Coffee Prince 1-Episode Extension Confirmed
The title says it all, really. From a MyDaily article dated August 11, 2007 (9:04 AM):
MBC’s Monday-Tuesday drama Coffee Prince Store #1, which has been enjoying favorable response these days from viewers, has reached a final decision to extend the series by one episode and a broadcast special.
Apparently the PD, Lee Yoon Jung, resisted extension of the series three times. It has become commonplace for broadcast stations to jump to extend series that perform well to increase ad revenue, but there is a very legitimate fear that being quick to extend a series can ruin the careful momentum that has garnered the series its positive response in the first place. It’s for this reason that PD Lee has repeatedly declined to extend the series, even by only one episode. However, she has ultimately agreed.
The article also goes on to heap copious (and well-deserved) praise on PD Lee, saying that even with the series’ talented acting, writing, and production, without her superb directorial/filming skills, and her personal mark all over the series (down to the excellent music selections), the success of Coffee Prince would not have been possible. I fully agree.
이윤정PD,‘커프’연장 세번 반대한 이유는?
2007-08-11 09:04:44
모바일 전송[마이데일리 = 배국남 대중문화전문기자]
요즘 시청자들로부터 좋은 반응을 얻고 있는 MBC월화 드라마 ‘커피프린스 1호점’이 최근 1회 연장과 스페셜 특집을 하기로 최종 결정됐다. 시청률이 높아지면서 연장 논의가 으레 나오는 것이 요즘 방송가의 풍경이다. 높은 시청률을 누린 드라마를 연장해 광고 수입을 계속 높이자는 의도일 것이다.하지만 시청률이 높다는 이유로 연장했다가 드라마의 완성도가 추락하고 팽팽하게 진행되던 드라마의 긴장감도 이완돼 드라마를 망치는 경우를 본 것이 한두번이 아니다. 방송사나 제작진은 연장을 이야기하면서 한결같이 내놓는 이야기가 드라마에서 할 이야기가 많아서다.그러나 이 말을 액면 그대로 믿는 시청자들은 없다. 왜냐하면 할 이야기가 많다는 드라마내적인 이유보다는 시청률 특수 연장을 통한 이윤창출이라는 의도를 너무 잘 알기 때문이다.
최근 1회 연장이 결정된 ‘커피 프린스 1호점’의 연출자 이윤정PD가 연장 논의가 나오면서 세 번에 걸쳐 못하겠다는 의사를 표명한 것으로 알려졌다. MBC 한 관계자는“이윤정PD가 연장 논의가 나오면서 힘들어 한 것 같다. 완벽주의에 가까운 이윤정PD의 연출 스타일로 인해 계획했던 것에서 한회분이라도 늘어나면 그만큼 너무 힘들기 때문이었을 것이다”라고 말했다.
방송사에선 더 많은 횟수 연장을 바랬지만 이윤정PD는 1회 연장을 하기로 결정했다. ‘커피프린스 1호점’의 높은 인기는 연기자의 열연과 캐릭터 소화력, 새로운 트렌드가 돋보이는 극본의 힘도 있었지만 무엇보다 섬세하고 빼어난 연출력이 가장 큰 인기 원인이다.
감각적인 영상과 장면 하나하나 드라마의 전개와 맞물려 가는 완성도, 그리고 영상과 음악의 절묘한 조화 등은 이윤정PD의 땀이 짙게 배어 있는 연출력의 힘이다. 또한 캐릭터에 맞는 연기자들의 장점을 극대화시킨 것도 바로 연출자 이윤정PD의 연출력이 없었으면 불가능했을 것이다.
이 때문에 ‘커피프린스 1호점’의 한 장면만을 보거나 한대사만을 들어도 이윤정PD의 노력과 완벽을 향한 태도를 엿볼 수 있다. 이러한 이윤정PD의 드라마에 대한 열정은 계속 뒷받침되는 것이 아니다. 체력적인 한계, 원래 구상한 계획의 급작스러운 변화 등으로 연장은 많은 문제를 야기하게 되고 이 때문에 좋은 반응을 얻었던 ‘커피 프린스 1호점’완성도가 떨어질까를 우려한 이윤정PD는 연장을 반대한 것이다.
