The fighting is over for drama series Cinderella Man, which had been accused of plagiarism in May by the production company of another proposed drama. On July 24, nearly two months after the drama limped to its June 4 finale, Cinderella Man and its production company, Core Contents Media, got an official apology and retraction.

Back in May, production company LK had said in an interview that Cinderella Man had ripped off a drama it had been developing called Fashion King. Core Contents immediately countered the claims and jumped to defend Cinderella Man’s producers and writer, going so far as to sue both LK and the media source for defamation.

On July 24, the paper issued a correction, while Fashion King writer and representative Kim Ki-ho publicly stated, “After examining Cinderella Man, there is too weak of a basis for the claim, so it is not plagiarism.” And thus concludes this chapter in fashion-drama sniping.

Via Star News, No Cut News

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• Kwon Sang-woo would like more viewers, please
• First impressions: MBC’s Cinderella Man

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Post tags: Cinderella Man, Kwon Sang-woo, lawsuits

The following article looks at pop singers who make the jump to acting and kind of falls into the “No duh” category with its statement of the obvious. But I think the topic is interesting, even if the article is overly simplistic. (It could have been a more persuasive piece if it had looked at more examples, for instance.) As a jumping-off point, it does the job, given how many idol stars are trying to make the leap into acting careers these days, some with more success than others.

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Read the rest of Idol stars struggle with acting debuts (647 words)

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Post tags: Brilliant Legacy, Cinderella Man, Kim Hyun-joong, Lee Seung-gi, Park Su-jin, Queen Seon-deok, Yoon-ah

See, now this is just funny.

First, fashion-world-centered drama Cinderella Man was accused of plagiarism by the folks behind the proposal for Fashion King. Then Style announced its casting and called itself the Korean Devil Wears Prada. Magazine Allo announced its casting and also made a reference to The Devil Wears Prada. Then Style accused Allo of plagiarism. And now Cinderella Man is suing Fashion King for libel.

(Do none of these people understand what copyright infringement even is? You can’t plagiarize an idea, people, just like you can’t copyright a title. It’s the content that matters!)

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Read the rest of Cinderella Man fights back, sues Fashion King (315 words)

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Post tags: Cinderella Man, lawsuits, Magazine Allo, Style

There’s only one fashion-themed show on the air right now — MBC’s Wednesday-Thursday Cinderella Man — but soon, we’ll have three. KBS and SBS are also following the trend with fashion-themed dramas of their own.

First will be KBS, who will follow the current romantic comedy Accidental Couple with their series Magazine Allo (working title). The plot revolves around an outsider to the glossy fashion-mag biz, who comes in to work at Allo magazine and does her best to survive in the new competitive work culture (so… Devil Wears Prada meets Ugly Betty?) This drama will be a Wednesday-Thursday series and premieres on June 24.

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Read the rest of Get ready for a glut of fashion dramas (365 words)

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Post tags: Cinderella Man, fashion, Lee Jia, Magazine Allo, Style

And wouldn’t we all?

Oh, Kwon Sang-woo. I understand that you’re in something of a career slump after being one of the hottiest hotties of the early 2000s, and yeah, both your best buds Song Seung-heon and So Ji-sub came off pretty strong series in the past two months… but is bargaining for more viewers really the way to go about it?

Ratings for his new trendy drama Cinderella Man have been low, and Kwon offered that if they rose above 20% (ha!), he’d personally ask co-star Yoon-ah’s girl pop group Girls Generation (SoShi) to make a cameo.

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Read the rest of Kwon Sang-woo would like more viewers, please (648 words)

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Post tags: Bad Love, Cinderella Man, drama ratings, Han Eun-jung, interviews, Kwon Sang-woo, Sohn Tae-young, Song Chang-eui, Yoon-ah

On Wednesday, Cinderella Man premiered to a disappointing 9.3% rating, which dropped further to 6.7% on its second day. (It was up against Cain & Abel and I Hate You But Let’s Try Again, which both pulled in numbers in the 15%-19% range.)

I’ll always take the stance that ratings aren’t strictly indicative of a show’s quality, so I don’t think the numbers automatically say the show sucks. However, after seeing the first two episodes, I can see why the show received such a lukewarm response. Articles discussing the show’s first week point out the shaky quality, which range from complaints of Kwon Sang-woo’s muddy diction (”It requires subtitling!”) and exaggerated accent, as well as Yoon-ah’s acting and insufficient range of expression.

Personally, I didn’t think Cinderella Man was actually bad. It was okay. Inoffensive. It just… wasn’t very exciting.

SONG OF THE DAY

Biuret – “Dreams Come True.” Hm, maybe this song is too energetic for this post… Oh well. Just know that the drama ain’t anywhere near as upbeat as this fun song by Biuret, whose second album released a couple months ago. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of First impressions: MBC’s Cinderella Man (1,837 words)

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Post tags: Cinderella Man, episode recaps, Han Eun-jung, Kwon Sang-woo, Song Chang-eui, Yoon-ah

So, what’s airing these days?

After a popular phenomenon of a drama ends, people tend to wonder, What next? Even if you haven’t been watching Boys Before Flowers, maybe you’re wondering what else is out there.

So here’s a rundown of all the dramas currently airing, and a list of those to keep an eye on as they beginning premiering soon. I can’t speak for every single drama out there, but I’ve tried to provide most of them with a short description and/or personal impression.

SONG OF THE DAY

Fly to the Sky – “Song For You” from their latest (and last) album, “Decennium.” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Currently airing dramas: A roundup (1,878 words)

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Post tags: Cain and Abel, Cinderella Man, City Hall, Friend, IRIS, Iron Empress, Ja Myung Go, Queen of Housewives, Return of Iljimae, Six Months, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Story of a Man, Swallow the Sun, Triple