The Genius (TV series)

The Genius
Genre Reality
Developed by A9 Media
Country of origin South Korea
Original language(s) Korean
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 48 (as of September 12, 2015)
Production
Producer(s) Jung Jong-yeon
Running time 60–90 minutes
Release
Original network tvN
Original release April 26, 2013 (2013-04-26) – present
External links
Official website

The Genius (Korean: 더 지니어스, aka 'The Genius Game') is a South Korean reality show broadcasting on cable channel tvN. The first season began airing on April 26, 2013. The show proved to be a hit for tvN and was subsequently, three other seasons were aired. Each season consists of 12 episodes with 13 contestants. One player will be eliminated in every episode, and the final player left standing will be named the champion of the season.

Format

The Genius brings together 13 contestants from various sectors to compete for the top spot in rounds involving various games. Every episode, a contestant is eliminated following a main match and a death match. The Main Match is a game that all the players will have to play in order to win, and the Death Match is only played by the elimination candidates. The winner(s) of the main match will gain a token of life as assurance to proceed to the next round, and in some cases, receives an additional token of life to give to another player. The worst performer in the main match (or by specific criteria) is automatically sent to the death match, and is allowed to choose their opponent. However, they cannot choose a person with a token of life.

Beside the token of life, the winner of the main match will also gain a quantity of red garnets. Each garnet is worth 1,000,000 won (approximately US$1,000). In the final episode, only the champion's total garnets are exchanged for real money. Garnets are transferable and may be gained within the game. However, all forms of theft and violence are disallowed (as of Season 3). Because the show requires sharp thinking to win, every game is expected to be riddled with thrill and shock and is filled with loopholes for the players to exploit. Each contestant must figure out both the rules of the game and its secrets, and how they can win as quickly as possible. Players may join forces with others, betray them or simply eliminate their competitors, to either create either a "beautiful defeat" or an "ugly victory".

Contestants are encouraged to use every means to survive. The 13 geniuses continue to get to the end of the game in order to grab the great prize money, and in the process, build their own characters.[1]

Seasons

The Genius: Rules of the Game

The Genius: Rule Breaker

The Genius: Black Garnet

The Genius: Grand Final

Plagiarism controversies

The Genius was accused of plagiarizing the Japanese manga and drama series Liar Game.[2]

Such plagiarisms included the game, Zombie Game (played in Season 1, Episode 4), where it 'greatly resembled' the Liar Game's 'Angels and Demons Game' and was accused of plagiarizing it.[3] It has also been accused of plagiarizing some games from Kaiji.[4]

In 2014, tvN broadcast a remake drama of the Liar Game. However it was mentioned that The Genius production crew did not hold any copyrights of the Liar Game[5][6][7] and that the original copyright lies with Apollo Pictures and Fantagio.

This has sparked even more accusations from fans from the Liar Game fans in Korea and it has been requested for an explanation and apology from The Genius production crew.[8]

Later in an interview, it was said by The Genius' Main Producer that the concept of the show was merely inspired by Liar Game, quoting "(it was) reference, and not plagiarism" upon being stated of plagiarizing Liar Game. It has also been further mentioned by The Genius' Main Producer that "'All the games were designed ourselves (our production crew). We have never plagiarized anything (from the Liar Game) so far.", further denying the controversies raised. [4] [9] No further details were disclosed with the accusations of the Zombie Game. The fans from the Liar Game were not happy with this response and is currently still demanding an apology.[5][10][11]

International broadcast

CJ E&M has sold the The Genius copyright to the Netherlands, France and United Kingdom.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "tvN′s ′The Genius′, Featuring Infinite′s Sung Kyu, Kim Gura and More, Unveils Its Story". Retrieved 2015-01-02.
  2. ↑ 더 지니어스 고발 영상 - 라이어 게임 표절 - YouTube (Korean)
  3. ↑ The Genius Zombie Game, Liar Game Angels and Demons Game Plagiarism (EN, JP, KR 3 sub) - YouTube
  4. 1 2 '더 지니어스', 日 '라이어게임' 표절 의혹…tvN "참고했지만 달라" - TV report (Korean)
  5. 1 2 ‘더지니어스3’, ‘라이어게임’과 불편하지 않은 동거 가능할까 - MBN (Korean)
  6. ↑ ‘라이어 게임’ PD “원작 판권, 제작사가 모두 보유한 상태” - Sports Donga (Korean)
  7. ↑ 믿고 보는 케이블 드라마, 줄줄이 새 시즌 준비…볼거리 풍성 - Sports Donga (Korean)
  8. ↑ 더 지니어스/표절 논란 - Namu Wiki (Korean)
  9. ↑ '더지니어스3'PD "'라이어게임' 표절논란? 참고했지만 베끼지 않아" - My Daily (Korean)
  10. ↑ 표절이라는 건지 아니라는 건지 - 한겨례 (Korean)
  11. ↑ '더 지니어스', 예능에 버무려진 '처세술'의 향연 (Korean)
  12. ↑ '더지니어스', 네덜란드·프랑스 이어 영국에 포맷 수출 '韓 콘텐츠 위상↑' - TV Daily (Korean)

External links

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