Thanksgiving 2023 is not just about finding gratitude in your heart for blood related families, but also your found-families. Celebrating that spirit of chaotic, yet heartwarming togetherness, these healing Kpop variety shows will warm your heart with a high dose of love for your platonic soulmates. Whether it’s hearing you out, or even sensing your problems from afar, these companions for life always stand by our side without judging us, but are also still willing to call out our bad habits. This mutual partnership and the depths of its unfathomable profundity can never be measured, but we can still find the right gestures to convey our heartfelt thoughts to our loved ones.
If in case you’re missing your friends and are unable to actually celebrate the holiday with them this year, check out these shows that will instantly remind you of the affecting goodness of their company. Living vicariously through these shows and their never-ending moments of laughter will automatically compel you to pick up the phone and reunite with your bestie soon.
Healing Kpop Variety Shows to Watch this Thanksgiving 2023
1. Actors on a Journey With Im Siwan and Jung Hae-in (also known Actors on the Road)
Travelling as a unit has to be a natural glue that brings people together and forges new friendships. As one of the most recent healing Kpop shows of 2023, jTBC’s Actor on a Journey features famous actors Jung Hae-in and Im Siwan (also Kpop group ZE:A’s member) sojourning in Scotland. As same age friends, the duo’s vacation had them exploring various kinds of drinks as they visit many whiskey distilleries. Combining leisure and travel, the close friends give us major FOMO and friendship goals with their adorable chemistry as Siwan comes forward to speak with locals, while Hae-in affectionately looks out for him. Fans even lovingly refer to them as “twins”.
2. Chaessi Pyolyugi or Mr Chae the Castaway
Also spelled as Chaessi Pyolgugi on some platforms, this heartwarming YouTube variety show series is hosted by MONSTA X Hyungwon, aka Chae Hyungwon. While on the surface it may seem like a one-man show as the singer isn’t always accompanied by his group members in each episode, this show has only further consolidated Hyungwon’s closeness with the staff members who work behind the scenes. Many of them can be heard chuckling from behind the camera due to the actor-singer’s onscreen antics.
Hyungwon has often addressed himself as being an introvert, but years down the line following a long musical career with MONSTA X since 2015, he’s carved an endearing self-growth for himself, most of which can be seen in the way he leads this show. Presented as a calming introduction, the relatively new title has seen him meet up with colleagues from the K-pop scene, also his dear friends now, like EXO’s Xiumin, SEVENTEEN’s Jeonghan, ASTRO’s Sanha, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Soobin, other MONSTA X members and even fellow label-mate Lee Dong-wook (and counting).
Imparting soothing comfort, the show is bound to leave you feeling fuzzy as you hear these guest stars naturally converse with Hyungwon and share their personal views on life, their profession and whatnot. You can watch all episodes of the show on the @lifewithoutaplan YouTube channel.
Also read: 11 SEVENTEEN Variety Shows That Will Tickle Your Funny Bone: Going SEVENTEEN, Game Caterers and More
3. In the SOOP Friendcation
Now available on Disney+ Hotstar, this friendship reality series is a spin-off the widely praised original series, In the SOOP, featuring Kpop groups BTS and SEVENTEEN on separate seasons. The “Friendcation” season features the Wooga Squad with rapper Peakboy, actors Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik and BTS’ V aka Taehyung as the quintet takes up a wholesome four-day vacation. They all first convene at the HYBE headquarters to discuss the details of their trip and then take off for a retreat in the woods.
While they’re staying at a guest house there, we witness the friend group engage in candid conversations that’ll instantly remind you of moments spend with your own friends, and other impromptu plans you may have made with them to spend more time together despite your respective hectic schedules. Cooking for each other and staying up all night just to have more hours of each other’s company follow naturally on a trip like this, and will doubtlessly make you want to skedaddle with your friends too. In the SOOP has undoubtedly become one of the most-loved Kpop travel shows in recent times.
4. Jinny’s Kitchen
Set in Bacalar, Mexico, the eponymous kitchen introduces local customers to Korean street food. Taking inspiration from Na PD’s Youn’s Kitchen series, the food business adventure series, also known as Seojin’s Kitchen, is a 2023 Na Young-seok directorial that stars Lee seo-jin as the President, Jung Yu-mi as the Director, Park Seo-joon as the General Manager, and Choi Woo-shik and BTS’ V aka Kim Taehyung as interns of the food operation. The last three names will also be recognised by ardent Hallyu fans as members of the widely known friend group, the “Wooga Squad”. Together they run a fast food joint and turn into occupational chefs from being professional entertainers.
