Dramabeans » East of Eden

Who’s to blame for confusing characters?

javabeans — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:06:07 +0000

There have been several discussions on this site about this topic, so I found the following article pretty timely. I both agree and disagree with the points outlined below, but regardless of my personal take on the matter, I’m certain there is enough room for convincing arguments on both sides of the issue…

“Who’s to blame when characters are criticized?”… “Incomprehensible” lead characters, damaged dramas

“I can’t understand my character myself, so how can I act in a way that viewers would sympathize? It’s disappointment upon disappointment.”

This is the confession of Ryu Shi-won, who was thrown into confusion at his incomprehensible character in SBS’s Style, which ended on September 20. With twenty years of acting experience, he found his character’s sudden changes difficult to handle. And it’s not just with Ryu Shi-won. Jung Il-woo, who is currently appearing in KBS’s My Fair Lady, expressed disappointment for similar reasons.

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Post tags: drama production, East of Eden, Jung Il-woo, Lee Da-hae, My Fair Lady, Ryu Shi-won, Style

Ja Myung Go kicks off with a whimper

javabeans — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:58:40 +0000

So, who caught the premiere of Jung Ryeo-won‘s new grand historical series Ja Myung Go [자명고]? (It has apparently dropped the “Princess” from its title.)

…Nobody? Well, you’re not alone — ratings were abysmal (4.1%), considering the months of hype leading up to it.

After trying to maneuver its premiere to evade ratings behemoths East of Eden and Boys Before Flowers, Ja Myung Go‘s Monday “special” broadcast pulled in a weak 5.8%. But that wasn’t too upsetting, since specials that air before a drama’s premiere tend to draw low numbers.

But its first episode on Tuesday aired at probably the worst time ever — it had to contend with the ever-increasing numbers for BBF and the grand exit for Eden.

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, drama ratings, East of Eden, Ja Myung Go, Jung Ryeo-won, Park Min-young

Sending off East of Eden

javabeans — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:36:06 +0000

With East of Eden finally heading to its close this week — Tuesday will broadcast its final episode — the drama’s stars Song Seung-heon and Yeon Jung-hoon gave a closing press conference on the afternoon of Monday, March 9, at Seoul’s Lotte Hotel.

Since I haven’t been covering this drama in detail, you can consider this your East of Eden Open Thread — which means, feel free to comment on anything/everything Eden-related. (I’d done a similar open thread when Tazza ended, although I forgot to keep doing these when other dramas wrapped.)

SONG OF THE DAY

East of Eden OST – “Crazy Woman” by Kim Yeon-ji [ Download ]

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Post tags: East of Eden, press conferences, Song Seung-heon, Yeon Jung-hoon

Flower boy power

javabeans — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:07:51 +0000

Lee Min-ho, Lee Min-ho, Lee Min-ho.

Everywhere you look right now, everyone’s talking about Lee Min-ho. And for good reason, since the formerly little-known actor has experienced a meteoric rise in visibility — and popularity — since last week, headlining KBS’s newest smash success, Boys Before Flowers.

The newfound attention has turned up pictures that show Lee Min-ho with another rising “flower boy” (i.e., pretty boy), Jung Il-woo. Actually, the pictures aren’t new and the friendship isn’t a secret — the two were high school classmates — but Lee Min-ho just wasn’t famous enough for it to be interesting until now.

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 101 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, drama ratings, East of Eden, Jung Il-woo, Lee Min-ho, Return of Iljimae

Finding Merit in the Mediocre [Year in Review, Part 4]

javabeans — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:07:23 +0000

2007 was a rich year for drama-land. There was something for everyone, whether your tastes ran toward dark thrillers (Devil), intense dramas (White Tower), heart-warmers (Thank You), off-the-wall eccentrics (Mixed-up Investigative Agency), trendy fare (Coffee Prince), romantic comedies (Dal Ja’s Spring), and so on.

2008, on the other hand… not so much.

Every drama has its good and bad points, but it’s a lot easier to decide how you feel about one when those qualities are expressed in the extreme — i.e., very good, or very bad. When everything is a muddle in the middle, though, it’s harder to draw the lines.

That’s why in contrast to last year’s “Best” and “The Rest” designations, this year I don’t really distinguish “good” versus “bad” — or even “favorites” and “hated dramas” — and can only grade on a spectrum. I call that spectrum “MEH” with the extreme poles representing “generally watchable” and “generally unwatchable.” It’s just been that kind of year.

