Kingdom is the most anticipated show of Mnet. According to latest reports, Mnet has confirmed that the show Kingdom will not be aired in 2020. The channel also stated that it is preparing competition programs like 'I-Land Part.2', 'Captain', and 'Show Me The Money 9' for the second part of 2020.
"There were many disappointing aspects of 'Road To Kingdom' as we were forced to carry out the show without an audience due to COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, 'Kingdom' has been pushed back and set aside from this year's upcoming programs," stated Mnet.
Earlier, an exclusive report from Ilgan Sports publication had stated that Kingdom will not be aired in 2020. Allkpop too had reported that the discussions around 'Kingdom' just suddenly stopped happening. It looks like they came to the conclusion that it will be difficult within the year.
There are three major reasons why experts think the Kingdom show has been canceled and will not be broadcast this year. Kingdom is the boy group version of the successful show Queendom, which was a huge hit last year.
Secrecy: Boon Turns Into Bane
As a precursor to Kingdom, Mnet organized the show Road To Kingdom, where seven boy groups fought for the title and the Kpop group The Boyz was announced as the winners. The group got a direct ticket to participate in the show Kingdom, while other lineups for the show were kept a secret.
Secrecy was the main tool to increase people's curiosity about the Kingdom show. But the same factor turned out to be a bane as keeping the secret became a problem while fixing the lineups. The production has been trying to keep the lineup away from the media and people, ending up with casting undergoing drastic changes repeatedly.
"Too" Much of Favoritism?
Mnet was accused of favoring the boy group TOO during the Road To Kingdom show. TOO was a new group that had not even debuted but was made to compete against groups like PENTAGON who have been in the Kpop field for at least five years.
Apart from TOO, the South Korean entertainment and mass media company CJ ENM, which was responsible for the Road to Kingdom show, was accused of favoring the groups that were funded by the company. TOO members too agreed that the show Road To Kingdom helped them gain publicity even before their debut.
No Match to Queendom
The show Queendom aired on Mnet from August 29 to October 31 in 2019. The show was designed as a comeback battle between six girl groups trending at that time. The competition was to decide the real number one group by releasing their singles at the same time. The girl group MAMAMOO took the crown at the end of the show and Oh My Girl was announced the runners up.
Queendom was a huge success not only among the fans of the groups taking part in the show but also the Korean public showed their support. However, this was not the case for Road To Kingdom. The show was loved by the fans of the seven boy groups that took part in the show, but it did not get much attention from the public. It is said that this is also one of the reasons why Mnet is not sure about rushing to broadcast the Kingdom show in 2020.