These episodes, along with the show’s spin-off, Jinny’s Kitchen: Team Building, are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video in select regions. Cooking up an enjoyable retreat, the food travel variety show has been appreciated for its sitcom-like funny energy with refreshing moments sparked with lighthearted banters shared between the cast of the show.
5. The Game Caterers
Korean entertainment labels aren’t just homes to K-pop idols, but also actors. While fans usually crave for multi-interactions wherein members of a certain K-pop group are friends with another group’s members, they tend to forget that many of their favourite K-drama actors also cross paths with their beloved singers more than they could’ve anticipated, especially since these glowing rosters of artists share the same abode. While the SM Entertainment family has been a longtime big name in the industry, with HYBE Labels now also stitching bonds of camaraderie between its many artists and groups, an underrated gathering of artists also prevails from Starship Entertainment.
While K-pop names like IVE, MONSTA X, SISTAR, CRAVITY, K.Will and others are what instantly come to mind when one speaks of the Starship brand, we’d like to remind you that some of the most loved actors like Lee Dong-wook, Yoo Yoon-seok, Kim Bum and others also prevail from the same agency. Na PD aka Na Yeong-seok’s The Game Caterers is a South Korean variety show that can be watched on the YouTube channel ‘Fullmoon’, and it engages its gathering of guests with game sequences that intermesh chaos with drama and entertainment.
The fun-loving show is especially enjoyed by the guests too while entertaining the fans as it requires for them all to put their heads together and have fun. Regardless of the results that follow, the whole assembly of artists from various entertainment fields will leave you gasping for air as one disastrous case of second-hand embarrassment follows the previous one, leaving you with no choice but to laugh out loud. In addition to the Starship family gathering, Na PD has also welcomed members of YG Entertainment, HYBE Labels, BH Entertainment and more.
6. Youth Over Flowers
Yet another one of Na PD’s gems, this travel reality show first premiered on the South Korean network tvN in 2014, and has so far hosted many singers and actors such as Yoo Yeon-seok, Kang Ha-neul and even the cast of the K-drama Reply 1988 – Ahn Jae-hong, Ryu Jun-yeol, Go Kyung-pyo and Park Bo-gum – among others. The abrupt and surprising concept of the show entails that the guest stars aren’t informed when and where they’ll be travelling. The Youth Over Flowers team ambushes a certain group of people and takes them off to an international vacation spot. So far these stars have been to Peru, Iceland, Laos, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
It’s these stars’ unpreparedness that becomes a jarring plot twist and even more entertaining factor for the fans. The upcoming season of the show will feature the PLEDIS Entertainment boy group SEVENTEEN as the members won their wish to star on Na PD’s travel show during their special appearance on The Game Caterers earlier in 2023. In September 2023, there were reports of the members being ambushed after their SEVENTEEN Tokyo Dome Concert, following which they flew to Rome. The new episodes are yet to be aired.
7. No Prepare With Lee Youngji (aka Nothing Much Prepared)
Adding on to this list of feel good Kpop variety shows, rapper Lee Yongji’s web series No Prepare properly follows through the concept set apart by its title itself. Inviting celebrity guest stars to her home, she engages them in lively conversations over drinks as all of their communication filters gradually wear off and their true emotional selves unveil themselves. As per the prevailing concept of the show, she doesn’t make formal preparations for their arrival, and as soon as this natural and fresh setting meets these celebs’ hungover selves, disruptive comedy and uproarious commotion unfold that even gets Youngji’s crew members chortling.
So far Youngji has invited SEVENTEEN’s Seungkwan, Hoshi, Joshua and DK, MONSTA X’s Joohoney, Hyungwon, and IM, MAMAMOO’s Hwasa, BTS’ Jin, TXT’s Soobin, Heize, BLACKPINK’s Jisoo, Park Bo-young, SHINee’s Key and others.
Other similarly fashioned talk shows also include YouTube web series such as GOT7 BamBam’s Bam House, and BTS Suga’s Suchwita, but these broadcasts give way to more of an orderly broadcast. They equally delve into open conversations, but don’t always invite laughter to the great extent Youngji’s show does.
Which of these Kpop friendship shows will you be watching this Thanksgiving day to take a step closer to the warmth imparted by these found-families in our lives? Let us know your picks in the comments section below.
Also read: Thanksgiving 2023: 6 Family-Themed Kdramas for the Homely Vibe Before Dinner!