Rumors have been circling, but mouths kept hushed about whether some members of hit variety show 1 Night 2 Days would stay for the upcoming second season, scheduled to start filming in two weeks. But Friday marked the current cast’s final trip, where the announcement was made official: longtime members Lee Su-geun and Kim Jong-min, along with last year’s addition Uhm Tae-woong, will remain on the show’s second season.

(...)
Read the rest of Lee Su-geun, Uhm Tae-woong, Kim Jong-min stick with 1N2D (412 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 37 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Joo-won, Kim Jong-min, Kim Seung-woo, Lee Su-geun, Sung Shi-kyung, Uhm Tae-woong

EPISODE 372. Broadcast on February 5, 2012.

girlfriday: The boys gather for the opening and chitchat a little, and note that Seung-gi’s lost some weight. He says it’s for his new drama. He says he’s going to be a king, and Ji-won asks if it’s a sageuk, while Jong-min gets all wrapped up in the story description. Guess at least one of his hyungs will be watching.

javabeans: Na PD introduces today’s trip by referring back to a viewer favorite, for which today will be a second part. Tae-woong immediately blurts, “Actress special!” Too bad for him that’s not it, and Ji-won asks to clarify, “Did WE enjoy it?” Ha. I like how he immediately knows that viewer enjoyment does not necessarily equal member enjoyment.

(...)
Read the rest of 1 Night 2 Days: Episode 372 (2,381 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Eun Ji-won, featured, Kim Jong-min, Lee Seo-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Seung-gi, Lee Su-geun, Uhm Tae-woong

To find the criminal mastermind behind this week’s mystery, our cast will have to piece their clues together on an eerie ship before they go missing themselves. It’s so chock full of secrecy, deception, and intrigue that every turn will leave you with more questions than answers.

EPISODE 79. Broadcast on January 29, 2012.

Late in the night, a messenger drops off a mysterious envelope in front of our members’ doors. One by one, they open their cards to read their message: You’ve been invited to a treasure ship stationed in Busan. Find and claim the treasure for your own.

Jae-suk is suspicious, with memories from Hong Kong still fresh in his mind. “That’s it? There isn’t anything else?” He’s got a point– the cast has every right to be wary of the nefarious RM staff and whatever they’ve got up their sleeves.

(...)
Read the rest of Running Man: Episode 79 (2,073 words)

© gummimochi for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 43 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Haha, Ji Suk-jin, Kang Gary, Kim Jong-kook, Lee Kwang-soo, Running Man, Song Ji-hyo, Yoo Jae-suk

Yay, we’re back on track! Last week was a weird week in that it was the New Year with a pre-emption, giving us fewer episodes than normal, but it was also a rare week that didn’t really speak to me. Considering that the show’s been on the air for months and it was the first week to do that, I’d say it’s pretty impressive.

In any case, I love the movement we get this week, for multiple couples and storylines. This show just has so much heart.

SONG OF THE DAY

Sweet Sorrow – “그대에게 하는 말” (Words Said To You). I did just post Sweet Sorrow recently, but this song is played in Episode 88. [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of High Kick 3: Episodes 85-89 (3,650 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ahn Nae-sang, Baek Jin-hee, featured, High Kick: Counterattack of the Short Legs, Jung Il-woo, Lee Jong-seok, Park Ha-sun, Seo Ji-seok, Yoon Kye-sang, Yoon Yoo-sun

EPISODE 371. Broadcast on January 29, 2012.

javabeans: Su-geun is the first to arrive at basecamp, since his Winter Dinner Table segment was situated nearest.

girlfriday: Seung-gi joins him and confesses that this whole eating thing felt so foreign for 1N2D, and he was concerned for the first time about how much usable footage they’d get.

javabeans: Plus, there’s the fact that his ajumma cooked everything in 2 minutes and barely spoke.

girlfriday: He repeats his earlier fear that it only means there’s something massively bad around the corner.

