After a pretty meh 2008, I was ready for the drama landscape to fire back up with 2009. And while there were a number of misses and disappointments — isn’t there always? — I was pretty satisfied with the dramas I watched in 2009. I still don’t think there were as many top offerings as, say, 2007, but I found a number of series to entertain me and satisfy my drama craving. There were a few selections early on that got me pumped for the year and things lagged during and after the summer months, but all told, I had an entertaining year.

(Okay, this is LONG. I tried to contain myself, really.)

SONG OF THE DAY

IRIS – “Empty” by Juni [ Download ]

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Read the rest of All Told, A Pretty Fun Year [Year In Review, Part 4] (7,596 words)

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, Cinderella Man, Dream, Heading to the Ground, Hero, Hon, IRIS, Kyung Sook Kyung Sook's Father, My Fair Lady, Partner, Queen Seon-deok, Return of Iljimae, Smile, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Story of a Man, Style, Swallow the Sun, Tamra the Island, Triple, Will It Snow For Christmas, year in review, You're Beautiful

With the year coming to an end, that means it’s time to take stock of the past twelve months (well, eleven really) in kdramas. The broadcast stations will be holding their awards ceremonies at the end of the month, and I’m working on my wrap-up of 2009′s offerings — as are some very talented (and prolific!) drama-watching fans — which I’ll post up closer to the end of the year.

But this is your turn to weigh in on what you liked or didn’t. I didn’t do a year-end poll last year (after putting one up in 2007) and people seemed to really want one, so it’s back.

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Read the rest of How was 2009 for you? (1,304 words)

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Post tags: A Star's Lover, Accidental Couple, Angel's Temptation, Boys Before Flowers, Brilliant Legacy, Cain and Abel, Cinderella Man, City Hall, Dream, Friend, Heading to the Ground, Hero, Hon, IRIS, Ja Myung Go, Job Well Done, Loving You a Thousand Times, My Fair Lady, Partner, Queen of Housewives, Queen Seon-deok, Return of Iljimae, Smile, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Story of a Man, Strike Love, Style, Tamra the Island, Triple, year in review

It’s been a little while since Dream faded from airwaves, but its star Kim Bum is getting ready to launch his new movie, Flight [비상], which will be released next week. Here’s a recent interview with the actor talking about those two projects and his acting life after Boys Before Flowers:

“Dream‘s failure became a chance for me to look back at myself”

Contrary to his “pretty boy” looks, Kim Bum is exceedingly daring and aggressive. Not toward people, but toward his projects.

Of the lead actors who starred in KBS’s popular Boys Before Flowers, nobody has worked as continuously as Kim Bum. He could have taken a long break and worked on managing his image and popularity, but instead he raced on with the drama Dream and movie Flight (Bisang).

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Read the rest of Kim Bum is poised to take flight (589 words)

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Post tags: Dream, interviews, Kim Bum

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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Read the rest of Sports dramas struggle to stay in the game (577 words)

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Post tags: Dream, Heading to the Ground, Strike Love, Taereung National Village, The Last Match, Triple

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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Read the rest of Another actor collapses on set (585 words)

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Post tags: Dream, Kim Bum, overworking, ranty/ravey, star accidents

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

RELATED POSTS

• Hometown of Legends adds to a horror-filled August
• Dream: Episode 2
• Dream: Episode 1
• Horror dramas Hon and Hometown of Legends
• Queen Seon-deok premieres in first place

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 37 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: drama ratings, Dream, Hometown of Legends, Queen Seon-deok

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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Read the rest of Dream’s Flower Fighter Hyun-woo (98 words)

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Post tags: Dream, Hyun-woo, singers

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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Read the rest of Sneak peek at Kim Bum’s training session for Dream (114 words)

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Post tags: Dream, Kim Bum

Argh, Dream did it again. After Episode 1 had aired, I was on the fence about continuing the drama, but pretty close to jumping off that fence. Most of Episode 2 did little to convince me otherwise, and I was content to let this drama go on without me. But again, the last ten minutes managed to be more interesting than the first fifty combined, so I find myself dragged along a little bit longer. (Note: I don’t think I’m going to continue recapping — not unless Episode 3 is whiz-bam-bow! fantastic, and really, those odds aren’t high — just to let you know.)

The reason for my (and the public’s) lukewarm reaction, I think, is simple: When you put Kim Bum and Sohn Dam-bi together, meh. He’s adorable, she’s bland. Together, they’re boring. Then you try the combination of Sohn Dam-bi and Joo Jin-mo, but again, yawn. He’s great and she’s, again, bland, and together they are predictable.

But then you put Kim Bum and Joo Jin-mo together, as they do in this episode, and things finally wake up.

SONG OF THE DAY

MC Mong – “나비효과” (Butterfly Effect) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Dream: Episode 2 (2,157 words)

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

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