Mnet Confirms Reports That “Kingdom” Will Not Air This Year

[aures.livejournal.com]

After it was reported by Ilgan Sports that Mnet’s “Kingdom” will not be airing within the year, Mnet confirmed this to be true.

A source from Mnet stated to Hankook Ilbo, “It was a shame that we could only record ‘Road to Kingdom’ without an audience due to the prolongation of COVID-19. The producers are having discussions about showcasing ‘Kingdom’ with a different structure, and unfortunately, the show will no longer be part of this year’s lineup. In the second half of the year, we have ‘I-LAND‘ Part 2, ‘CAP-TEEN,’ and ‘Show Me the Money 9‘ prepared. Please show lots of interest [in these shows].”

“Kingdom” will be the follow-up program to “Road to Kingdom,” which involved a competition between boy groups PENTAGON, ONF, Golden Child, The Boyz, VERIVERY, ONEUS, and TOO. The Boyz, as the winner of “Road to Kingdom,” earned a ticket to compete on “Kingdom.” The rest of the lineup has yet to be confirmed.

Sources: soompi, Naver (1), Naver (2).

Comments

[suggestivepeach.livejournal.com]

Ngl I was very interested to see who would be in the lineup

[zhyvae.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the line-up will have to change, iirc some of the groups rumoured to be on the show have members who have to enlist this year or next

[hellicoptajuuce.livejournal.com]

There were rumours a while ago that MX and GOT7 were in the lineup pffft those 2 groups are huge internationally also as if MX would do another survival program when they absolutely hated theirs

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

but also got7 could really use the Korean publicity the show would give them

[giriboy.livejournal.com]

i feel the same if mx were casted for it! starship doesn’t capitalize with their stuff that interests the public & they definitely seem to be more of a middling group in korea, since they’ve had newer cbs without wins or higher charting positions

[aures.livejournal.com]

also, wouldn't it be slap in the face for the fans? i mean, the show was meant to give more spotlight to struggling groups/artists or those who needed a new start, both MX and G7 are doing well enough on their own

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Road to Kingdom, yes.
But Queendom had Mamamoo, who are neither struggling nor in need of a new start, and groups with a decent fanbase (Oh My Girl, Lovelyz) or hype (G IDLE), or who used to top charts (AOA, Bom). I don't think it would be a slap in the face - depending on the line up at least

[aures.livejournal.com]

that is right, but i did think it was more meant to give them more spotlight because they still hadn't reached their full potential yet? maybe i misunderstood
i still can't see a group like G7 or MX go on the show though unless mnet "forces" them

edit; yeah it was my mistake, i just always had this image of the show that it was more as a tool for groups to grow a larger fandom / get more spotlight

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

I'm not 100% familiar with those two groups, but I'm under the impression that they have a bigger international fandom than Korean fandom? They still have potential to grow there.
Also MNET needs someone popular (like Mamamoo) to draw interest in... so it's not inherently bad.

Who else were you thinking about for the line up? :)

[aures.livejournal.com]

absolutely agree with you, maybe i just got confused between RtK and Kingdom idk haha. I just felt like they were too big and busy for it (they could make more money doing other activities) but if they get invited and want to go i would LOVE to see it! it would be fun getting to know them better
it would be good for them both to get more korean fans, indeed, though.

i have absolutely no idea. i know teen top got invited but they rejected because they felt like the show didn't fit them, so that is one we can rule out

what line-up would you like to see? i would love to see ateez, astro, victon and maybe seventeen
i know they are too small still maybe but i would love it if they gave AB6IX or N.Flying an opportunity
there's also SF9 to consider, of course, but they all seem quite mature, i think they are up for enlistment soon?

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

They need to make it looser, with more focus on performances (from producing the remix to the actual day) and sharing tips among themselves for it to be interesting. But that's not the kind of shows MNET is known for lmao.

