'Goblin' · 'Reply 1988' Marks 10 Years… Life Dramas Return in the Form of Variety Shows

“Dad!” As Ahn Jae-hong calls out to actor Kim Seong-kyun, the familiar greeting from back then echoes: “I’m really, truly so glad—so glad!” When the scene shifts, Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun recreate that signature moment when they turned the living-room drama into a sea of tears—then toss out a cheeky joke: “Let’s meet next time as a melodrama of romantic entanglements.”

Those are the magical moments delivered by tvN’s variety programs “Reply 1988 10th Anniversary” and “Goblin 10th Anniversary Travel”, planned to mark the shows’ 10th anniversary. In recent weeks, a strong “spin-off” craze has been sweeping through broadcast circles—reshaping past glory through a new variety-show language.

Enduring staying power forged in the OTT era, spanning generations

“Reply 1988”, which swept through South Korea in 2015 and had people in Ssangmun-dong obsessing, returned last December with a special two-night, one-day MT (moh-go-ji, or membership training/retreat). Stars including Hye-ri, Park Bo-gum, and Go Kyung-pyo reunited and performed songs from the original soundtrack (OST), aiming straight at fans’ emotions.

“Goblin” also celebrated its decade with Gong Yoo, Lee Dong-wook, and Yoo In-na traveling to Gangneung under lead actress Kim Go-eun. Behind the fact that a work’s explosive appeal remains valid even after 10 years is the online video service (OTT). In an environment where viewers can binge-watch anytime, their “life dramas” never stays stuck in the past—they breathe as something happening now.

On top of that are the narratives of the actors—shaped, too, by the physical passage of time over the decade. Watching a youthful child actor grow into a respectable lead and seeing the arc of how supporting roles solidify into mainstream fixtures gives fans an extra measure of catharsis. A tvN official analyzed, “Beyond simple box-office and ratings success, the strength of intellectual property rights (IP) that spans generations made this possible,” adding, “Solid storytelling and the close bond among the actors completed this miraculous reunion.”

The flip side of a guaranteed hit formula: a warning against complacent 'nostalgia-sell-outs'

From a broadcaster’s standpoint, a “spin-off variety show” built on a verified mega-hit is an alluring card that is hard to refuse. That’s because it can secure certain buzz by using a strong fandom as leverage, while also avoiding the costly development of new formats and the casting wars that come with them.

Riding this trend, KBS 2TV is also tinkering with producing a 10th-anniversary special variety show for “Love in the Moonlight”. With key cast members such as Park Bo-gum and Kim Yoo-jung moving into a positive review stage, expectations are being ratcheted up.

Still, experts don’t view it as uniformly rosy. Ha Jae-geun, a cultural critic, said, “At a time when survival competition between platforms is intense, the halo effect from a hit is a sweet temptation,” but he added, “A ‘cash-in’ style plan that leans only on the glory of the past—while turning away from finding innovative new variety concepts—will ultimately lead to a decline in content competitiveness.”

A perfect alignment of past and present—toward a new variety-show paradigm

Bringing back memories always makes the public’s hearts flutter. But for “spin-offs” to develop self-sustaining power as independent content beyond just a class reunion, it takes intense 고민 from the production team—misgivings that don’t rely solely on nostalgia. With “life works” returning to us again after 10 years, we hope they won’t be consumed as one-off events and will instead take root as an evolved content IP that can promise another decade ahead.