Time to check back in with cable rom-com I Need Romance. It’s past halfway, so I thought I’d weigh in on where the show has gone since we met the girls and set the stage for complications, hijinks, and of course, romance. It continues to be breezy but not fluffy, which I like, and I appreciate that while the show doesn’t take itself too seriously, it does portray single life with incisive depth and warmth.

[I Need Romance airs Monday-Tuesday on TvN. You can catch the series at DramaFever]

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Read the rest of I Need Romance: Episodes 3-10 (2,005 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Choi Jin-hyuk, Choi Song-hyun, Choi Yeo-jin, featured, I Need Romance, Jo Yeo-jung, Kim Jung-hoon

New TVN cable drama I Need Romance premiered this Monday and Tuesday, and I checked it out because the premise — thirtysomething single women dealing with life and love – seemed like it had potential for fun. I was actually surprised to like it, and though I don’t have time to recap it (there’s just no way to bend the space-time continuum that way), I think it’s worth sharing my thoughts in an intro/review.

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Read the rest of I Need Romance: Episodes 1-2 (935 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Choi Jin-hyuk, Choi Song-hyun, Choi Yeo-jin, featured, first episodes, I Need Romance, Jo Yeo-jung, Kim Jung-hoon

Kim Jung-hoon, the singer-turned-actor still probably best known as Prince Yul in 2006′s Goong, has been out of the public eye for a while now while completing his military service, and has announced his comeback project: He’ll star in the cable romantic comedy I Need Romance, the Sexy and the City-esque tvN offering that’ll follow Manny.

He’s cast as the film-director love interest to the drama’s heroine, played by Jo Yeo-jung (Bang-ja Chronicle). Her two careerwoman sidekicks will be played by Choi Yeo-jin (Dream) and Choi Song-hyun (Prosecutor Princess).

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Read the rest of Kim Jung-hoon picks his comeback drama (276 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Choi Song-hyun, Choi Yeo-jin, Jo Yeo-jung, Kim Jung-hoon

Hm, it looks like tvN is jumping into the prime-time drama game in earnest with a second midweek drama offering in the works. Manny (about a haughty male nanny working for a careerwoman single mom) is its first, and now it has I Need Romance, another Wednesday-Thursday drama which stars Jo Yeo-jung, the film actress who gained a lot of attention for her role in last year’s ero-sageuk movie Bang-ja Chronicle.

I Need Romance is described as a Sex and the City-esque drama “about the love lives, marriage, careers, and families of twenty- and thirty-something women.” Jo Yeo-jung plays the confident and lovable heroine, who is described as “depict[ing] contemporary women in a realistic way.” Writing is Jung Hyun-jung, who wrote the warm and funny SBS series I Love You, and directing is Lee Chang-han, who also worked on I Love You, as well as Wonderful Life and My Sister-In-Law is 19.

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Read the rest of I Need Romance to be tvN’s next prime-time drama (250 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Choi Song-hyun, Choi Yeo-jin, Jo Yeo-jung

I had a mixed reaction to today’s premiere episode of the SBS drama Dream. Perhaps viewers agreed, as the first installment drew a low 5.4% rating against MBC’s Queen Seon-deok (32.7%) and KBS’s The Man Who Can’t Get Married (8%).

Note that this number was marginally better than its predecessor Ja Myung Go‘s opening number (4.1%), but lower than its finale last week (7.2%). But I’ve said many times that a first episode rating number doesn’t necessarily mean much; it speaks more to the anticipation, not the quality.

SONG OF THE DAY

Bobby Kim – “Maybe” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Dream: Episode 1 (2,251 words)

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Post tags: Choi Yeo-jin, Dream, first episodes, Joo Jin-mo, Kim Bum, Sohn Dam-bi

Ja Myung Go is wrapping up this week, and you know what this means: Next Monday, the much-buzzed-about new drama Dream premieres.

The SBS drama held its production press conference in Busan on July 21, and the lead actors came looking fan-tas-tic. See for yourselves!

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Read the rest of Press conference day for SBS’s Dream (275 words)

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Post tags: Choi Yeo-jin, Dream, Joo Jin-mo, Kim Bum, press conferences, Sohn Dam-bi

SBS’s new drama Dream is about to replace the historical drama Ja Myung Go on Mondays and Tuesdays, and on the 15th held its customary pre-show ceremony to wish for good luck and a successful broadcast.

With the buzz this drama has (mostly over its lead cast of Kim Bum, Joo Jin-mo, and Sohn Dam-bi), expect that curiosity to show itself in the premiere numbers. Whether it can hold onto viewers against MBC’s powerhouse Queen Seon-deok is another story.

Kim Bum explained feeling the weight of expectations, saying, “Of the F4 members, I’m the first to show a transformation. It’s true that I feel pressure. I was aided a lot by borrowing the shell of the So Yi-jung character from the popular original series. I don’t think to be content with one image, but that I should wake up from fantasy and have to change.”

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Read the rest of Cast of SBS’s Dream prays for a successful run (141 words)

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Post tags: Choi Yeo-jin, Dream, Joo Jin-mo, Kim Bum, Sohn Dam-bi

Pop singer-dancer Sohn Dam-bi is giving up on her Hollywood debut and is turning instead to her new drama series, Dream. She had built up some hype (pun, har) for her entrée into Hollywood in the dance-themed film Hype Nation, but due to numerous postponements in the filming schedule, she’s decided to drop the film altogether.

That means she’ll be focusing on the drama Dream instead, which will take over Ja Myung Go‘s Monday-Tuesday timeslot. The drama has added Choi Yeo-jin (Surgeon Bong Dal-hee) and Julien Kang to its cast list, who will join male leads Joo Jin-mo (Frozen Flower) and Kim Bum (Boys Before Flowers).

Kim Bum plays a youngster who takes up mixed martial arts, while Joo Jin-mo plays a sports agent. Julien Kang will take up the role of another mixed martial arts fighter, which may be fitting as he is the younger brother of real-life martial artist Denis Kang. (Julien, 27, is a Korean-Canadian model who’d appeared on the male version of Misuda, aka Global Talk Show, which features a panel of non-Koreans living in Korea.)

And I’m… not feeling this casting. I mean, Kim Bum is a cutie and Joo Jin-mo oozes masculine sexiness, but with all the interesting-sounding dramas coming up, I’m not convinced with this one yet. Julien made his official acting debut playing one of Choi Ji-woo’s movie co-stars in the drama series A Star’s Lover; he was onscreen for about a minute and was, erm, forgettable. Who knows, maybe Sohn Dam-bi will turn out okay, but she’s had no experience so I hold no great hope.

Choi Yeo-jin at least is a decent actress, and she’ll take on the role of a television producer for a station that has exclusive rights to cover mixed martial arts fights.

Via E Daily, No Cut News, My Daily

RELATED POSTS

• Kim Bum turns tough guy for new drama
• More hype for Hype Nation
• Maybe not such a great idea

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Choi Yeo-jin, Dream, Joo Jin-mo, Julien Kang, Kim Bum, Sohn Dam-bi