Minor spoilers for the show EXO Next Door (END for short)! But I mean, there's nothing I mention that would particularly hurt your viewing experience if you plan on watching or have not watched the show yet (in which case, let me tell you, it's only 16 episodes but because it's a web drama, the episodes are way shorter than your average k-drama (15 minutes, what a steal). So if you're looking for something short and sweet to watch regardless of whether you're an EXO-L or not, you could give this a shot but be warned that it's kind of cliched and the kind of show you watch with your brain shut off, in order to have the best viewing experience. After that, you can write a blog about it years later, complaining about things you didn't realise before, cheers!)

EXO Next Door, a show that at one point divided EXO-Ls all over the world.

Some hated it (for valid reason) and some loved it (again, for valid reason).

Regardless, it was an iconic era for the boy group.

I personally, though no one asked, fall into the latter category but out of pure nostalgia. Looking back, it was pretty badly executed.

Snubbing EXO-M, sending away Kai (in the show), making a plot device out of him and Suho (poor things), advertising the show to be about Baek, Sehun, Chanyeol and D.O but making it just about the latter two, pitting the aforementioned latter against each other instead of having them talk things out, these are pretty much all the crimes END committed that make it hard to love the show for reasons aside from nostalgia and the barely developed yet cute chemistry between Chanyeol and Moon Gayoung (Who's True Beauty? I only know EXO Next Door.)

So, imagine a show that wasn’t basically Chanyeol and Friends, but rather actually EXO Next Door.

Imagine a sitcom that does the title justice.

That's the plan at least.

So this is what reminiscing about the good old days is like (*gags in old*). No joke tho, END was the real catalyst that got me into EXO, otherwise I probably would have been stuck listening to Hey Mama on repeat for the rest of eternity (because I discovered EXO-CBX before the full group thanks to YouTube).

I went into the show expecting to get some fun EXO content, even though I knew EXO no longer had 12 members by the time I started watching it. Instead, I got some heavy Chanyeol content (which I mean was great, don't get me wrong, in fact END was what converted me from a Baekhyun and Xiumin biased stan to a Chanyeol stan and I thoroughly enjoyed all the focused content) but I couldn't help feeling like I was being cheated of content about the rest of the members, especially the ones that I was initially familiar with as a new fan. (I was robbed of Chen and Xiumin content as a CBX fan.)

In retrospect, the show was obviously pure fan service so it was stupid of them to focus solely like I mentioned earlier, on 2/6th of EXO-K, and then pretend like it was about 4/6th because apparently that's better than giving fans OT12 content.

It got me thinking that if the producers wanted to do fan service so badly (plus conveniently avoid any kiss scenes because ThEy'Re BoYfRiEnD iDoLs and hence that may have caused a bit of a ruckus amongst some fans, which although is a messed up concept in the first place because they're just acting, is just an example of producers wanting to be better safe than sorry, so eh, whatever.), they could have just made a sitcom where each member got his own episode.

The episodes could be about anything, something as silly as breaking someone's toy car and worrying about the consequences or something a bit more serious like the stress of having sasaengs etc. Given how the target market is painfully obvious from the get go, it doesn't matter what content comes out as long as fans get to see EXO in all their glory.

I get that scheduling for the show could have been a problem here because k-pop idols often have their nose to the grinding stone but since each member gets their own episode, not everyone else needs to be present all the time, making for an easier schedule for those really busy on particular days or for those who finished their episodes early.

They're idols in the show too, just make up a valid reason and then gloss over it, simple. Evidently, the makers could explain away Kai and Suho's absence in the show by sending one to see his family and having the other one get his leg injured (istg they did Suho so dirty), so it wouldn't be hard to come up with actually reasonable excuses like a photo shoot or getting lunch with colleagues.

And if you really, really wanted a love plotline, sprinkle some spice in the middle of the episodes. For example, in Luhan's episode, let's say, he's playing football with Xiumin or doing something typical for him, and Suho walks in to gossip about Chanyeol's love life.

And this is just off the top of my head, imagine actual writers who write shows for a living coming up with simple episodes that would give the fans what they want and potentially more if they consulted the members and asked them if they have any requests for their episodes.

So yeah that's how I got here...with the hopes of improving on a prospect that had so much potential. *sigh* The beauty of sitcoms is that they’re unbelievably flexible too, you can walk into any episode completely unaware of what the show is about and still walk away from it amused.

Think So Not Worth It, the recent Korean sitcom on Netflix or for an even more simpler example, think Friends, the ultimate example of what a good sitcom can be like.

With my version of END, I intend on just writing unrealistic, fictional yet fun little tidbits from the lives of the boys in this alternate universe where Chanyeol uproots his group members to come to his grandfather’s house.

Unrealistic because well, k-pop idols in real life especially ones still in the beginning of their careers (as EXO were in 2015, having debuted only two years before that) don’t really have the time to be indulging in having fun unless they’re on a variety show, fictional because as bittersweet as it is, EXO no longer consists of 12 members, and so in this rendition of END we’re going to pretend like that didn’t happen, and fun because I think we deserve it, plus I’m a writer, humour me please.

TL; DR:

• Going to attempt re-writing END as a sitcom where all the members get an episode to shine, and btw the makers of END are a bit dense.
• So Not Worth It on Netflix kind of vibes but with the lovely boys of EXO, all twelve of them because let’s pretend for a moment that SM didn’t mess up, shall we?
• Also, similar to most sitcoms, there’s no real ‘sense of time’ per say, these are just random moments from the characters’ lives.
• But because we’re talking OT12, you might see things like, let's say, Kris talking to Suho about his EP Self-Portrait when in reality, Kris and Luhan had already left SM by then, or an OT12 comeback, just for fun. Cool? Cool.

I don't really know when this will come out (or knowing me, if it ever will) but I have episode outlines already done so it's only a matter of motivation and trying to figure out the format of the story. If y'all have any suggestions or thoughts about this bizarre little blog/my sitcom idea, please do let me know. in the comments. Or if you've watched the show, let me know how you felt about it, I kind of wanna hear other people's opinions on this show because I've seen some ranging from 'this is stupid' to 'aww, this is adorable', so naturally, I'm curious.

Either way, I would love to hear your thoughts, see you when I see you! <33

-MK