You're going to need a new obsession in a week anyway.

November 3, 2016 2:50 AM

Society Game is a TV show similar to Survivor, but smarter, funnier and Korean. Twenty-two people are divided into two societies. One elects a leader by secret ballot, the other installs theirs via popular revolt. The two societies compete daily in a head-to-head challenge: the leader of the winning team gets to distribute prize money; the leader of the losing team must select a member to eliminate. From the same production team behind The Genius. Here are some preview clips, and here's an interview with the charismatic cast.

Here's the subber's Twitter, for updates on new episodes. We're currently two episodes in, and thus I'd propose that any spoiler-y discussion be staggered by two episodes (i.e. only discussing spoilers for episode 1 after episode 3 is released). If there's enough interest, we've been given the all-clear to start a thread for the show in FanFare Talk.

posted by Panthalassa (13 comments total)

Here's a video featuring the reaction of some The Genius cast members, invited to a special preview event.

(Personally, I think Hyunmin is right to worry about it being more fun than The Genius!)
posted by Panthalassa at 3:30 AM on November 3, 2016

Can't wait to catch up this weekend, as a big Genius fan.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:04 AM on November 3, 2016

Up next on Big Brother 15: You don't believe the twist that these researchers from Stanford are going to introduce!

And be sure to tune in next week. Our very own Dr. Milgram will be making a house call.
posted by schmod at 5:10 AM on November 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

One of the things I really love about this show as opposed to Survivor or Big Brother is that an equal amount of time is given over to just showing the cast goofing off and having a fun, genuinely positive time with each other as it is tapping into those underground currents of drama and intrigue. I really think it makes the crucial moments hit that much harder.
posted by Panthalassa at 5:18 AM on November 3, 2016

OMG I'm excited to see this posted because I loved The Genius and was sad when the last season was, well, the last season. I started Society Game just because it came from the same production team and although I still don't think it's at the caliber of The Genius, I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

I'd totally be down for discussing this show elsewhere because I want to be "OMG that [spoiler redacted]!"

(The chicken, though.)

Bumdidlyumptious also subbed jtbc's Crime Scene which is excellent, if you like to pretend you're an amateur sleuth due to reading too many mystery novels, and I have my fingers crossed for a third season.
posted by paisley sheep at 5:53 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

You're going to need a new obsession in a week anyway.

It's not going to be that easy.
posted by pracowity at 6:05 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'd totally be down for discussing this show elsewhere because I want to be "OMG that [spoiler redacted]!"

Hmm yeah, maybe I could make that FanFare talk post and it could be for spoiler discussion? And this post could be kept relatively clean.

The chicken, though.

Ohhhhhhhhh ho ho ho ho, the chicken.
posted by Panthalassa at 6:06 AM on November 3, 2016

That robotic moderator/announcer voice combined with the game competition format reminds me of Zero from Zero Escape. Hopefully this ends better for them.
posted by thefoxgod at 2:32 PM on November 3, 2016

Oh boy! I'm really looking forward to this.

I started Crime Scene but it didn't draw me in... does it take a bit to get going?
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:25 PM on November 3, 2016

@BlackLeotardFront: The first two episodes of Crime Scene they give over to one case, so it's a bit slow going; lots of fans complained and they pared it down to one case per episode, which is much better viewing.
posted by Panthalassa at 4:47 PM on November 3, 2016

Why not just start a fanfare anyway? It's not like they cost money.
posted by bleep at 5:55 PM on November 3, 2016

I enjoyed The Genius a lot so I got pretty excited when I heard about this show. It's surprisingly similar too, with the balance of street smarts, hidden alliances and loyalty. The difference is that there's an outright leadership role now and the power dynamics of maintaining that role and projecting a sense of fairness while silently dividing the group up.

I thought it really clever in how the two villages chose their leaders differently. It adds a nice behavioural twist to it -- already there was a pattern in how the two villages were formed.

(That [redacted] was efficient with the chicken did not surprise me.)
posted by tksh at 3:59 PM on November 5, 2016

FanFare Talk thread
posted by Panthalassa at 5:18 PM on November 6, 2016