(...)
Read the rest of 1 Night 2 Days: Episode 371 (3,613 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 33 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Eun Ji-won, featured, Kim Jong-min, Lee Seo-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Seung-gi, Lee Su-geun, Uhm Tae-woong

Yoon Shi-yoon is the next High Kick alumnus to return to the franchise with a cameo, and makes his appearance in the next episode of Counterattack of the Short Legs.

Based on the preview for his episode, Yoon plays Park Ha-sun‘s sunbae from college, whom she had a crush on. It’s funny that he’s a year older than her in real life but looks five years younger; he’s just blessed/cursed with that baby face. The story kicks off when Ji-seok asks Ha-sun about her first love, and she later happens to run into him.

Yoon can thank Season 2, High Kick Through the Roof, for bringing him mainstream attention in 2009, which he then built on with a star turn in 2010′s Baker King Kim Tak-gu. The show’s cameos so far have ranged from great to underwhelming, so I hope Yoon’s is one of the good ones. I appreciate that High Kick features the cameos prominently, usually centering a whole storyline around the guests, which is great; other dramas tend to think that flashing a famous face is enough and don’t otherwise work the star into the plot, which is disappointing. (See: Kim Soo-hyun in the recent Dream High 2 premiere.)

(...)
Read the rest of Yoon Shi-yoon cameos on High Kick 3 (266 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 27 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: High Kick: Counterattack of the Short Legs, Yoon Shi-yoon

EPISODE 78. Broadcast on January 22, 2012.

Happy Lunar New Year Running Man! The cast sends their warmest New Year greetings to their audience with a big bow (and Ji-hyo starts with a small one and belatedly switches to a big one).

(...)
Read the rest of Running Man: Episode 78 (2,166 words)

© gummimochi for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Haha, Hong Soo-hyun, Ji Suk-jin, Kang Gary, Kim Jong-kook, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Kwang-soo, Running Man, Song Ji-hyo, Yoo Jae-suk

Hearts are broken this week, along with mine. We’ve got a lighter load of three episodes and though I don’t mind a lesser workload, our story feels cut off and I feel a little short-handed. Each of these stories could stand on its own but please sir, I want some more.

SONG OF THE DAY

Kang Ta and Taeyeon – “7989″ [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of High Kick 3: Episodes 82-84 (2,001 words)

© gummimochi for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 31 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ahn Nae-sang, Baek Jin-hee, featured, High Kick: Counterattack of the Short Legs, Jung Il-woo, Lee Jong-seok, Park Ha-sun, Seo Ji-seok, Yoon Kye-sang, Yoon Yoo-sun

EPISODE 370. Broadcast on January 22, 2012.

javabeans: The members gather at the studio to do their opening, and make the customary (lunar) New Year’s bow. Uh, what did Seung-gi do to that poor animal that died on his head?

girlfriday: Oh, Puppy. What happened? Did you lose a bet?

javabeans: How can he be so cute and yet have — not one, but — a whole collection of the worst hairstyles ever?

girlfriday: It’s one of the great mysteries of the universe. I’m trying to find a logical explanation, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t one.

(...)
Read the rest of 1 Night 2 Days: Episode 370 (3,371 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 35 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Eun Ji-won, featured, Kim Jong-min, Lee Seo-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Seung-gi, Lee Su-geun, Uhm Tae-woong

So there’s been a whole lot of speculation about the future of Korea’s most beloved variety show, 1 Night 2 Days, since it announced it would be ending with its current cast by the end of February. There was a time KBS considered going in a whole new direction altogether for the timeslot, but did as expected and went with the safe route, and began planning for a Season 2. I actually consider that choice more daunting, since second seasons with new casts rarely do well, and usually spin their wheels being compared to the first season and eventually die out. I’d almost rather have a clean break and give a new show a chance. But then again, my job isn’t dependent on ratings. And since Season 2 cast contender Kim Seung-woo finally opened his mouth about the possibility of joining the show, I figured it was time to weigh in on all the speculation.

(...)
Read the rest of Thoughts on 1 Night 2 Days Season 2 (586 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 87 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Joo-won, Kim Seung-woo, Sung Shi-kyung