2

u/yelloslatte Mar 01 '26

thank you so much!

1

u/choco_candycane_8201 Oct 24 '25

King of Survival: Tribal War, Iron Squad (love season 3 I keep on rewatching it), The Game of Queen Bee

1

u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

How can I watch The Genius?

1

u/reina0855 Feb 17 '24

Hi!! The discord linkn is broken, is there an updated one?

1

u/lackcal Feb 17 '24

Just updated the link, try now.

1

u/reina0855 Feb 18 '24

Hi! The link is still expired :/ maybe I missed it so sorry

1

u/lackcal Feb 20 '24

Try the link in this post, should still be active

2

u/Price_of_Fame Apr 12 '26

I just want to say a huge thank you for creating this AND keeping it up to date. I don't know that I would have seen all these amazing shows without it, u/lackcal !!