I wanted Golden Child to get on there so I've already lost 😂😂😂

Maybe Sungkyu as the legendary soloist? But that would bind him to the idol image, when his goal as a soloist was to be more indie. He would rock every aspect of the show, though, variety and performances alike.
Or if not him, someone from BEAST/Highlight?

I can see Ateez and Seventeen being the same roles as G IDLE and Mamamoo respectively. Would be interesting for sure.
I'm not familiar enough with Astro, Victon or AB6IX ;_;
Didn't N.Flying got a surprise hit last year or a little before? Aren't they a band too? It could be a veeeery nice alternative to more dance/performance oriented idol groups. (What if they have a rock collab with Sungkyu? shit lmao now I kinda want it XD)

What about Nu'est, if Seventeen can't? MNET was a huge push for them.

It's harder for me, I'm more familiar with girl groups lmao

[aures.livejournal.com]

oh yes sungkyu would be great and FUN, too

someone from highlight idk.. because of the whole burning son scandal it find it so hard to appreciate even the members still in the group, idk how i would feel about that

yes n.flying is a band and that's why it would be such a nice alternative, it could work in stead of a solo artist, it would be refreshing

nu'est could work, especially since they are not up for enlistment yet but do they really want to go on another show? i think they've had their fill perhaps

yeah same, i'm more of a gg fan, too

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Sungkyu would def. be my dream casting. Fantastic voice and charisma on stage, decent dancer, hilarious at variety, really ambitious and focused. If a soloist can win Kingdom, I think it's him. But I'm super biased lmao

Oh I'm not asking for Beast, I stopped being a fan long ago and Burning Sons also really turned me off (Junhyung was my bias back then...). But I can't really think of veterans groups who would have more reasons to take part in Kingdom as soloists (for Highlight, being military services and scandals).

WAIT I just thought about BTOB, shame on me 😂😂😂 They could send a soloist too, and really do well in singing, dancing AND being hilarious!

Super refreshing indeed. I'm rooting for N.Flying to be in the line up (if they want to).

Lol yeah poor Nuest, they had enough MNET elimination programs for a lifetime. But if Seventeen can't be in, I can see Pledis pushing Nuest instead, and also MNET requesting Nuest (after all, it worked well for them in Broduce too).

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Oh I didn't know Teen Top got invited to Kingdom.

SF9's oldest members are 93ers so I think they still have another year or so. Are 92 guys meant to enlist this year or next? I think there are still 92ers who haven't gone.

[aures.livejournal.com]

i can't remember anymore when they said it but it was in one of their vlogs or q&as i think

oh well if they won't air this year but next year it would be difficult for them still? it would be kinda sad if they participate and then immediately have to leave, that way they can't really make use of their win/success right?

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Idk, Pentagon had Jinho who's a 92er and they joined RtK anyhow although he ended up enlisting halfway. Anyway SF9 has a wide age range from 93 to 2000 so I can see them enlisting not all at the same time.

[aures.livejournal.com]

oh really? i didn't know that, they all looked so close in age to me that i figured most of them would enlist around the same time or within a 3 year timespan, in that case they could definitely give it a go if they want to

[adenar.livejournal.com]

I saw a comment elsewhere theorising that mnet have kind of caused a problem for themselves with Kingdom's casting by creating Road to Kingdom. It means that whoever you have on Kingdom has to be undoubtedly bigger/more successful than whoever was on RtK, but you'll also struggle to cast proper heavyweights i.e anyone from the big 3, anyone hovering slightly under that, which leaves you not exactly a whole lot of wriggle room, especially when mnet's had a lot of controversies lately and companies might need a bit more offered to them to agree to do the show. I don't really know boy groups very well but I would've thought Pentagon would be the kind of group you'd cast on the main show, not the 'struggling groups getting a chance' show. I know they've technically never won a music show but I think mnet's going to run into problems really quickly with that rule if they want to keep this franchise running

[aures.livejournal.com]

didn't Seolhyun say that AOA also got forced into it? she said most of the groups looked like they didn't want to be there
how awful that must be~ the power these broadcast stations have is surreal

