[Recap] 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards

Folllowing our hugely successful (? – Yes i’ll admit, the term “successful” might not be the best term here but i need something to boost my own ego) coverage of the 2011 KBS Entertainment Awards and the 2011 MBC Entertainment Awards, we return once again for coverage of the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards. Or that’s what should have happened in an ideal world. Unfortunately I took an arrow to the knee and wasn’t available to provide live coverage for the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards. 

Anyway that’s behind us now and there is work still to be done. Since we couldn’t provide live coverage for the awards, we will instead spend this time writing up a highlights article, going through some of the key awards and moments from the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards.

So without furter ado, here is our top picks from the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards.

1] The full list of winners.

Might as well start with this, here is the full list of winners from the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards. 

• Grand Award: Yoo Jae Suk (Running Man)
• Talk Shows – High Excellence Award: Lee Seung Gi (Strong Heart)
• Variety Shows – High Excellence Award: Kim Byung Man (Laws of the Jungle)
• Special Award: Kim Yuna (Kiss and Cry)
• High Excellence Award for All Programs: Running Man
• Excellence Award for Vareity Shows: Couple
• Excellence Award for Talk Shows: Strong Heart
• Producer’s Award: Lee Kyung Kyu (Star Junior Show)
• Netizen’s Choice, Most Popular Award: Lee Seung Gi (Strong Heart)
• Distinguished Services Award: Kim Byung Man’s Law of the Jungle
• Variety Shows – Excellence Award: Kim Jong Kook, Song Ji Hyo (Running Man)
• Talk Shows – Excellence Award: Jo Hye Ryun (Star Junior Show), Lee Teuk, Boom (Strong Heart)
• Variety Shows – Best Entertainer Award: Haha (Running Man), Yoo In Na (Heroes/Heroines), Park Joon Geum (Kiss and Cry)
• Talk Shows – Best Entertainer Award: Paeng Hyun Sook (Star Couple Show), Shin Dong, Jung Juri (Strong Heart)
• Scriptwriter’s Award: Park Hyun Sook (Running Man), Choi Kyung (SBS Special)
• Radio DJ Award: Choi Baek Ho (Choi Baek Ho’s Romantic Generation), Park So Hyun (Park So Hyun’s Love Game)
• Anouncer Award: Kim So Won (Miraculous Auditions)
• Comedy – Excellence Award: Son Min Hyuk, Hong Hyun Hee (Gag Tonight)
• Comedy – Rookie Award: Kang Jae Joon (Gag Tonight)
• Best Teamwork Award: Star Junior Show
• Best Couple Award: Choi Yong Rak, Paeng Hyun Sook (Star Couple Show)
• Variety Shows – Rookie Award: Lee Kwang Soo (Running Man)
• MC – Rookie Award: Han Hye Jin (Healing Camp)

And finished. And yes the list feels much longer when you have to type it all out, thank you for asking. To be honest, the theme for all the award cermonies this year seems to be “Lets try and make up as much catergories as possible so that everyone can get an award.” At least SBS had the decency of actually awarding the “Grand Award” to one of it’s pre-announced nominees unlike KBS nor did SBS decide to suddenly change the format so that the “Grand Award” is suddenly changed into a “Program of the Year” award to accomdate a specific program like MBC did. 

2] The various performances that weren’t about giving awards.

I was initially only going to talk about the opening performance involving IU and Shin Bong Sun, but i think it’s also worthwhile talking about all the other performances on the night. But first lets talk about the opening performance. IU is a very very busy girl right now, she seems to be everywhere at the moment. I always think it’s better to have performances during Entertainment Awards to have some sort of relation to the actual award ceremony, and IU’s opening performance initally seemed like it would just be a generic openining perforamance. Thankfully we had IU’s look-a-like (?) Shin Bong Sun come in during the later portion of IU’s performance to spruce it up a bit. Actually SBS could have probably gotten rid of IU’s performance and still have a cracking opening performance. Shin Bong Sun’s parody performance of “Trouble Maker” was great to watch. If i had to nitpick, then i would say her male partner was a bit characterless but Shin Bong Sun made up for it, so all was well.