1회 연장을 결정한‘커피 프린스 1호점’이 이윤정PD의 작품에 대한 열정과 노력이 훼손되지 않기를 바랄뿐이다.
['커피 프린스 1호점'은 1회 연장을 하기로 최종 결정됐다. 사진=MBC제공]
배국남 대중문화전문기자 knbae@mydaily.co.kr
기사 제보 및 보도자료 press@mydaily.co.kr
- NO1.뉴미디어 실시간 뉴스 마이데일리(www.mydaily.co.kr) 저작권자 ⓒ 마이데일리.
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Tags: Coffee Prince
it’s great to finally have it finally confirmed. but i don’t want coffee prince to EVER end.
thanks for all your news tidbits lately. ive been popping by your site to see whether you’d have interesting posts while we wait for the new episodes and sure enough, there’s still a lot to read.
thank you for keeping us up to date on CP both drama and novel.
sorry I didn’t comment on the other posts you made, but I gotta go to sleep.
night ^^
there were so many instances in the drama that i stopped and said, the director’s stamp is all over. kudos to her!
“but there is a very legitimate fear that being quick to extend a series can ruin the careful momentum that has garnered the series its positive response in the first place. It’s for this reason that PD Lee has repeatedly declined to extend the series, even by only one episode”
Like what I said in my previous comments — I am both “excited and sad” knowing that the series is about to reach the ending but I think, and really i want them to extend it but i totally understand why there’s resistance in extending Coffee Prince — they’ve actually reached that peak already just like in the book where the main casts already reunited though there are still issues left that can be used to make them fight and reunite again but the fear is that it might strain the viewers. For one I’m an avid fan of this show and also the followers of dramabeans but we’re not the only viewers right… believe it or not but there are still some who finds it (the show) negatively — i don’t know why they don’t find it the way we do — they just don’t…. anyway, i’m really glad that they are exending it even for just one episode… let’s just hope for the best for the writers of this show!
Finally a PD who knows how to do our dramas right, not about making sales but of putting a great show out there…..good for her! Am glad though that it will be extended to one more episode.
YEHEY! Go Eun Chan! thanks for the update!
GREAT………..!
that is REALLY GOOD news….I am glad the PD was intelligent enough to realize that extending a drama is not always a good thing, in fact it is usually the worse decision they can make. One episode is not bad at all….i mean, look at Que Sera Sera
GREAT news! Absolutely thrilled. Hoping the one extra episode will keep in sync with the original plot (worried it might feel stretched otherwise). And it is true that Lee has really brought this drama into full throttle with her amazing vision and skill. Yahoo to CP! And for all of us, wohooo!!
thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu i just hope that YEH will be able to make it through the final episodes of this drama!!! im pretty sure though that the PD must have come to understand that YEH’s health isn’t soo bad that it unables her from preforming, and hence she decided to extend
Hey
i love you’re site
just wondering: how common is it to have female directors in the drama scene in Korea?
YES!!!
Thanks for the news update! I’ve been waiting for this confirmation on the extension for a while now…and I do agree that Lee Yoon Jung should be praised x 100000 for her work…all 12 episodes so far have been amazing.
Her praise is very, very well deserved. She’s one of the finest directors I’ve seen…I can see her touch in the smallest scene, in the slightest position of objects or the settings and music. Will definitely keep watching for her work. She’s an inspiration to other female directors in the entire world, who still struggle with their work being deemed “too feminine” or deal with similar unbased criticisms.
Am really looking forward to seeing how she’s going to wrap this up, and I’m glad she thought it over carefully and didn’t just decide to extend it based on ratings and profit. That makes me feel confident that its well thought out and they’re going to do their best to keep the momentum going.
Coffee Prince Team Fighting!!
I’m glad it’s only 1 episode.. i wouldn’t want it to drag.
thanks for the translation.
OMG! It’s finally been confirmed!!! YAY!!! I hope YEH will be ok with it…I don’t want her health put at risk because of it.