[aures.livejournal.com]

i tried to find the original article, but i couldn't find it so quickly but i did find this tweet about it https://twitter.com/ch0sshi/status/1175249453093199873

i know ~a tweet~ is nothing legit but she did say it honestly

[giriboy.livejournal.com]

> Weren't the scores partially decided by fan votes?
they were! but from what i can remember, outside of the final, they weren’t a lot of fan votes, anyway. it was 6 members from each group on rtk that voted + 20 or so fans for most of the show and i don’t think those fans had as much of an impact on scores as the groups. the boyz + ptg were both “higher billed” and for most the show they were in the top 3 spots

what killed ptg’s momentum on rtk, imo, was that they never did anything different (aside from their shine / spring snow medley and that didn’t go well with the show’s concept). and i think they’re basically indistinguishable from a lot of groups of their tier without e’dawn, since he was their face to the public but also their most distinctive rapper

[giriboy.livejournal.com]

both hui and e'dawn did shine + naughty boy but also, both of those songs were definitely more in e'dawn's image / style. ptg's image was really modelled after him and i'm still disappointed (bitter, lbr) that he was kicked out. i think pentagon could've done fine w/o him but their first few comebacks were still in that bright / nerdy image and they changed it up too late, imo

winner lost me as a fan but yeah, i totally get that sentiment. cube seems to have a problem with distributing their members talents well

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

Yep PTG/Cube pushed them into doing concepts that while probably suited them personally didn't make them stand out at all and it's hard to be a group out for so long to pick up new fans doing the same things the newer younger groups are doing.

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

I think another thing, and MNET won't admit to it, is most of the groups that do fit that description are part of agencies who don't fuck with MNET anymore.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Having different groups (all active with different schedules, though currently limited) with different managing teams on the same show sounds like a logistic nightmare during covid, how can you test everyone? I'm not surprised they pushed it back. I'm surprised that they were able to keep filming, actually. I guess the I-Land kids are stuck to one place while they're filming, and handling individuals for SMTM is less of a nightmare.

I'm curious at how the line up will be, and if any group bound to appear this year won't in 2021 because of military services.

Also, obligatory when will be the 2nd season of Queendom at this rate? 2022? TT If they even plan to have a second season?

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Also if Kingdom happens, I hope it doesn't have eliminations, like during Queendom. Let the groups interracts and focus on the performances, instead of worrying about being out next episode...

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

queendom actually supposed to have elimination for artist who ranked last twice or something like that. but ofc, predictably, no one ranked last twice.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Oh my, the "elimination" was so unimportant in the end that I erased it from my memory lmao
Thanks for correcting me!

[juhli.livejournal.com]

Just turn it around and do a show with all the 2nd gen boygroups and new returnees from military service

[aures.livejournal.com]

i would love this so much

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

INFINITE!!

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

That's legit what they should do. Kingdom should be be groups trying to reclaim their thrown.

[yuwkon.livejournal.com]

ia! will make it sense to the title of the show

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

It would even work with The Boyz being included, they can see it as mentorship.

[thebloomroom.livejournal.com]

Yessss lmao

[aeries-amethyst.livejournal.com]

I could rock with this idea.

[yuwkon.livejournal.com]

just give us queendom pls

[veep-throat.livejournal.com]

GOOD I DONT WANT IT TO EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY!

omg if my faves go on it next year though ugh

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

MNETs fucked themselves over with their own shenanigans so any group that could be on there as a way to showboat or stay in top form during the pandemic won't fuck with them and will find other ways to keep themselves in the public eye. The list of people who could participate is long but the ones that want to is not.

[thebloomroom.livejournal.com]

Fuck mnet

[myungung.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't care about Kingdom as much as Queendom because I don't follow that many BGs, but I don't see them getting the big names they teased (BTS, EXO, GOT7, MX, Seventeen) in the video for RTK. Maybe MX, SF9 and Nu'est might get in, but then it'll be hard to define successful because you won't get any top tier groups during COVID for sure.