Ok true, some of the performances did lean towards the freaky side of comedy

There was also Shin Dong, Jung Juri and Jo Jung Rin’s “So Cool” remake performance, the comedy skit from one of the “Gag Tonight” teams, Lee Teuk and Eun Hyuk’s interviews, Star Couple Show’s dance parade, The audition program parody where they combined clips together to judge the Entertainers and Haha – Kim Jong Kook’s performance. There was a great variety of performances to liven up what could have been a pretty dull award ceremony (Just watch the MBC Entertainment Awards if you want to see what a award ceremony that takes itself too seriously is like.)

If i was to go off a bit of tangent, i would say that SBS definately had the best presentation out of all the Entertainment Awards, which is suprising considering how badly they messed up the SBS Gayo Daejun (Song Festival) with their microphone issues etc. The SBS Entertainment Awards had the most variety in terms of performances, their actual awards were much better paced, the way they presented each award and the nominees were quite well done and the MCs were fairly experienced and interesting to watch. 

3] Running Man wins quite a formidible amount of awards.

Lets just go over the awards the Running Man won during the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards.

• Grand Award: Yoo Jae Suk (Running Man)
• High Excellence Award for All Programs: Running Man
• Variety Shows – Excellence Award: Kim Jong Kook, Song Ji Hyo (Running Man)
• Variety Shows – Best Entertainer Award: Haha (Running Man)
• Variety Shows – Rookie Award: Lee Kwang Soo (Running Man)

A total of 6 awards, with everyone except Ji Suk Jin and Gary (Poor guys) winning an award from the Running Man team. Like i mentioned in my [Soompi 2011] Variety Show Review – Revolutions, Controversies and Creaky Old Backs, 2011 really has been Running Man’s best year. It was somewhat expected they would win a smattering of awards during this year’s award ceremony but they really were one of the stars of the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards, so congratulations to the Running Man team. 

Running Man’s Jo Hyo Jin PD

Running Man’s Jo Hyo Jin PD also made a note of especially thanking the program’s oversea’s fans during his acceptance speech for the High Excellence Program Award, a nice touch i have to say.

“Strong Heart” also had a strong showing this year

This is not to say that “Runnning Man’ completely swept the awards, “Strong Heart” and “Law of the Jungle” also had a good showing at awards with a smattering of awards for each program and their members. Overall i think it’s hard to object to the fact that these 3 programs took up most of the awards this year, they were definately SBS’s strongest variety programs and the awards definately seemed to reflect that fact.

4] Lee Seung Gi and Kim Byung Man win the High Excellence Awards

After missing out on getting an award at the 2011 KBS Entertainment Awards, it was nice to see Kim Byung Man win the High Excellence Award here at the SBS Entertainment Awards. Kim Byung Man has being doing extremely well on SBS with his “Laws of the Jungle” program, which has been hugely popular with viewers. It was nice to see that SBS gave him enough time on stage to thank everyone he needed to thank without constantly telling him to hurry up, which occured a bit too many times during the award ceremonies. 

It’s sometimes hard to believe the strides Lee Seung Gi has made in the world of variety shows. From his fairly modest start on KBS “1 Night, 2 Days” to his current standings as one of the best entertainers around. This is his 2nd consequtive year winning the SBS High Excellence Award, winnining it in 2010 for his MC talent on “Strong Heart.” He has definately been put to the test this year, having to MC “Strong Heart” by himself for most of the year, but he has been able to adapt quickly and make the program his own. He definately deserved to win the award and could be in a good spot to even win the “Grand Award” next year if he maintains his quality standard. He also didn’t forget to mention Kang Ho Dong during his acceptance speech, “Kang Ho Dong, who had always reassuringly stood by my side. It was reassuring because he was always by my side and i never felt any sort of mental burden but his empty place is felt even more prominently at this moment. I really miss hearty laughter. I would like to say that I always want to see him and that i miss him.”