Yey!!! More Yoon Eun Hye & Gong Yoo!!!!!
I was prepared with whatever decision they would end up with but after hearing this, i swear i could just shout hallelujah!!!
I hope YEh could venture out into movies…she really has the capability to do so…
She’s the brightest star of her generation!!!
kudos to you YEH!!!
For people interested in PD Lee’s other works, do check out Taereung National Village. Awesome little drama (8 episodes) with superb music selection like Coffee Prince. And wait… THE VOICE is in it as well.^^
Well one episode won’t kill me, I trust the PD to keep up the excellent work she’s been doing!!!
[...] music selections), the success of Coffee Prince would not have been possible. My Daily Article Drama Beans [...]
Thanks Javabeans! Do you know that you are also cited at Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1st_Shop_of_Coffee_Prince)?
Does anyone know what other movies/dramas Lee Yoon-Jung has directed?
Yay, i’m glad its extended… even by just one episode. We can just wait and see what will happen on the next 7 episode=) I can’t wait! So excited!
sorry, i mean 5. I was still thinking of the last two unsubbed episodes that i haven’t seen=( from last monday and tuesday. I hope they come out soon.
ONE MORE EP WITH Go Eun Chan! YAY!!!!
sweet! Hey, i was wondering if you would translate han sung’s song, the ocean trip one. I love that song, but ihave no clue what it says lol.
sweet! Hey, i was wondering if you would translate han sung’s song, the ocean trip one. I love that song but have no clue what it means, lol.
opps, sorry for the double post
Hey Preview 13 is UP!!!! in youtube user aahl has it
MBC ‘HAPPY TIME’ (2007.8.12)
NG SPECAIL video clip
http://img2.dcinside.com/data2/gallery/dci_mvsc/2007/08/12/3555996898_4d3f4af8_20070812TV-2.wmv
yeh. PD Lee signatures are all so evident in Coffee Prince , she is a major factor for Coffee prince success , the camerawork , the music , the pacing and tempo ..her works make you feel like you are watching a very well make short independent movie..
Does anyone know what other movies/dramas Lee Yoon-Jung has directed?
=>2005 태릉선수촌 (Taereung National Village) – it was shown in MBC Best Theater . 8 esp [
30min each ] =>watch this highly recommended , simply a gem .
=> 2005 떨리는 가슴 Beating Hearts , on of those rare omnibus drama project .a gem too i love this one .i think she was in charge of one of the esp . there were a few PD involved for different esp
Shirley!! I watched an episode of Beating Hearts dubbed in Chinese while channel surfing, and have been looking for it on and off ever since! Wow I can’t believe the same director handled it, that’s amazing, do you know where I can find it?
=>2005 태릉선수촌 (Taereung National Village)
Wow, thanks, Shirley, I never knew that was one of hers [Frantically starts up dedicated clubbox-plundering spare PC...].
Thanks to schoolday traumas, I normally avoid anything to do with organised sports like the plague. I was probably the only person on the planet ever to walk out of Chariots of Fire, though I did stay long enough to saviour that epochal Vangelis track under the opening credits. Even that was a bit too much though, because now whenever I see one of those leisurely panning shots across deserted beaches that Korean directors are so fond of, I get butterflies through expecting a bunch of British athletic jocks to come pounding over the horizon running in loose formation…
But no, I am NOT going to watch 9 end 2 outs, even though I know it’s not really about baseball. Well, I might have done if javabeans had decided to recap it, but I think she said she’s not going to. Shows you how much I love javabeans, though, that I could even bite back my total revulsion towards anything even vaguely sports-associated if she was writing about it.
tooizzy,
i checked but that particular user doesn’t have any videos as in “0″….
tooizzy,
anyway thanks for the info… i found one…
13th Cup Long Preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7g-HyZtrJo
thank the lord for pd lee. where would we be without such a woman. at this moment, and because of my undeniable addiction to coffee prince, she’s up there with oprah. – and oprah is like a messiah in terms of understanding how the world works. i’m sad but also anxious to see cp end. there’s a lot of tense viewers patiently waiting to stream/download the next episodes. its tought, but i’m sure that everyone thanks all the subbers for all the hard work they’ve put into this. its time, money and a life well spent for the sake of others to have a good time. and this blog is a great place. keep up the good work.
