"Hello everyone, and welcome to the very first episode of Media Play!" The episode dives right in on a brightly smiling Taeyeon, standing center stage and holding up a microphone boldly emblazoned with the name of the show.

"In this show, we're going to meet eighteen young idols, nine male and nine female, who haven't quite had a chance to shine in an industry that's over saturated and often biased towards those groups with more money behind them. The winner at the end will have a full promotional cycle under SM in hopes they'll find a fresh start and reach the level of success they've been denied until now." She pauses to look humbled. "As someone who has had the wonderful opportunity to make a living doing what I love, I'm happy to help mentor these young idols in hopes they can live the same dream than I have!"

She smiles brightly again and the camera begins to pan out. "With that said, let's meet our nine lovely ladies! Starting with the most recently debuted idols, let's go!"

As Taeyeon steps to the side of the stage, five girls quickly file on and take position at the center where the soloist had just been standing. After a moment of silence, a song begins to play and the five leap into the performance

There's polite applause as they finish and bow. Four of the girls wave eagerly to the audience and then proceed to file out, leaving just the short-haired rapper onstage. The girl smiles cutely at the audience as Taeyeon walks over to join her at the center of the stage.

"What a cute performance! Why don't you introduce yourself and your group to the viewers?" She hands her microphone over to the contestant, who smiles and accepts it.

"My name is Hwang Saerom, and I'm here to represent my group PUZZLE. We hope you'll give us lots of love in the future!"

The scene cuts to an interview with Saerom backstage. "We have a cute image, but as a rapper I really hope to show of my rapping more here and maybe do a girl crush concept." She smiles awkwardly at the camera.

The interview cuts away to one final showcase of Saerom's skills.

The show then returns to the stage where the next group of girls are assembling. They're another group of five, and they're all grinning excitedly as they wait for their music to start.

And when it does, it's clear that it's not their song that they're going to be performing.

The audience cheers as they finish and the girls all look incredibly jubilant, waving enthusiastically even as four of them head offstage.

The rapper remains center stage, beaming excitedly and adjusting the scarf on her head. Taeyeon comes over to stand with her, smiling.

"Well that was fun!"

The rapper grins back as she uses her own microphone to respond. "I thought so too! I'm glad you all had fun as well!" She waves again to the audience. "My name is Alexis and I'm the main rapper and lead dancer for our group Playback! I'm excited to see everyone again after Mix Nine!"

The scene cuts to an interview with Alexis, who's still bouncing happily in her seat.

"I ranked ninth on Mix Nine but since the boys won I didn't get to debut there." She frowns slightly, but then perks up again. "But now I get to be on Media Play! I'm excited to try my luck here!"

A clip is shown of Alexis's dancing before the scene returns to the stage, where yet another five member group is gathered.

The girls bow happily at the applause, and then exit as the groups before them had, leaving just one member to wait for Taeyoen to return with the microphone.

She bows in thanks when Taeyeon hands her the microphone in order to introduce herself.

"Hello everyone, my name is Dae Sujin and we are Vistal! We hope you can give us lots of love during the show." She smiles politely and hands Taeyeon the microphone back.

"We've struggled a lot." Sujin says in her interview. "We debuted in 2015 but the company hasn't had any money for a comeback so we're still waiting for that. We're really hoping this show will bring our group some interest and we can have a comeback finally."

After the clip of Sujin's dancing finishes the show again returns to the stage where a single young woman is standing, looking quite confident. She's quickly joined by three other people, though they're all wearing masks to hide their faces, denoting them as backup dancers. The music starts as soon as they fall into position.

The audience gives a rather mixed reaction to the performance, with many of the men shouting their approval throughout while the women mostly look on disapprovingly. The performer herself seems completely comfortable, winking at the audience and singing her parts loud and proud. When she finishes the backup dancers quickly leave, while she holds her ending pose to let people applaud.

Taeyeon walks over, smiling uncertainly. "That was quite a performance."

"Thanks." The woman says shamelessly as she stands up. "I'm Yeon Hwajin of Wonder, you may remember us from 2014. We caused a bit of a scandal." She sounds amused as she speaks, and Taeyeon looks like she's not quite sure how to respond.

In her interview, Hwajin seems more determined than she had onstage, swapping some of her easy charisma for something a bit more grounded.

"I'm not ashamed of our song or concept." Hwajin says almost forcefully. "People like to make a big deal of it any time anyone so much as suggests girls might have physical needs and it's stupid. So I'm not ashamed."

Hwajin doesn't have an additional clip to show her skills, so the show goes straight back to the surprisingly empty stage.

