Fandom Stage (2026)

Not perfect, but love the idea behind and how wholesome it felt

I had such a good time with this TV show where 10 teams of 4 people belonging to various KPOP fandoms compete. The prize is a statement of fans devotion as it is a billboard featuring their fave group.

Overall it was very entertaining, even if I think this show will probably mostly resonate with people that are already stanning KPOP groups or considering themselves as belonging to one (or more) fandoms. Newbie on this topic might find it a bit crazy or not understand all the stakes behind the various challenges that the teams are facing. I still think the barrier of entry to understanding is relatively low, but it might not necessarily feel as interesting if you are totally out of this subset of music culture.

What I liked the most was the love that was shown, it felt very wholesome to me within each team but also between the teams. Even if they don't stan the same group, the shared experience and the joy of bragging about their faves and learning more about the faves of others could be seen and was properly translated on screen. The MC being a former idol, it was super fun to see his reaction to the fans overall enthusiasm and he did a great job at maintaining the pace of the show and supporting the participants. I also truly enjoyed how the various generations of KPOP were represented with groups from different era. However a better balance in terms of genre (boy group Vs girl group) could have been nice.

What could be improved for next time would be a bit more work on the storytelling and the community aspects. The teams interactions were relatively limited and the screen time for some was quite reduced. The overall show was pretty short, so it is also linked to the format...But I would have loved to see more of everything (relationship, differences between the teams and the artists they follow, etc.). I liked a lot the challenges and they were quite different but I think it did maybe not showcase enough the groups themselves and that not all the challenges had the same appeal.

I would recommend this to people that enjoy survival show and/or KPOP, it is entertaining and quite bingeable as it has a relatively short format for a TV show. There is certainly things that could be better but I really hope they will do other seasons, maybe focusing on specific generation or type of group, or even just invite different fandom. With a bit more of content on the groups themselves as well as some more interesting storylines to make it even more entertaining.

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