I watched No.Mercy (Monsta X), Sixteen (Twice), Stray Kids, and Produce 101 S2 well after their groups were formed. If you're a fan of those groups or just interested in the process I'd suggest it.
No.Mercy is actually free to watch on YouTube with subtitles.
PRODUCE Season 1.
It's the standard for me.
It had a feeling of being big and fresh, and almost an official sort of vibe. Like the show was creating the next Representative Girl Group for Korea.
Even though Sixteen preceded it and was the one that actually made the Nation's Girl Group (and was really fun), it didn't have the same "big" feeling, since it was JYP only.
Produce had all these trainees from all these companies in kpop. All vying for the chance at their dream of debuting in Korea's girl group.
There was an anticipation and excitement there that I thought other shows don't always hit in that way.
Like the show was gonna make a group for Korea.
It felt epic, official and important.
Produce 48, because similar to GP999 it also has Japanese trainees
Chinese Idol Producer season 1 is the best so far imo. The trainees are likable, the editing is good. Rather than unncessary drama an evil editing they rather kept the show funny
And it's on youtube with eng sub
can't go wrong with pd101
Produce 101 for sure, but I also highly highly recommend Youth With You 2: basically the Chinese version of produce. You’ll probably recognize a few of the Chinese trainees from GP999 in it. The group that debuted are now probably the most successful girl group in China, and Lisa of BP is the dance mentor in the show so they got a lot of attention compared to other Chinese trainees. They have several performances from the show that went viral:
The Uni+
Echo the sentiments of others here
Produce 101 was the best that I have seen
The only issue with 101 I had was how many of the missions were badly designed
Like you form groups and have to train and perform as a Group so that ONE member of your group gets rewarded with a benefit kind of like Immunity from elimination, it doesn't really promote teamwork and just feels so wrong the way it was implemented
The whole group should have gotten immunity for their teamwork, but I think they were still working out the kinks themselves back then with this kind of format
Oh I also personally enjoyed The UniT, but only for the Girls side of things, wasn't interested in the Boys, Produce 48 was good also, not sure why I don't remember it as fondly maybe I will go back and rewatch them sometime
I only watched a handful survival shows, but I thought KPOP STAR 2 - that had Akdong Musician in it - was really fun to watch, same for Who Is Next, that had basically Winner and iKON competing against eachother before their debut.
Some of KPOP STAR 2's great, phenomenal performances
I'd really hoped the YouU girls could have debuted together, I loved this concept, I felt like it was something that was missing in K-pop and that they as a group could've filled that gap. A year or so later Red Velvet debuted and they had a similar vibe, to be the odd or different one in K-pop. But I still miss YouU 
Produce 101 for sure, but I also highly highly recommend Youth With You 2: basically the Chinese version of produce. You’ll probably recognize a few of the Chinese trainees from GP999 in it. The group that debuted are now probably the most successful girl group in China, and Lisa of BP is the dance mentor in the show so they got a lot of attention compared to other Chinese trainees. They have several performances from the show that went viral:
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Those were epic, iconic performances, I still get goosebumps watching them.
They're easily among the best performances I've seen in idol survival shows, that power, that presence. Just wow!
I really should catch up with the final group of Youth With You 2, see what songs they've produced after their debut.
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