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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Read the rest of Who’s to blame for confusing characters? (1,472 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 85 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: drama production, East of Eden, Jung Il-woo, Lee Da-hae, My Fair Lady, Ryu Shi-won, Style

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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Read the rest of Ja Myung Go kicks off with a whimper (120 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 65 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, drama ratings, East of Eden, Ja Myung Go, Jung Ryeo-won, Park Min-young

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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Read the rest of Sending off East of Eden (391 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 156 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: East of Eden, press conferences, Song Seung-heon, Yeon Jung-hoon

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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Read the rest of Flower boy power (264 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 87 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

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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Read the rest of Finding Merit in the Mediocre [Year in Review, Part 4] (4,967 words)

© 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, One Mom, When Night Comes, Who Are You?, year in review

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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Read the rest of Dahee Fanel’s 2008 Review [Year in Review, Part 3] (4,255 words)

© Dahee_Fanel for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 57 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Star's Lover, Beethoven Virus, East of Eden, guest bloggers, 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

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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Read the rest of 2008 MBC Acting Awards (1,572 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 144 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: awards, Bae Yong-joon, Beethoven Virus, Choi Jin-shil, Dennis O, East of Eden, fashion, 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 Jung-jin, Lee Junki, 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