Heading to the Ground; Dream

2009 was supposed to be the year of the sports drama revival, and it has had its share of sports-themed series, with at least another still to come. Unfortunately, they’ve all tanked.

The two currently struggling on the air are SBS’s fighting drama Dream, which has settled around the 4% mark for the bulk of its run, and MBC’s soccer series Heading to the Ground, which kicked off with a 7.2%, which dropped to an inauspicious 5.6% for its second episode and heads into its second week today.

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This is probably callous of me, but another actor faints on set and all I’ve got to say is: Ho-hum.

It was belatedly revealed over the weekend that Kim Bum fainted on the set of his SBS drama Dream, and was released from the hospital visit after a brief stay and an IV drip. This occurred last week — he shot a fighting scene over the 11th and 12th, then lost consciousness just before filming was scheduled to begin on the 13th. Honestly, I can’t recall if this is the first or second time he’s collapsed on Dream, because news like this is so common these days, and Kim Bum has already taken several trips to the hospital this year as he filmed his last drama, Boys Before Flowers.

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Dream, Hometown of Legends

I knew Queen Seon-deok was doing well, but it’s positively crushing the competition.

I wouldn’t really use the word “juggernaut” for a drama under 40% ratings (20% is popular, 30% is a wild success, and 40% — well, a 40% in this drama climate is a phenomenon). While Seon-deok’s 30% ratings have been strong, they haven’t been that extraordinary, but as the weeks roll by the drama just keeps getting stronger. I wouldn’t compare it to the Jumong phenomenon just yet (which was also a long-running competition-killer and left a lot of rival dramas in the dust), but who knows, at this rate it may end up at the same level.

This week’s episodes of Queen Seon-deok recorded a 37.5% (Monday) and 39.5% (Tuesday). Competitors Dream and the newly premiered Hometown of Legends are left fighting for remnants, which translated into a 6.0% for Dream and 6.8% for Hometown.

Seon-deok is only about halfway through its planned 50-episode run, but if things continue along this trajectory, we can be sure to expect extensions. There’s no way MBC is letting go of a good thing easily; if Seon-deok breaks 40%, it’ll be their first in three years, since Jumong. Who knows, maybe we’ll even get our first “national drama” in a while.

Via Donga

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• Hometown of Legends adds to a horror-filled August
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• Dream: Episode 1
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• Queen Seon-deok premieres in first place

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We’ve seen training photos of Kim Bum, star of SBS’s Dream, and now we turn to one of the lesser characters. Here we have Hyun-woo, member of pop group 24/7 and part of the “Flower Fighters” crew, which is the team of hard-bodied, good-looking athletes that includes Julien Kang, Marco, and singer Chung Lim.

These latest shots feature Hyun-woo in fighting form as he trains in mixed martial arts. He also attended action school to beef up his training regimen, often working out for up to nine hours a day. His new tough image as “Narcissus” (his nickname within the Flower Fighers) shows him in a wholly new light from the cute, romantic image he had portrayed in the sitcom Tae-hee, Hye-gyo, Ji-hyun.

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In the first two episodes of SBS’s new Monday-Tuesday drama Dream, lead actor Kim Bum hasn’t yet begun training his way to mixed martial arts glory, but in these latest preview stills, we get a glimpse of some of his Rocky-esque moments as his Jang-seok character begins physical training.

So far in the drama (MILD SPOILERS AHEAD), we’ve seen his Jang-seok knock out amateur boxing champ Jung-chul with one blow. Sure, Jung-chul was drunk at the time, but given his winning streak of 125 consecutive victories, this feat grabs the attention of sports agent Joo Jin-mo. The next step has Jang-seok joining up with the agent to be trained into a fighter; hence this scene, wherein Jang-seok races up and down a beach dragging a tire. (END SPOILERS)

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