SONG OF THE DAY

Painter of the Wind OST – “색” (Color) by JOO [ Download ]

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 75 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Star's Lover, Beethoven Virus, Bulhandang/Robbers, East of Eden, Gourmet, Hong Gil Dong, I Love You, Iljimae, Love & Marriage, On Air, One Mom, Rivals, Strongest Chil Woo, Tazza, The Last Scandal of My Life, The World They Live In, Three Dads, When Night Comes, Who Are You?, year in review

Dahee Fanel’s 2008 Review [Year in Review, Part 3]

Dahee_Fanel — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:04:15 +0000

The K-drama world rolled into 2008 still riding the high that was 2007, a year in which a startling number of quality dramas were made, and enjoyed. Maybe it rolled in too fast. It ended up getting smothered by the waves of its previous success. In fact, you could say that it even got hit on the head by a stray surfboard, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Depressing enough intro for ya?

But seriously, 2008 was a dark year for the K-entertainment industry, with not only dramas, but also movies suffering and generally showing poor quality. And not only that, but the economy went kablooie, and we suffered a sobering amount of tragic K-celebrity news.

Personally, this was a supremely frustrating year for a longtime and devoted K-drama fan like me. Before this year, I always gave dramas the benefit of the doubt, and would usually watch at least a certain number of episodes before I passed judgment on them, and decided to continue or discontinue watching. But this year, with every stomach-churning dud, I became more and more impatient, and started going through drama episodes like a vulture searching for roadkill. And boy, did I find a lot of roadkill.

I’m pretty sure 2008 was a record year for me in terms of abandoning dramas. And to think that I used to be the girl who would finish every drama she started, no matter how bad or how boring they were! But the older I get, the less patience I have, and the more critical I become. Besides, I’ve now realized just how precious my time really is. I don’t want to waste it on useless pap, thankyouverymuch.

Still, despite all that, there were a small handful of quality dramas this year. None of them quite matched the heights of some of the dramas of 2007, but still, any kind of quality was more than welcome in this gloomy year.

SONG OF THE DAY

La Dolce Vita – “사랑 꽃” (Love Flower) [ Download ]

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© Dahee_Fanel for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 60 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Star's Lover, Beethoven Virus, East of Eden, I Love You, Iljimae, Kingdom of Wind, La Dolce Vita, My Sweet Seoul, On Air, Rivals, Spotlight, Strongest Chil Woo, Tazza, The Painter of Wind, The World They Live In, When Night Comes, Who Are You?, year in review

2008 MBC Acting Awards

javabeans — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:30:21 +0000

MBC hosted its awards ceremony for the 2008 Acting Awards on December 30. Let me first reiterate that I think these end-of-year broadcast-station awards are mostly meaningless. That said, this year’s Daesangs were TOTAL WEAKSAUCE, MBC. Top honor (the “Daesang” grand prize) went to…

Oh, you mean it was split this year? Between Beethoven Virus‘s much-lauded epitome of awesomeness, Kim Myung-min, and East of Eden‘s overblown and overrated Song Seung-heon?? I mean, I could understand going for the sentimental vote and awarding deceased Choi Jin-shil (she got a lifetime achievement instead), but Song Seung-heon winning acting awards is in itself a joke.

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 146 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: awards, Bae Yong-joon, Beethoven Virus, Choi Jin-shil, Dennis Oh, East of Eden, Han Ji-hye, Han Ji-min, Jang Geun-seok, Ji Sung, Jung Il-woo, Jung Jun-ho, Kim Min-jung, Kim Myung-min, Lee Dong-gun, Lee Hana, Lee Jia, Lee Jun-ki, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Mi-sook, Lee Yeon-hee, Moon Sori, New Heart, Seo Shin-ae, Shin Sung-rok, Song Seung-heon, The Last Scandal of My Life, Yoon Eun-hye, Yoon Jin-seo

A Grump Reviews 2008 [Year in Review, Part 2]

thunderbolt — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:16:27 +0000

How should one convey bad news in writing? By creating a buffer first. Avoid traumatizing your audience with the bad news all at once, but instead cushion the blow so that you can maintain goodwill. That textbook approach (business communication, by the way) would be dandy if the crop of 2008 dramas I watched was anything like the stellar quality of 2007. But no, this was a harvest to make one downright grumpy.

