I recently came across a TV show that’s pretty entertaining. The show is called 롤러코스터2 (Rollercoaster 2), and it has a sub-series called 푸른 거탑 about a group of guys in the army. Some of the episodes have been uploaded to Youtube in full:
(Unfortunately, no subtitles and I can’t find a transcription online).
I really have trouble finding Korean TV shows I enjoy, so this was a great find for me. Anyone have any other TV show recommendations?
I’m not a fan of korean variety shows/ Talk shows/ reality shows… It’s part of the whole culture and all but if you watch a few episodes and its pretty much all the same =). Same for korean Dramas Just not for me. I get really sick of the whole korean celebrity thing and story lines… Watching my wife ( who’s korean) watching korean dramas is alot more entertaining haha. She doesnt watch them for the story … mostly just to see what her favorite actress is wearing and how she does makeup and hair. I suspect alot of korean girls do the same =p…
Personally, I rather watch The korean Travel shows , food travel shows or Documentary shows. But unfortunately with most of those its not very good Study material if your interested in listening to colloquial korean =p but you learn alot of vocab and get to learn new things about korea and other countries in the target language…
I hear you on the dramas. I watched 마왕 which was decent, but a bit slow at times. Other ones I’ve tried but just have a lot of trouble getting into…
I watched a few episodes of 개그 콘서트 recently (actually went to one of the filmings since my friend got tickets). It’s a sketch show like SNL. Some of the skits are pretty funny, but then some of them are, just like you said, based entirely around celebrity guest appearances, which I couldn’t care less about.
Recently I’ve just been listening to the radio show 컬투쇼. That one I think is pretty funny and can actually get into. But I have yet to find a Korean drama / TV show that I thought was awesome and just wanted to keep watching. Still looking!
Any links to travel shows / documentaries online? Or any names of certain shows you would recommend? I’m always looking for new content.
Yeah i know the Gag concert show. It plays every Sunday… Not very funny though. Only a few of the sketches are funny ( to me anyways). I like the ones with Brownie ( the dog) and the guy dressed and wearing makeup like a japanese school girl. Otherwise most of the comedy on there is pretty amateurish and childish… Regardless We have it running on the TV in the background on sunday night if were at home because my wife likes to see which actress shows up… =).
I love to watch Shows like
3일 더규 ( 3 day docu) Basically a camera crew follows someone around for 3 days. Every week is different.
인간극장 ( Human Theater) similar to 3 day docu.
and i watch other similar shows like the above ones BUT their names escape me. if i see them on tv ill watch them. I love shows like that because you can learn alot about korean culture, koreans, korean society… which you can imagine is an aspect of korean life most expats never get to experience ,see or begin to understand. At least, from my interaction with other expats both online and offline. They tend to generalize korea a bit too much…
Everyday theres a show on SBS ( i think) thats called 생생정보통. Its kinda like a travel/food show. shows you what other people are eating around korea and introduces you to alot of food and what not. Talking about popular 맛집 places. ( they dont give the names of the restaurants because that would be unfair to competition so they blur out all the details hahah But with a naver search and all koreans talking about it online its easy to find out which places they were showing on the tv show)…
THere are a couple other shows similar to this but i dont know the names.
My wife and I like to watch this korean show about animals on sunday morning . sometimes its about people who have interesting animals, people taking car of dogs, cats etc in weird situations…
EBS has alot of cool travel Shows showing you the world and around korea… kinda like Planet earth / discovery channel type stuff…
As you can tell I like to watch shows with good information showing you what people actually Do in real life… I dont watch to much stuff that rots my brain…
I try listening to as much korean as i can Everyday ( actively and passively) but If nothing is interesting on TV I’ll probably watch my western shows or Movie I downloaded…
Edit: Alot of the shows i list above, I dont really watch for “studying” purposes or “content” I just watch it because its actually interesting. Obviously, I dont understand EVERYTHING going on the shows so it does have some “learning” aspect to it… however , overall i just watch them because i like the shows and they have some nice visuals and you can learn alot about all kinds of things…
Thanks a lot for the long write-up. The documentaries sound especially interesting, since like you said, you get to see into the lives of real Korean people. Will definitely try to track those down (I don’t have a TV, so I only watch/listen to what I can find online).
If you have an android phone (and they probably have something similar for iphone), download the app 올 팟캐스트. There are over a thousand radio shows / podcasts to choose from, including the daily lineups from SBS, MBC, KBS, and CBS/EBS. It updates almost every day to download the radio shows from the day before, and they even have the music edited out so each show is 30 minutes to an hour of almost pure dialogue. You might have to sample a bunch of shows before you find something you like, but once you find a good show, you can listen to it every day while you commute, cook, clean, etc. I love it because I’m super lazy when it comes to downloading mp3s and syncing them to my phone, and this requires no thought or preparation 
Well the shows I mentioned are on government sponsored channels ( KBS, EBS , SBS). if you have a TV with a digital antenna you get a bunch of HD channels for free… You just need the TV… We have a new samsung LED tv and it comes with a built in digital antenna. We dont pay for Cable and we get 5 good HD channels for free.
