New Journey to the West

In Season 1, Lee Seung Gi plays Tang Sanzang (a Buddhist monk in the novel) who leads and worries constantly about the monsters hyungs (his co-cast members) who don't listen to him. Lee Soo Geun plays Sun Wukong a monkey character with the greatest sin, Eun Ji Won plays Sha Wujing (a celestial being) who is either immature or genius villain, and Kang Ho Dong plays Zhu Bajie (a pig character) with low brain power but great strength and appetite. Together, they take a journey to the west (Xi'an, China) while completing various mission to find seven dragon balls which can grant wishes for those who can collect them.

Na Young Suk PD expressed, “The four are too familiar with each other, and they know what each other is thinking just from looking at each other's eyes. Everyone had a great and fun time during the 5 days four nights trip. We are working hard on the post-production at the moment, so that the viewers can experience the fun that we all had.”[1]

In Season 2 to 4, the show followed the similar concept as Season 1 as they travelled with new characters and new cast members to several parts of China and Vietnam to find the seven dragon balls.

In Season 4, continued with the same members from Season 3, the whole group takes a journey to Vietnam. With the new theme of "The apocalypse of Hell",[2] each member has his new character: Kang Ho-dong plays Zhu Bajie; Lee Soo-geun plays Piccolo; Eun Ji-won plays Sun Wukong; Ahn Jae-hyun plays monk Xuan Zhang; Kyuhyun plays Sha Wujing; and since Min-ho loses the Ping-pong competition and shaves his hair, he plays the character of Krilin. In Gangshi Game, members complete all the tasks in time, and finally Mino accurately pushes the gift buttons (luxury cars) after spinning 15 turns around . Instead of giving expensive cars, Na Young-suk PD promises to give them dragon balls and other rewards instead. Min-ho also receives a new nickname as Song Garak (Song finger).[3] In this Season, members successfully collect all seven dragon balls and receive their rewards from the production team. Na Young-suk PD promises to put "Kang 's Kitchen" and "Youth Over Flowers" into schedule.[4]

In Season 5 and 6, a total new sets of characters and theme (Ghost Special and Season of Harvest) were introduced as the cast members travelled to Hong Kong and Hokkaido.

In Season 5, Kyuhyun has to start his military enlistment, and P.O joins in as a guest member. This season, they take a journey to Hong Kong (China) with a new theme of "With Ghost".[5] Each member has his completely new character: Kang Ho-dong plays Kaonashi (No-Face); Lee Soo-geun plays Chucky; Eun Ji-won plays Grim Reaper (Death Angel); Ahn Jae-hyun plays Chinese Zombie; Song Min-ho plays Virgin Female Ghost; and P.O plays as Dracula.[6][7] In the final mission, members do not receive the dragon balls as Lee Soo-geun and Song Min-ho failed to change clothes in a given time. Na Young-suk PD suddenly announces that Season 5 is over and Season 6 starts now.

In Season 6, members travelled to Hokkaido (Japan) with a new theme of "Geobong Geobong Geobong (Kyoho grape)". Each member dresses up as a fruit: Kang Ho-dong plays watermelon; Lee Soo-geun plays pear; Eun Ji-won plays farmer; Ahn Jae-hyun plays peach; Song Min-ho plays grape; and P.O plays sprout.[8] In this Season, members pair up as teams to play games. In the game, Lee Soo-geun becomes the "Golden Hand" since he picks out 2 super rewards out of 3 in a hundred options.[9]

In Season 6.5, members return to Seoul (South Korea). They spend time together in a house and play different games to win the rewards. At the end of the show, the production team announces that "Kang's Kitchen 2" will return soon.

In this season, the show will be filmed in South Korea with the theme "Homecoming" and Na PD got the concept from the Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The dragon balls have fallen into Mount Gyeryong of South Korea and each member will become a spiritual guru. The members played "Signal Quiz" as the character selection game. Kang Ho-dong plays Shin Myohan; Lee Soo-geun plays Knee-drop Guru; Eun Ji-won plays Gandalf; Cho Kyuhyun plays Genie of the Lamp; Song Min-no plays Radish Guru and P.O plays as Cabbage Guru.[10]

The members played "Go Back Jump" as the character selection game. Kang Ho-dong plays Park Jin-young; Lee Soo-geun plays Lee Jung-hyun; Eun Ji-won plays Rain; Cho Kyuhyun plays Bae Yong-joon; Song Min-no plays Red Devil and P.O plays as Im Soo-jung.[11]

The Innocence Special was initially not able to be accomplished as the members won the Great Release of Dragon Balls games and ended the filming earlier. After Na PD revealed that the production team has previously agreed with the sponsor to have the members to appear on a costume parade in Yong-in for Halloween, the members agreed after Na PD provided a sumptuous breakfast for the members. Kang Ho-dong plays Papa Smurf; Lee Soo-geun plays Smurfette; Eun Ji-won plays Grouchy Smurf; Cho Kyuhyun plays Brainy Smurf; Song Min-no plays Hefty Smurf and P.O plays as Vanity Smurf.[12]