The audience cheers loudly as the performance finishes, and Taeyeon rushes over to the group before the male backup dancers even have a chance to get off the floor.

"What a performance! However, we only have a few second available for you to introduce yourselves since it was so long." She says apologetically.

The blonde who had acted at the start quickly steps forward. "My name is Diamond, and we are Gem Girlz. Please show us lots of love!"

Diamond's interview isn't shown as the three women leave. A moment later, a single performer strides onto the stage, looking determined. She bows to both Taeyeon and the audience before her backing music starts and she begins to sing.

The audience is quite excited by the familiar song, and the camera spots multiple people singing along with the new contestant. When she finishes, she gets a respectable amount of applause for her effort.

"That was fantastic! I don't speak Spanish but your pronunciation sounded pretty good to me." Taeyeon compliments, and the woman smiles.

"Thank you, I worked hard on that. My name is Ryuwon, and I'm representing YNB's group SPARKLE."

"I actually debuted with EXID back in 2012." Ryuwon says in her interview. She looks a bit saddened at the memory. "I left along with two of SPARKLE's other members due to differences with the company. We ended up re-debuting together with Yoojin under YNB but we never saw much success. Yoojin and Eunhee have left the company now, but I'm hopeful Seungah and I might still be able to make music if I do well on this show."

Back on the stage, a group of six are getting into position for their performance.

Once again Taeyeon has to hurry up before the five girls not competing have a chance to depart the stage due to the length of the performance.

The girls recognize that they have limited time and the rapper quickly steps forward. "I'm Jiae of Artemis, and I'm excited to show my skills on Media Play."

Jiae isn't shown in an interview, but a quick clip of her rapping is played before the next group begins their performance.

Upon returning the focus to the stage, the scene finds a band is setting up their instruments as quickly as they can manage. Several stage hands are assisting in the set up while the guitarist and bassist double check their tuning. Finally the drummer counts the group in as the stage hands rush backstage again.

The group doesn't wait for the applause to even start before they're rushing to dismantle their instruments and speakers again. The singer smiles at Taeyeon who walks over.

"That was certainly not something I ever expected to hear! A rock version of Up and Down!" Taeyeon smiles.

The singer grins in return. "Well we are a rock band! Hello everyone, I'm Under/flare's vocalist Lucy! I can't wait to rock out with everyone!"

Lucy is surprisingly prim in her interview, sitting straight with her hands resting on her lap and her ankles crossed delicately. "We had some interest back in 2013 when we first debuted, but it's fizzled out since we've only had one real comeback. I'm really hoping if I do well on the show that the company will be willing to take more of a chance on us in the future!"

Lucy doesn't have an additional clip of her skills so the focus goes straight back to the stage after she finishes speaking to reveal the ninth and final contestant of the show.

She's sitting in front of a keyboard, and she takes a few deep breaths before she begins playing her own accompaniment.

When she finishes she bows and allows her keyboard to be bustled backstage by the stagehands while she grabs her microphone to join Taeyeon center stage.

"That was quite a beautiful performance!" Taeyeon compliments, and the woman blushes.

"Ah, thank you." She says shyly. "Um, my name is U.Jin and I'm a member of Nightingale. It's been a while." She bows to Taeyeon, and then to the studio audience before standing up again and fidgeting with her microphone.

"We debuted back in 2011, but we didn't get very much attention so we went on hiatus in 2012. I think I might be the only one of the group who still wants to perform onstage..." U.Jin frowns sadly in her interview. "But, um, my members who haven't left the company yet say they're rooting for me! And I'm happy to be performing on stage again, it's been a long time for me."

When the camera returns to Taeyeon she's once again alone on the stage. "There you have it, our wonderful and talented young ladies! Who impressed you the most? Don't forget to vote for your favorite contestants! And now, before we say goodbye, the girls have one last special performance they've put together."

As she speaks, the nine contestants have returned, now dressed in pink and white. Several of the women are clearly not happy with the wardrobe choice - Hwajin in particular looks like she'd rather be anywhere else - but once the music starts and Taeyeon returns to the wings the nine get into position and begin the performance.

Diamond - Crop Top Brown Hair; U.Jin - Short Hair; Alexis - 1st Rapper; Hwajin - Black Hair Crop Top; Ryuwon - Long Hair, White Sweater; Lucy - Low Ponytail; Jiae - Rapper, Bangs; Saerom - Overalls; Sujin - High Ponytail

As the song ends, the camera focuses on each girl, showing the number to text if you wanted to vote for her. The credits begin rolling as the curtains close and the audience begins chattering away. The camera pans up, and the screen goes dark.