Without a doubt, director Lee is the main reason behind Coffee Prince’s success. And it would be a wonderful if in the future, she is considered as one of Korea’s many great directors, not just a great female director. Her intuition for pacing and atmosphere lets the novel breathe. You can tell that there is a respect for the script and acting. Sometimes, if you have quality work, you just have to step back and let the magic happens. Her timing and pacing are almost perfect. Except for some small parts, the drama never felt rushed or dragged on. The character developments , i think, was actually much more finely explored than in the novel (although it does help that the original author also scripted the screenplay). The music choices and camera works are some of the finest that i have ever seen. What helps turn Coffee Prince into a fine piece of drama is its heart: its sensitivity, its subtlety and its humanity. We, seasoned K-drama as well as novice viewers, have not failed to appreciate the reason (or the woman) behind the Coffee Prince’s phenomenon. Thank you Ms. PD.
the only other drama that has done this was “war of money” woot. coffee prince. i love this drama toos. i love how everyone is extremely into their character especially yoon eun hye. she is one of the few singers that can truely transitioned into a great actress. many have tried and failed. i love how they handled how he finally found out that she’s a girl. his reactions were realistic. since the first episode is gonna be called “coffee prince #1″ i wish they would extend the drama more. like 4 episodes. ;D
I just found your new banner here. And I loooveeee it! It so cute. Very cute. I want to save it to my computer (right click and save target as) but it can’t. You have released new banner since month ago, but I never catch it. So I keep this site open and never close it. He hehe… silly right?
Thanks a lot. It’s cutely cute.
Omg! I know I’m dumb in computer. But I don’t know that I’m so dumb! *sobbing*. I wrote a comment here, and you know what.. the banner turn to Jae Hee. I like him in chun hyang, but Coffee prince…! I don’t know when is the time to catch it. So silly, so silly, so silly…
icechocolate, don’t worry, the banners rotate. just reload the page (or force-reload by hitting CTRL F5) and it’ll change.
secret admirer3, are you talking about drama extensions? if so, quite a few dramas have been extended due to high ratings, not just war of money. in addition to war of money, so were goong and dal ja’s spring, for example.
i can only echo everyone praising the pd for her excellent work. i’ve started watching taereung national village, which thunderbolt has been urging me to catch for some time now, and i’ve only seen the first episode but it’s quite refreshing. and wow, that lee minki does such a good job of playing adolescent haplessness. quite a jolt to compare him to his dal ja role earlier this year. it’ll be a nice change since i was not impressed with either “bottom of the 9th” or “get karl oh soo jung.”
I’m just wondering if coffee prince is number 2 drama, which one is the number 1???
icechocolate “I want to save it to my computer (right click and save target as) but I can’t.”
In IE: Left click on banner then right click (as you did already) Then choose Save Background As (not Save Target As — that does something quite different, as you found out). In FireFox it’s also easy when you know how, but there’s a slight complication: Right click as with IE, but now choose “View Background Image”. A banner will then appear in a window of its own, and you can right click on it and choose “Save Image”. Note that I said “A banner”. Because of the cycling behaviour javabeans explained just now, what you get by this method will be the *next* banner in the sequence, not the one you asked to view. But hey, they’re all all great, so just keep going round the force-refresh cycle and you’ll capture the one you want before long.
Yeah, definitely watch Taereung National Village. I’m really not into watching sports movies but the show is not about sports at all – that’s just the setting. Since I’m not a Korean speaker, I rely on subs so I’ve only seen 6 of the 8 episodes. Nonetheless, I love the show and have loved it from the first episode.
It’s not rushed, the characters are well developed and it’s very realistic. I also love that even though there’s romance in the story, it’s a very well rounded drama tackling different themes like success/failure, friendship etc etc.
