Recommended: Family Outing

Now this is television. I watched around eighty episodes in a little over three weeks, sometimes even watching four ninety-minute episodes a day. Such was the hold it had on me, I found myself waking up really early when my internet connection is better, so I could download it faster. It even got to the point where I was starting to forget my Japanese as I found myself making simple errors at one lesson, having watched nothing but Family Outing for the previous couple of days.

While most reality shows rely on conflict to keep viewers interested, this uses friendship and rivalries to keep you watching. Each member of the band of celebrities had something to bring to the show, and the guests were always included in the banter and never left out.

The bonds between them were genuine, and that added to the enjoyment. I recently read that when they filmed the final episode for Park Ye-jin and Lee Chun-Hee, Dae-sung decided to miss a promotional visit to Japan with Big Bang (btw, number 12 in the US iTunes chart, at the time of writing) so he could be there to say goodbye.

Trying to pick a favourite episode is impossible, as each one has its own classic moments. I was very sad when I watched episode 85, and there were no more left (I won’t be watching the second series in case it’s so bad it ruins the first) so I think I’ll give myself a week or so to recover, and then start again from episode one.