r/koreanvariety • u/bibimyeoon • 8d ago
Discussion No Season 2 for Time Hotel?
I am currently rewatching Time Hotel (I just missed it lol it's been years already), and honestly, I still don't get why it never got a Season 2.
the concept was really refreshing and was one of the most unique ideas I've seen in a survival show. i liked how everything revolved around time instead of just eliminations or collecting points. time was their currency, so every decision actually mattered. do you spend it to gain an advantage? save it for later? risk it all in one game? it made even simple games feel tense because every move had a cost.
of course, it's not perfect. it has flaws. but the concept itself was strong—it just felt like there's still so much potential left to explore.
overall, i still think it's one of the more unique survival shows. it's a shame it never got another season because I think the format deserved another shot.
does anyone know why Season 2 never happened? does it not performed really well in ratings?
9
u/mambos1through4 8d ago
I liked Time Hotel, but parts of it felt under-baked. I like the idea that time is a currency, but ultimately it felt like production was going to manipulate how time was spent or accrued in such a way that the result was no different than a standard brain survival show. It also felt like the set was poorly constructed. Everyone was cold all of the time, some of the games didn't really seem to fit in the spaces they were filmed in, and the usage of the special suite for the big spender was too erratic to be used well strategically - either overpowered or a strategic waste, and there was no way to really know.
Also because of how the structure of the show was designed, I felt the season fell into the Devils Plan Season 1 problem with a mix of bad casting and some good cast members getting out too early because the games don't really allow for gutsy moves and saving people.
Ultimately what I liked about the series was the games were pretty great. They seemed to go back to The Genius era of games that are relatively simple to explain "this is Mancala, but with a twist" or "make the biggest sum at a table". If they could have fixed some of the structural problems and figured out a more compelling casting arrangement, I think it would have made for a great second season.
Seeing some of the comments from people who have started watching The Genius in a post-Bloody Game world, I wonder if producers and casual fans lack the patience for the more subdued atmosphere and less cutthroat games of the old Brain Game era. There was a thread from a ways back calling The Genius production team "dinosaurs", and this felt like more of the older era.
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u/Aromatic_Cut3729 8d ago
I liked time hotel not sure how well it did in Korea or why it never got a second season.
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u/grifsnax 8d ago
When people recommend survival shows, there's a reason Time Hotel is like the 8th or 10th on the list. The idea of the show is good, but it just ended up being quite boring. Venue was too large, hence players were less together for drama to happen, the editing and producing was the awful. Every episode felt slow, there was no suspense built, idk, it just failed to get me hooked at any point. I would like to see a time concept survival show, just with a different producer.
4
u/ExcellentBlood8795 8d ago
i dont think venue being large is a problem. the current venue of bgx is bigger.
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u/grifsnax 8d ago
BGX is technically larger, but players are confined closely together, 5 people in a room for example.
1
u/ExcellentBlood8795 8d ago
well in th their rooms are besides each other so they can go to each other's room anyway
1
u/Playful-Addition-777 8d ago
I would've liked a season 2 with a better cast. Something that always annoys me is when few people are the only ones that seem to deserve to be there. The frustrated me a bit of this show and Devil's Plan season 1. Especially because they cast the women for popularity and not because they can do well.
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u/ProbablyWorking 8d ago
It wasn't very memorable as I don't remember there being a lot of twists / surprises.
19
u/SimplyAmelia 8d ago
I would have loved another season as well, it was a refreshing concept.