I also love the character Dong Kyung (played by Lee Seon Gyun i.e. Han Sung in Coffee Prince) and am already bummed about some of the later developments in the story
He’s awesome. I also love him in CP and wouldn’t have minded him ending up with Eun Chan. 
Lee Min Ki’s character is way too childish for my liking but he’s still charming and likeable. One of the show’s strong points are the characters. All well drawn out and acted.
Definitely watch it.
Javabeans, know what makes your homepage worth reading- aside from your great summaries and updates? you have unconsciously bonded people from around the world. and what makes it more fun is the fact that you go out of your way to acknowledge each and everyone.. you rock!!!
Javabeans and Gramps, thanks.
Actually after make a comment, I search all over your blog (I knew I’ve seen your banners somewhere) and voila.. all of your banners are in ‘about’. And the good thing is, after I visited ‘about’, I jump to other tags ‘glossary,links, script’. And I found they’re as fascinating as your summaries. So, yesterday it’s not a boring day. And today I just visiting your blog, even I knew you haven’t post your 13′th cup yet (4 hours ahead). So, let me say thanks first.
Javabeans, when you get a chance to breathe, would you please get ep. 13 published, pretty please. I’ve been refreshing your site the entire day hoping to drink up on your fresh off the brew insight of the latest CP episode. Thanks in advance. Please do know that all your hard work is truly appreciated.
Cheers!
“…it’ll be a nice change since i was not impressed with either “bottom of the 9th” or “get karl oh soo jung.” – I’m feeling the same way with Oh Su Jung. After the first two episodes, I haven’t even bothered to download the other episodes. I think Coffee Prince has spoiled me for other dramas!
hi~Acey
regarding beating hearts.
i got a DVD copy of the drama itself , so i am not sure where to get it dl from online –;; sorry cant help you . the eng subtitled DVD was released by Bitwin . the drama has 6 esp and each esp is by different writer and producer team . so PD lee was in charge of one of the esp ^^ .MR hong in Coffee prince was in Beating heart too as the father ~ of Bae Do Na.^
here the site for beating heart ..btw ~ it should be 6 stories with 2 esp per story [so is 12 esp ] ^ ^ every family member has their story
http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/drama/beatingheart/index.html
Shirley, thanks for the info. I think I watched the episode that featured a lost love? If I’m not wrong, Bae Doo Na fell for someone – the ghost of her mother’s lost love? It was some time ago, though. It had the guy from All In, and featured the song chebikkot. Mr Hong keeps popping up everywhere when I don’t expect him to. I like him, he always plays such easygoing, relaxed father-figure roles I’m beginning to wonder if that’s how he’s like in real life. That’d be cool
Shirley, Mr. Hong was Bae Doo-na’s brother-in-law in Beating Heart. In the drama, she and Bae Jong-ok are sisters and Mr. Hong is her sister’s husband.^^
The amazing young actress from The Host, Ko Ah-sung, is Mr. Hong’s precocious daughter.
Acey, in Beating Heart Bae Doo-na’s character was dating Kim Dong-wan’s character for a while. Cute reel couple.
I didn’t know PD Lee directed one of the segments in Beating Heart. Wonderful drama – highly recommended.
CWI’m really not into watching sports movies but the show is not about sports at all – that’s just the setting.
Wow yes, just because of my sports phobia I’d been missing what looks like a fine drama (half way through watching ep4 now with the rest trickling in), so I’m glad I discovered what I was missing before the raws diappeared from the sites. Mind you, there was a traumatic moment about 10 seconds in to ep 1 where we cut from a Bach Cello Sonata to a ghastly orgy of screaming triumphalist victory-mania, but then it settled down into the sort of pacing, visual rhythms and nascent restrained but powerful interpersonal dynamics that are highly recognisable again in CP. And of course without that nauseating “when-Britannia-ruled-the-waves” nostalgia that lurks within Chariots of Fire.
