Rather than a recap, this is more of a first impressions/summary of the first two episodes. In fact, the first two episodes were short enough that I don’t think it merits a full recap. If you’re a fan of IRIS and ATHENA, you might enjoy this one. If you love Hwang Jung Min, you’re probably bound to watch this no matter what. I’m none of the above, but I sure am an action/political thriller junkie!!

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Read the rest of Hanbando / Korean Peninsula: Episodes 1-2 (3,022 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, featured, first episodes, Hwang Jung-min, Kim Jung-eun

A strong premiere for Operation Proposal. I was oddly excited and nervous about this show since my expectations were based off of its Japanese original, Proposal Daisakusen: Operation Love.  Remakes are usually a hit or miss which largely depend on the cohesion of the drama trifecta of writing, directing, and acting. But we’ve got a pretty solid start to our story and characters here and shows promise for this series. A bit of the whimsical, a slight taste of outrageous, but a lot of heart.

What would you do if you had another shot to fix your past to change your present?

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Read the rest of Operation Proposal: Episode 1 (3,206 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, featured, first episodes, Lee Hyun-jin, Operation Proposal, Park Eun-bin, Yoo Seung-ho

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

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

Yeon Jung-hoon hit it big with cable in last year’s sensation, Vampire Prosecutor, and now he’s heading back (though on a different station) for another drama, tentatively titled For the Emperor. (Another reading: Here’s To the Emperor.)

No, it’s not a sageuk or a fantasy empire we’re dealing with. The plot deals with a young CEO with the Midas touch, who considers money to be the most important thing in the world. He literally calculates everything in terms of money, but his success has also earned him the reputation of being a tyrant; ergo, he suffers from “emperor complex.”

The emperor/CEO finds himself entangled in a strange conspiracy, however, and over the course of the drama learns what people and life are really about. His character is described as possessing a masculine charisma, to which I say, Duh. We all saw him kicking ass and taking names — and sucking blood while solving crimes, while he’s at it — didn’t we?

This one’s being produced for MBN to air on weekends, and although Vampire Prosecutor’s Season 2 is still on the table, that series has yet to solidify any concrete production plans, meaning we’ll be seeing Yeon in For the Emperor first.

Mr. Emperor had himself a youthful love; the leading lady role is still in the process of being cast. The drama will follow What’s Up on weekends, premiering in late February.

Via My Daily

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Post tags: cable programs, Yeon Jung-hoon

Yet another show a week out from premiere: the fantasy youth melodrama Operation Proposal starring Yoo Seung-ho and Park Eun-bin has released some cast photos as well as a teaser. The remake of the Japanese Proposal Daisakusen is getting ready to launch on the new cable network TV Chosun, and has made a last-minute scheduling change to go from a Monday-Tuesday timeslot to a Wednesday-Thursday one. It wasn’t in direct contention for the 10 o’clock hour against Dream High 2 (and neither is Shut Up Flower Band which is slated for the 11 o’clock hour) but I have a feeling that given the same target audience, three shows in one night might seem like too much to expect, even from diehard fans.

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Read the rest of Operation Proposal cast photos and teaser (299 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Operation Proposal, Park Eun-bin, Yoo Seung-ho

Twelve Men in a Year is getting ready to unveil next month, and here are some stills and the first preview for the rom-com drama starring Yoon Jin-seo as Miru, a writer who takes on the idea of dating a man from each zodiac sign. Hence, twelve men in a year.

Ohn Joo-wan (My Love By My Side) is the main love interest, and Go Jun-hee has been cast as a photographer who works at the magazine. Now Bae Geu-rin (49 Days) joins them playing a character reminiscent of 200 Pound Beauty‘s Hana; she gets full-body plastic surgery and transforms herself into a beauty.

At one word of praise from our hero, Bae falls for him and chases him around, which sounds like a cute loveline. Bae Geu-rin has a cute charm to her acting, and she showed us that she could play the part of dogged admirer as A.N.JELL’s fan club president in You’re Beautiful, which means Ohn Joo-wan may find his hands full fending off her advances. Hee. (...)
Read the rest of Twelve Men in a Year adds to cast, releases preview (231 words)

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Post tags: Bae Geu-rin, cable programs, Yoon Jin-seo

Yoo Seung-ho‘s rival has been cast for the upcoming fantasy-romance drama Operation Proposal, and it’s the charismatic up-and-comer Lee Hyun-jin, aka the only actor/character I cared about in You’ve Fallen For Me (he played stagefright-stricken Ki-young; the reason I only liked him was because everyone else seemed strangely anemic, while his acting always had a crackle of energy to it, no matter the scene).

Lee Hyun-jin plays the man to whom our hero Baek-ho (Yoo Seung-ho) loses the girl the first time around. Baek-ho realizes his feelings for his longtime friend Yi-seul (Park Eun-bin) too late, literally at the wedding itself as she’s about to tie the knot.

Lee Hyun-jin plays the bridegroom — talented, passionate, well-mannered, but also possessing a tough streak, all wrapped up in the perfect package. Thankfully for Baek-ho, a second chance to win his love presents itself when he manages to time-travel back to his adolescence, when he can get hopefully it right this time.

I like this casting a lot, because I think Lee Hyun-jin has the ability to make a seemingly simple character into somebody more complex and interesting. A few of his other credits include Family Honor, Assorted Gems, and Kimchi Cheese Smile, as well as the cute queer short Boy Meets Boy.

Operation Proposal premiers on new cable channel TV Chosun on February 6.

Via Chosun

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 60 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cable programs, Lee Hyun-jin, Operation Proposal, Yoo Seung-ho