You mentioned you have an Android phone. Which means you probably have DMB on it. If so you can watch all the shows on DMB. I use my wife’s galaxy tab to watch some shows sometimes…
Since those channels are already available over the air for free, I wouldnt be surprise if you can watch them for free on the SBs, EBS or KBS websites after you sign up for a free account…
When i lived in Canada with my wife i actually used to watch 3 day docu and human theater online for free ( totally legal… it used to be called KBSworld but seems like they are trying to spread korean Tv abroad)… HERE:
http://www.mvibo.com/index.html
BUt seems like you now need to pay. but at 9.99$ a month. Its not bad for the amount of content they have available. I’d consider paying If i lived in Canada again…
Also i use to stream korean tv online directly from The broadcasters but the quality is really bad. Audio was good though…
I’ll look for that podcast app you mentioned. See if i can find it on the apple app store…
that 올 팟캐스트 app isnt in the itunes store. I couldnt find it. But theres an other app called “레이 라디오” Ray radio which lists a bunch of korean podcasts sorted into different kind of catagories… ill give that one a try
What I find helps is actually reading the transcript from a show where available. I found that while watching a show, there were often words or situations that I missed, so having the text in Korean to read through really helps to solidify my understanding of what actually is happening and what is being said. It’s tough to find the script for most shows, but in looking for “(show name) 대본” I’ve managed to find some.
By the way, thanks for the tips on the content apps, guys. I’ll have to take a look when I finish the scripts that I’m reading through now 
Alex, any recommendations for shows you’ve enjoyed? I’m reading through the script of 마왕 right now to learn new words, but while it was good, it wasn’t so good that I would want to watch it over and over again 
There arent many Korean TV shows that i would want to rewatch over and over again… However, there are a bunch of Korean movies i do enjoy watching and have rewatched MANY times.
Personally, I dont feel like korean tv or movies are a good source of Study material for me Other than just for general listening and testing how much i understand …Theres just way to much that goes over my head and way to much happening in korean TV shows for me to properly “study” or focus on… I do pick up on stuff here and there watching tv or movies but I learn alot more just listening to a podcast than i would with TV… If were at a similar high speaking/listening level like ALEX I would probably find TV or movies alot more useful than they are to me now… I guess you might ask how is watching a tv show with a script different than listening a podcast with a script… I dont know =) It just seems to be 2 different kinds of inputs and Focusing on a podcast/radio show seems to help me alot more now than focusing on a tv show with actors, storylines , plots, characters , etc… I could try to focus on what they are saying but That just takes out the fun of watching the show =p. Thats just me though =). That’s not to say i dont enjoy watching korean movies/tv shows… =) Love watching them , just dont want to study them …
As for content That i can listen over and over again… I find that the Talk to me in Korean Iyagi series is great for repetition. THey have over 140 episodes And If you cue those up in your mp3 player set to Random playback and then Also import those lessons into Lingq to create lingqs … I feel like its almost impossible to get Bored of those ( at least for me) + theres enough variation in content matter… Unless you dont like the Host voices for some reason. I find Them easy to listen to… They also have a wealth of vocab. Perfect for my current level and current goals inregards to learning korean… It’s not like the Iyagi series is my only source of input. I do live in korea and have korean inlaws. Korean is all around me , on tv etc… More than enough input around me on top of the stuff I’m actively studying…
More importantly, Study what you find interesting…
@jamesduffy - Depends, I tend not to watch Korean dramas, but I really enjoy reading the transcripts.
I feel to a degree like I can create my own characters when reading the transcript, much in the same way that I had in my own mind what characters in The Hobbit looked and sounded like before seeing the movie or any movie posters. I find it to be a very enjoyable and fairly stress free experience. The current show I’m working through is 베토빈 바이러스. I find that I can read through a 10,000 word transcript in 5-6 hours, stopping regularly to check the dictionary for the definition of any word I don’t know. What I have noticed too is that it’s helped a lot in improving my reading speed in Korean, which still has a long ways to go.
@Keoro
Same problem here, I hate all korean/japanese drama,pank,talk-shows, but i need listening practise since i live not in korea and should have TOPIK(mmmm hate it)
And my biggest problem is dictionary, nowadays i watch korean dramas and tv shows and understand at least 70-80% of what is said, but suddenly when they start speaking officially i cant understand a word, all those sino-korean terms; scientific terms,medical terms etc…
And since most of korean words are sino originated I tryed to study hanja it helped me a lot (and it is not difficult) to increase my vocabulary but anyways not all korean books have hanja and hangeul same time, now practising with russian book for interpreters which have hanja and hangeul at the same time( basic 1200 hanjas) and most of the titles are political titles
Have you any advice to increase my vocabulary?
Second what map or navi programm will ye recommend which include all telephones,transport? I have an awful experience when i get lost in Seoul please help bud!
funnky Korean‘ fun(疯)means from crazy 疯狂