Two things struck me, apart from the general qualities. 1) High school dramas and sports-training-camp epics have one feature massively useful to foreigners like me: many of the characters walk about with their names legible on their lapel badges or their backs, respectively. But there’s a drawback. 2) Precisely because of the social context, in both drama-types there’s a lot of fast round-trip banmal dialogue between the kids/athletes. Which is the hardest dialogue for foreigners (at least those of us heavily dependent on low-panmal-count textbooks) to keep up with. Either roundtrip jondaemal or banmaljondaemal of the sort so common in dramas where there’s an age or social gap between a couple is much easier to keep up with. I don’t suppose anyone knows where to get hold of any scripts for TNV, do they? Of course, javabeans, if you ever found time to recap this drama, that would be perfect heaven, but you have more important things to do, like staying sane under the enormous pressure we keep putting on you over CP.
Sarahbeans, you’ve watched Ep 1 of Taereung National Village? Yay! Ep 2 is where you’ll see THE VOICE making his first appearance. I bet 4 sacks of coffee beans that you’ll fall in love with his character. He is uber COOL in TNV. I believe you’ll like Minki’s character too as you continue watching. He’s childish, yes, but also sweet and adorable in his own way. I love all his soliloquies. The writing is awesome.
And for people waiting for subs for the final 2 TNV episodes, Ep 7 should be released this week. Thanks for waiting.^^
Hi Gramps, I did not see your post before mine; I guess we were writing at the same time.^^
Are you watching Taereung National Village without subs? We have subbed 6 of the 8 episodes so far; the rest will follow soon. Our TNV translator, Dahee Fanel, is Korean and a superb translator. You can find the subs at d-addicts.
oops .~ thanks thunder for making the correction –;; must have temp memory loss ..ya he was the brother in law
here PD Lee info for beating heart .i think she was in charge of story # 4 ? was it abt the father and the girl who make him rem his dreams .~ .
http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/drama/beatingheart/staff/index,3,0,0.html
ah oh Acey , i think the esp u watch ..the lost love of Bae Jong Ok was played by Jisung .that esp was quite a special story .. .~i love the last story too~ of the sisters and their mother.
Gramps ~ there are english subtitles available for TNV^.~! .that ’s how i am watching too~!
thunderbolt, shirley: many thanks for pointing me towards the subs for TNV. I never thought to check whether there were any, I was so busy getting hold of the raws after I was suddenly alerted to who the PD was. The subs will be really useful, though actually I’m trying to wean myself off English subs.
I’d reckoned it would take a couple or more years of hard slog at the language manuals before I got that far, but then my Korean-learning experience was transformed by javabeans fantastic summaries, and more recently by her posting all those scripts here, which suddenly activated somewhere in my ageing brain loads of stuff that I’d stored there from all those tedious course books but which had never really “clicked” before.
Why do the authors of Korean teaching manuals try so hard to make the language seem utterly dreary and boring? My suggestion to the Ministry of Culture: shut down all departments trying to teach Korean to foreigners, redirect their salary budget to getting still more space and bandwith for this site and replace their classroms by combined DVD-and-PC-bangs equipped with the best KDrama series, but with only Hangul subtitles, and where following javabeans blog in real time would be only compulsory assignment. It would spread happiness to thousands of people, and a lot more of them would actually end up knowing real Korean.
Heck, panic!!! Less than an hour til CP starts to stream and my Windows has suddenly gone silent, telling me “This machine has no audio devices attached”. All those job-threatened teachers of Korean have obviously started to gang up on me even before I got to click the “Submit” button.
Gramps, congrats on trying to learn Korean from dramas. I’ve been watching Korean dramas for about 3 years now (both daily and the mini-dramas) but I wouldn’t dare to try to watch anything without subs. It doesn’t help that I also love watching movies and dramas in other languages I don’t understand like Hindi and Chinese so yeah, I heavily rely on subs for my entertainment.
Ah, so my dear Dong Kyung is the so-called “Voice?” I haven’t been reading the CP summaries so I didn’t know that he was also a favorite around these parts. Well, he rocks so it only makes sense
Thunderbolt, I’m pleased to hear the subs for episode 7 are coming out. I am prepared to be sad because I know what’s coming for my favorite character