'Crime Scene' variety show is back with more bells and whistles after seven years

Korea's hit variety show "Crime Scene" returns for a fourth season on streaming service Tving, featuring an expanded set and story while maintaining its investigative mystery format.

A scene from the upcoming fourth season of the variety show “Crime Scene” series “Crime Scene Returns,” featuring An Yu-jin of girl group IVE [TVING]

Korea’s hit variety show “Crime Scene” is coming back with a fourth season and will be moving from cable broadcaster JTBC to streaming service Tving in order to reach more new fans.

“Moving to a streaming service has allowed us to have more financial freedom, so the scale of the set and the story have been enlarged,” Yun Hyun-joon, the creator and head producer of the show since its first season in 2014, said during a group interview with reporters on Wednesday. “As shown in the teaser for ‘Crime Scene Returns,’ the set of the first episode features a life-size airplane, and the story also matches in magnitude.”

“Crime Scene Returns” is the series' first comeback in seven years, after the third season ended in 2017. The first three seasons of the series aired on cable broadcaster JTBC. The third season reached a peak 1.9 percent rating in May 2017, an exceptionally high score for a cable network show, and the series has since garnered a cult following and fan base. The first three episodes of the new season will be released on Tving on Friday.

Each season involves a crime scene mockup of a murder scene, installed in a stage area, with hints and evidence placed in and around the set. Cast members of the show must investigate the clues and partake in “case briefings” given by the producers that include summaries of the events that happened before the murder, and string together information to find out who committed the crime out of a list of suspects.

Producer Yun Hyun-joon [TVING]

“It was a difficult decision to return for the first time in seven years with ‘Crime Scene Returns,’” Yun said. “We wondered if returning would not just end up disappointing fans and muddying the image of the show that the past seasons had built on. But so many people wanted to work together on a new season, and we had new ideas for the story, so it made sense to come back.”

Returning on a streaming platform — Tving — has allowed the show to expand and for the show to feature higher quality set pieces such as more realistic-looking props, Yun said.

“One of the signature traits of the ‘Crime Scene’ series was its deliberate tackiness when it came to the set and props, but with an enlarged budget and more creative freedom we could splurge on those elements,” Yun said.

Making “Crime Scene Returns” with the idea of releasing it on Tving also allowed the producer to stop worrying about whether the show was too fast-paced in showing the clues and evidence involved in the mystery case.

“When we were making the show for cable, we had to consider whether the pace was too fast for the audience and whether we should allot more time before showing hints that would be important later on,” Yun said. “But with the decision for ‘Crime Scene Returns’ to be shown on Tving, we could forgo those worries because the merits and advantage of a show being released on a streaming service is that viewers can always stop, rewind and replay the scenes whenever they want.”

A scene from ″Crime Scene Returns″ [TVING]

Half of the cast members from the previous seasons of “Crime Scene” have returned for the fourth season: broadcaster Park Ji-yoon, film director Jang Jin and comedian Jang Dong-min. Three completely new members have been added: Key of boy band SHINee, actor and comedian Joo Hyun-young and An Yu-jin from girl group IVE.

“The chemistry and collaboration between the original members and the newly added members are very good, more than we had expected,” Yun said. “Key is an all-rounder in that he is very smart, alert to all the clues and incredibly talented. Joo initially had some reservations because she thought that her personality wasn’t fit for an investigative variety show like this, but she performed really well and showed great acting. An is confident beyond her age and also added a lot of color to this season.”

Although Yun couldn’t disclose any more information about “Crime Scene Returns” due to the nature of an investigative variety show, he promised that fans new and old will be satisfied with the new season.

“When you watch the new season you will know, is all I can say,” Yun said. “I hope that this fourth season will lend to even greater success so that we can continue the series and perhaps even have commentary spin-offs on ‘Crime Scene.’”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]