After nearly 20 years, Meet at the Weekend suddenly announced its return from March 2025, airing every Saturday night. This was a once-popular show, associated with the names of artists such as Tu Long, Xuan Bac, Quang Thang, Van Dung, Huong Tuoi... This time, in addition to familiar faces, the show also brings together young actors such as Do Duy Nam, Duy Hung... to bring something new to viewers.

The return of Meet at the Weekend shows an effort to innovate to meet the tastes of the audience. In particular, the program also increases interaction with viewers on the digital platform, when people can send their situations and stories for the crew to turn into skits. However, this "old bottle" has not created a buzz, and many people even reacted because of many limitations such as exaggerated acting, a spread-out script, and not attractive enough exploitation of the topic...

PHOTO: Manufacturer

Same situation, Dancing with the Stars returned after 8 years but could not create a breakthrough in the current game show market. In this comeback, the organizers made many changes to the format to increase competition between the players, while also exploiting more of the story behind a performance with emotional details or disagreements between female artists and their dance partners. Not to mention, the organizers also took the trouble to invite Korean beauties to compete, but unfortunately, they could not "save" the program from the competition of other famous game shows .

Solo and Bolero also encountered a similar situation when meeting the audience after 2 years of absence. The program that made the names of artists such as Lam Ngoc Hoa, Thu Hang, To My, Ngoc Phung... could not maintain its attractiveness when returning, despite gathering famous faces in the hot seat such as famous singers Phuong Dung, Ngoc Son, and singer Quang Le.

Meanwhile, even though Vietnam Idol was able to convince My Tam to sit in the hot seat, it still failed to attract attention when it returned. The show even had many controversies about the results, while the champion had not yet made a breakthrough after a year of leaving this music scene.

Opportunities come with challenges

Media expert Le Anh Tu believes that many "once-famous" programs return because producers see the mark of that program in the audience's memory. However, innovation is necessary because, according to him: "Old programs have potential vitality, but somewhere there must be a shadow of innovation, they cannot remain the same. From the crew, the staging or the plot, there must be innovation to attract viewers."

PHOTO: Manufacturer

With experience in producing television programs, director Vu Thanh Vinh believes that audience tastes always change over time, and if producers only follow the old path, it will be difficult to create something new and attractive for a program that viewers are already too familiar with.

Mr. Le Anh Tu assessed that the advantage of the old program is that it has a large audience, making it easy to attract attention when it returns if it does well. However, along with that, the producer also faces many challenges in retaining the old audience, while expanding the new audience. "Typically, with young audiences, how do we convince them when the reception method is no longer traditional television," Mr. Tu stated his opinion.

Human resources are still the issue that producers need to focus on when reviving old game shows. The appeal of the judges is undeniable, but they are not the deciding factor in the success of the program. Instead, contestants who are diverse and know how to make an impression will also contribute significantly to bringing the game show to viewers.

Discussing this story, director Vu Thanh Vinh commented: "There are programs that stop because there are no contestant resources and also have to take a break to do something new. Typically, with Laughter Across Vietnam , I also had to stop for a while to find good human resources, because if it is not done well, the quality will go down."

According to expert Le Anh Tu, the competition between current television programs is not small. "For producers of old programs, it is necessary to balance and consider whether to target the old audience or take risks to open up new audiences. We need to innovate, the format harmonizes the old, but the pieces must follow the trend, mention new phenomena and have communication campaigns to spread more," he shared.