5] Yoo Jae Suk wins the Grand Award

2011 was starting to look like a disappointing year for Yoo Jae Suk, he had missed out on getting any awards at the 2011 KBS Entertainment Awards and he only managed to get a “High Excellence Award” during the 2011 MBC Entertainment Awards, which is disappointing considering how popular his MBC programs “Infinity Challenge” and “Come to Play” have been, not to mention he won the “Grand Award” at the 2010 MBC Entertainment Awards, so it was a noticeble downgrade despite the fact his programs were more popular in 2011 than 2010. However he was able to beat his other formidable nominees during the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards and win the prestigious “Grand Award.” He has been a key reason for the success of “Running Man” in 2011 and he deserved to win the award. 

We’ll finish off our highlights by translating his complete acceptance speech, you can be the one to judge his merits rather than us paraphasing what he said.

“Thank You, Thank You. I believe i have to be thankful towards a large amount of people for being able to win such a huge award. I got a huge award yesterday as well (2011 MBC Entertainment Awards), but today as well. Lee Kyung Kyu, who i respect, Lee Seung Gi, who i love as a younger colleague, Kim Byung Man, who i love as a younger colleague and to the many people that are here, i believe i have to really thank them. I can’t really think of what to say, to be honest, there is a lot of people to thank and a lot to say but when i come up here, i can’t really think of what to say. I hope you understand. First of all, perhaps if they are watching this on TV from home, my family, my parents, my parents-in-law and my wife, who i love, and my 2 year old (Son) Ji Ho, who is probably sleeping. I really want to say thank you to them. My close friend Kim Won Hee, Kim Yong Man, he is like a blood brother to me (Known him for) 20 years and Shin Bong Sun. I believe i have to be thankful towards a lot of people.”

“I’m also really thankful for Kim Jae Dong, he kept looking at me, so i couldn’t help but say something. Moreso than anything else, to be honest, up until early this year, ‘Running Man,’ due to a lot of reasons, i wasn’t really in a position to be winning this award and couldn’t even dream of it. To be honest, this is really joyful and can’t describe it with words. There is a wide variety of emotions. Moreso than anything else, the members that work on ‘Running Man’ together with me, Haha, Jong Kook, Ji Hyo, Kwang Soo, Big Nose Suk Jin and, to be honest, the members that were there just for the really difficult period and had to leave after doing nothing but suffer, Lizzy and Song Joong Ki. I would like to say thank you to them. And Gary, and i would like to say thank you to Gary. Also the staff members that produce Running Man, Jo Hyo Jin PD, Hyung Taek PD, “Grab by the Collar” PD and our numerous script writers. I would like to sincerely thank our production staff.”

“Moreso than anything else, the viewers that have loved Runnning Man up to this point, of course there is still a lot of days left and we still have to work hard to provide you with even more enjoyment but i would like to sincerely thank our viewers for believing in us and waiting for us. Truth be told, we had a lot of talk internally about the fate of “Running Man,” truth be told, during that period, Jo Hyo Jin PD mentioned it before but i also said we should just not care about the ratings and keeping moving on silently but personally i was really worried about what would happen week in and week out. Anyhow, for the staff that have endured through that period together with us and the Running Man members that worked together without once saying that they were exhausted, i would like to attribute all of this honor to them. I felt this once again, i don’t think i can do anything by myself. I think everything is possible because we work together.”

“Today really is a dream like moment for me. It has been mentioned a lot before me as well but truth be told, i’m a bit hesitant to say it because i think it might make him feel uncomfortable if i was to say it but i really want to say this. I talked to him recently and we talked about a bunch of stuff. At the end he told me something, ‘Jae Suk, move forward valliantly.’ This is what he told me. I really want to see you, just like you said, in 2012, i will move forward valliantly. I really really wish that we can be there together. Viewers, i would like to sincerely thank you again, thank you.”

And his final little message to his wife, Nah Kyung Eun. “Nah Kyung Eun, thank you and i love you.”

And a little dance to finish off the night.

And that ends our coverage of the 2011 Entertainment Award cermonies, we will hopefully be back the same time next year to do these coverages again. Until then, have a happy new year.