This time last year, eight dramas vied to be in my Top 3. Even the ones that disappointed weren’t half bad and at least I finished them. Not this year. I picked up around twenty dramas and dropped at least fifteen. “Dropped” is putting it mildly. I ran from some of them like a kid fleeing an apparition: hands in the air and hair standing on end. As the year wore on, my patience wore thin and my grumpiness increased.

So, no, I can’t use the buffer approach when reviewing this year’s dramas. Hedging doesn’t work for this grumpy cookie. I will present to you the worst dramas first, followed by the so-so ones, and then the few gems of 2008. Even though the year was overcast and gloomy, the sun broke through the clouds occasionally and when it did the effect was glorious. Let’s get the bad news out of the way and we can enjoy the good stuff, shall we?

SONG OF THE DAY

Jin Yi-han – “This is the Moment” which he sang (live!) in Episode 3 of Who Are You. [ Download ]

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© thunderbolt for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 89 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beethoven Virus, Bulhandang/Robbers, Conspiracy in the Court, East of Eden, Gourmet, Hong Gil Dong, I Love You, Kingdom of Wind, La Dolce Vita, On Air, One Mom, Rivals, Strongest Chil Woo, The Last Scandal of My Life, The Painter of Wind, The World They Live In, Three Dads, Who Are You?, year in review

More cast members to leave Eden following Lee Da-hae

javabeans — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:04:49 +0000

So, it looks like there is not going to be any kind of consensus on whether Lee Da-hae‘s sudden exit from East of Eden was unprofessional or not. Fans of the actress have been vocal in their defense, a much as others have been critical.

Still, what’s clear is that Lee Da-hae’s exit is going to have effects on the rest of the drama, and other supporting cast members are now going to be cut as a result of her quitting. After all, no man is an island, and no actor acts in a vacuum.

With Lee leaving abruptly, according to a source with the drama, the actors who play roles related to her Min Hye-rin character will most likely be let go early: Park Geun-hyung, Jung Yeon-sook, Jung So-young, and perhaps a few more. These supporting roles are tied in to Lee’s character, and will not be needed once Hye-rin leaves. The actors are still waiting to hear about their fates.

Some viewers have been supportive of Lee’s decision to leave the drama. Yet others are calling her behavior careless and inconsiderate, because as a lead actress she carries more responsibility than just for herself; other people are losing their jobs suddenly because of her.

I’ve read the comments criticizing and defending Lee, and I get that MBC dropped the ball with her character. I get that she felt neglected and misled, and that she wasn’t getting what she thought she signed up for. But really, it’s too bad she couldn’t stick it out just ten more episodes (and someone asked an interesting question — how is it that her health is suffering when she’s only in three minutes per episode?), because the question is not whether this will affect her image, but how much. I’m sure it will eventually blow over, but it won’t be without a cost to her career.

Via Star News

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Lee Da-hae: simply tired, or irresponsible actress?

javabeans — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:07:09 +0000

Lee Da-hae has quit East of Eden. Her decision comes without warning, and is so sudden that viewers have been caught completely off-guard and are wondering why.

She posted on the show’s message board on the 22nd, “It was confusing to take on this character of Hye-rin, who even I can’t understand… As an actor in this drama, I feel a duty and responsibility to stay with it through the end. But I’m sorry to tell you I can no longer act in this situation, feeling this way.” She added, “I don’t want to act saying and doing such illogical, out-of-character things in this role that makes me look like an idiot.”

Apparently the production is currently consulting with the writer on how to write her out of the show; Lee will probably appear for a few more episodes. (Who wants to bet that insulting the writer in her goodbye message isn’t the best way to get a glorious send-off?) Her action has spawned a lot of speculation among fans, some who would like to be understanding and others who decry her act as irresponsible and unprofessional.

Hm, I do have sympathy for actors who get stuck in crap work who feel fooled that they are caught in something they had not signed up for. (I also felt for Kim Jung-eun, who attempted to quit the disastrous Princess Lulu, which lost its mind midway through its run.) Then again, maybe Lee just got tired of playing second fiddle when she thought she’d be the queen bee? Perhaps with one lead actress gone, the drama will forgo its rumored extension; then again, maybe Song Seung-heon and Lee Yeon-hee ‘shippers will get what they want with a lovers’ reunion (or so I gather from all the, uh, vociferous comments in that vein).

It’s too bad, though; I don’t think this helps any regarding Lee Da-hae’s budding prima donna reputation.

Via E Daily, Asia Today

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