This is a man who knows the meaning of striking when the iron is hot: Uhm Tae-woong has just been secured as the lead in Equator Man, continuing his very busy streak with a drama this time, after completing a string of movies. More Uhm Tae-woong? Love. In a straight-up conventional melodrama? Um…

Uhm has basically been working nonstop for the past year and a half, ever since taking on 2010′s romantic comedy film Cyrano Dating Agency, then the 2010 sports-medicine drama Dr. Champ. In the past year alone he’s filmed or released three movies: dark rom-com Neverending Story, Crime Squad, and Introduction to Architecture. Plus, there’s the whole ongoing 1 Night 2 Days gig he’s been doing.

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Read the rest of Uhm Tae-woong for Equator Man (410 words)

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Post tags: Baek Sung-hyun, Uhm Tae-woong

So the contracts have been signed and statements have been made: Jang Dong-gun (Warrior’s Way) and Kim Haneul (Blind) have signed on to star in upcoming SBS weekend drama A Gentleman’s Dignity, the highly anticipated drama from the team behind Secret Garden and Lovers in Paris — PD Shin Woo-chul and writer Kim Eun-sook. I’m ecstatic about Jang Dong-gun returning to dramaland and I like Kim Haneul; the big question mark and potential wrench in the works for me is the story, since this writer tends to be divisive, which is putting it mildly.

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Read the rest of Jang Dong-gun and Kim Haneul confirm A Gentleman’s Dignity (380 words)

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Post tags: Jang Dong-gun, Kim Haneul

Upcoming tvN rom-com Twelve Men in a Year has released its posters and a new teaser,
highlighting a fun and whimsical take on leaving your romantic fate to the stars. Yoon Jin-seo plays Miru, a magazine writer who takes on a new romance column and launches headlong into a project where she dates twelve men, one for each astrological sign of the year. I like that the posters have taken that in the most literal sense, and set her amongst falling stars. So cute.

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Read the rest of Twelve Men in a Year releases posters (263 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Go Jun-hee, Ohn Joo-wan, Yoon Jin-seo

…though you couldn’t tell from its promo material. Syndrome‘s newly released posters and trailer are pretty standard stuff, which I could swear I’ve seen tons of times before. Seriously, is there a medical drama template setting in Photoshop, where you insert actors’ faces and out it spews a generic-looking promo shot with the requisite scrubs, scalpel, and body part of interest?

True, medical dramas are always going to be popular and a great number of them are quite different from each other (see: House versus Grey’s, or New Heart vs OBGYN vs White Tower), so I don’t dismiss Syndrome for being yet another entry in the field. Occupation dramas are just a reason to change the scenery for universal stories of love/ambition/rivalry anyway.

Even still, I just can’t get my interest up for this show, because, well, we just saw Brain, right? The show ended not long ago, aired on Mondays and Tuesdays, and was about neurosurgeons. Syndrome, like Brain, revolves around a motley collection of familiar personalities, from your young female resident to the perfectionist colleague to the cold-hearted surgeon. You may as well call this Brain No. 2 (no relation to HeadsNo2). Or Brain Again. Re-Brained? No-Brainer?

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Read the rest of Medical drama Syndrome is no Brain (229 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Han Hye-jin, Song Chang-eui

Ex-vampire-prosecutor Yeon Jung-hoon‘s new drama For the Emperor (or Here’s To the Emperor) has secured its leading lady in Eom Ji-won (Sign, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry). Damn, just what I need — another drama to watch. I love each of them separately, but together? Okay, so maybe Yeon Jung-hoon with anyone is swoonworthy, but I love Eom Ji-won’s bubbly charm. Her Woman Who Wants to Marry character pretty much endeared me to her for life.

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Read the rest of Eom Ji-won to romance the Emperor (277 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Eom Ji-won, Yeon Jung-hoon

I loved Nancy Drew as a kid, so I am way onboard the concept of Girl Detective Park Hae-sol, which is an upcoming Drama Special mini-drama starring the wonderful child actress (er, teenaged now) Nam Ji-hyun in the title role.

Nam (who was so good playing childhood roles in dramas like Giant, Queen Seon-deok, and Will It Snow For Christmas) will play a character possessing keen senses that enable her to discern people’s emotions. The mystery unfolds as she investigates the suspicious events of her father’s death six years ago.

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Read the rest of Nam Ji-hyun turns into a Girl Detective (330 words)

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Post tags: Drama Special, Lee Min-woo (2), Nam Ji-hyun

Kim Hyun-joo has lined up her next drama (yay), which will be a weekend series (er, sigh?) titled Dumb Mom, which will be hitting airwaves next month.

Based on a novel of the same name, Kim plays the lead character, Young-joo, in a story following three women of three generations and their relationships with love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The book, which is itself based on a true story, follows a dim-witted woman who is the victim of a rape and her daughter Young-joo, who is born of the attack. The mother smothers the girl with love, and Young-joo finds the attachment so oppressive that she marries to run away from her, leaving Mom in a psychiatric hospital.

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Read the rest of Kim Hyun-joo headlines new SBS weekend drama (273 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hyun-joo, Kim Jung-hoon, Kim Tae-woo

OCN’s got another original cable drama in the works, and they’ve cast Yang Dong-geun (Grand Prix, I Am Sam, Ruler of Your Own World) as the leading man of Hero. It’s an action series, and the teaser reminds me a whole lot of the initial teaser for Vampire Prosecutor — lots of style, and only a fleeting glimpse of anything — but since that show ended up so fantastic, I’ll consider that a positive correlation.

Despite the title, we’re not dealing with a straight-up, standard leading man here, given that he’s described as “an out-of-control, dumbass hero.” Ha. I’m intrigued.

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Read the rest of OCN lines up new action drama Hero (216 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Yang Dong-geun

Now that we have our hero Joo Won and our villain Park Ki-woong, upcoming sageuk action blockbuster Bridal Mask (Gaksital) is moving on to its leading lady: rookie actress Jin Sae-yeon, who is currently headlining the daily drama My Daughter Flower. You might also recognize her from smaller roles in The Duo or It’s Okay Daddy’s Girl, but overall she’s a relatively new face.

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Read the rest of Joo Won gets his leading lady in Bridal Mask (225 words)

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Post tags: Jin Sae-yeon, Joo-won

Here’s a look at the men of the upcoming fantasy-sageuk-time-traveler drama Rooftop Prince. Yoochun stars as the Joseon-era crown prince and should, in my opinion, always be in sageuks; he just looks so much better in my eyes in that dignified sageuk-wear. Either that or he could just adopt hanbok as his everyday dress, though really, it might just be easier to keep acting in costume dramas.

In the drama, Princey makes the 300-year quantum leap with his entourage, which consists of Lee Min-ho (The Moon That Embraces the Sun), Jung Seok-won (Ojakkyo Brothers), and Choi Woo-shik (Tree With Deep Roots). I’m bracing myself for the inevitable moniker F4, which will undoubtedly be slapped onto this quartet, even though it’s a term that really needs to take a hiatus from popular usage. I guess it’s convenient, though; you won’t find shorter shorthand around to describe a foursome of pretty, pretty young men.

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Read the rest of The Rooftop posse assembles for a test shoot (284 words)

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Post tags: Jung Seok-won, Jung Yumi (2), Lee Min-ho (2), Lee Tae-sung, Micky Yoochun, Rooftop Prince