The members played "Classical Music Quiz" as the character selection game. Kang Ho-dong plays Panda; Lee Soo-geun plays Sugeuras; Eun Ji-won plays Santa Claus; Cho Kyuhyun plays Statue of Liberty; Song Min-no plays Cleopatra and P.O plays as Pharaoh.[12]

The members played "Guess the Movie" quiz as the character selection game. Kang Ho-dong plays Choi Ik-hyun; Lee Soo-geun plays Na'vi; Eun Ji-won plays Elliott; Cho Kyuhyun plays Joker; Song Min-no plays Jack Sparrow and P.O plays Olaf.[13]

This show reunite four former cast members of the golden age of KBS '2 Days & 1 Night' in Season 1. On 16 July 2015, tvN announced that Na Young Seok PD will show a new form of variety program in fall through internet contents called 'New Journey to The West'. The production crew stated, "We invested [in the show] as a new format that will broadcast on the internet instead of TV. Right now, we are considering recruiting Lee Soo Geun, and Eun Ji Won in addition to Kang Ho Dong and Lee Seung Gi. There will be no more additions after four members are confirmed."[14]

A CJ E&M official told Sports Chosun on 23 July 2015, ‘New Journey to the West’ is holding the first meeting of the members.[15] On 5 August, a source involved in broadcasting said that Lee Seung Gi, Kang Ho Dong, Lee Soo Geun, Eun Ji Won, and Na Young Suk leave for China on 6 August to begin filming. Which later revealed that they heading to Xian, a city in China, for 5 days filming.[16]

tvN announced on 18 August 2015 that "New Journey to the West" will be released exclusively through PC and mobile Naver TVCast in early September.[17] It marked this show as the first South Korean variety show created by a TV network, tvN, to be broadcast exclusively online.[18]

New Journey to the West production crew and members make their first official appearance through a press conference held at 63 Convention Center on the afternoon of 1 September 2015.[19] The press conference go live on Tuesday at 2 p.m. on Naver and V app at the same time.[20]

The show also streamed exclusively on Tencent's QQ.com in China, simultaneously with its run on South Korean portal website Naver. Seo Jang-Ho, the head of international sales and acquisitions at CJ E&M, said, "We are excited to introduce New Journey to the West to Chinese viewers through Tencent, one of the largest online platforms in the country. As the show is CJ E&M's highly anticipated digital content of the year, we hope for its successful reception in China.”[21]

In the show press conference, Director Na said that there was no step-by-step casting process. "It all just happened very naturally when Lee Seung-gi mentioned going on a trip with the old members over a casual dinner," Na explained. “We then talked about filming it, but because it would lack completeness as a TV show, we decided to use the Internet platform.”[22] Na stated that they wanted to make a program that is new in every ways, including genre and format. Providing busy businessmen and students with short break in the midst of their hectic daily routines. The concept about five new clips at once time release, with each clip to be about ten minutes long, make those who can't afford the time to watch all of the clips in order can just randomly pick whatever looks good for them.[23]

In a survey done prior to the program's airing, 62.5% of the recipients knew about the new program, while 76.9% indicated that they would watch the program.[24] The first trailer of the show which was revealed on 25 August 2015 via Naver TVCast exceeded more than 1 million view in less than 24 hours and became a hot topic among netizen.[25]

The first five episodes, each spanning between five and ten minutes, were uploaded at 10 a.m. Five hours after it release, more than 50,000 people had subscribed to the channel on Naver's video streaming website TVCast, where the show is broadcast. The first episode has been viewed more than 700,000 times, with the five together recording a combined 2 million views. After 12 hours of its release, the five episodes almost hit 5 million views.[26]

It has received positive response from the public. The show's network tvN revealed that the first five episodes, released through Naver TV Cast recorded 6.1 million hits on the first day of its release. If the trailer and the video unveiled in production presentation are also included, the number adds up to 11.5 million views as of the morning of 5 September 2015.[27] In 3 days after its release, the first five episodes hit 8.7 million views and reach 14.4 million views altogether (including views for press conference and trailer clips).[28]

On 8 September 2015, 'New Journey the West' has accumulated 15 million views on Naver TV Cast since its release. In the day of the second five episodes release, 11 September, the show already attracted more than 20 million combined views online with its trailer and first episode. It made "New Journey to the West" as the first online broadcast to reach the break-even point with only advertising revenues in South Korea. Executive of CJ E&M stated, “We are likely to reap the profits earlier-than-expected thanks to a surge in viewers. Online broadcast is emerging as a new cash cow with TV ad revenues declining.”[29][30]

It also receive good response in China. On 5 September 2015, 'New Journey to the West' first on QQ video real time chart, and fourth in overall QQ videos site. On 7 September, the first 5 episodes of this show already got more than 10 million views on QQ Video in China. The Second 5 episodes (episode 6-10) which released in following week, got 10 million just 2 days after its release.