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

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

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I have the feeling that the summer horror trend already has its winner in MBC’s drama Hon, but KBS’s Hometown of Legends is trying to catch up when it premieres today for its short (eight-episode) run this month. Here’s its newest poster, featuring new actress Lee Sae-na as a ghost.

The two dramas take pretty different approaches to the genre so I doubt they’ll be overstepping each other’s audiences — Hon is a modern psychological thriller, while Hometown tends to tell its folktales with an allegorical bent and features classic ghost-story characters like bloodsuckers, ghosts, and the gumiho.

Of the two, Hometown faces the more difficult obstacle by going up on Mondays and Tuesdays against established hit Queen Seon-deok. Hon, in comparison, is gaining ground on its Wednesday-Thursday competitor, Swallow the Sun, and may soon challenge it for the top spot; Partner has slipped further behind in third place. Given how strongly Seon-deok is performing, the Monday-Tuesday battle really is for second place; if Hometown scrapes ahead of poorly-performing Dream, it ought to be considered a success.

Hometown of Legends airs its first episode today, August 10.

Via Hankyung

RELATED POSTS

• Hon: Episode 1
• Horror dramas Hon and Hometown of Legends
• MBC’s Hon (Soul) releases first stills
• Hometown of Legends, Episode 1: The Gumiho
• Hometown of Legends / Legendary Hometown

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Lee Seo-jin of Hon

Since horror is supposed to offer a chill in the hot summer months, we can see why there’s such a sudden burst of horror material these days. Two television dramas will soon add to the tally, giving us a Monday-thru-Thursday lineup of horror through August and September.

MBC’s Hon (”Soul”) is first, premiering next Wednesday and starring Lee Seo-jin (Yi San), Lee Jin (King and I), and newcomer Im Joo-eun. The drama recently released its latest teaser posters in anticipation of its August 5 airdate.

[Read more →]

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Like MBC before it, KBS has also released its list of year-end acting award nominees.

And while Hong Gil Dong (above) wasn’t the most prominent drama featured among the contenders (that would have to be the daily drama Mom’s Dead Upset, which brought in a whopping four nominations just in the Daesang category), it’s the one I watched and enjoyed in what I thought was a rather lackluster list. (Also! Kang! Ji! Hwan!)

The (very long) list of KBS actors is topped by a subset of nine Daesang contenders, which includes the aforementioned crowd of Mom’s Dead Upset veterans as well as Song Il-kook in the sageuk Kingdom of the Wind, Kim Sang-kyung in the sageuk Great King Sejong, and Kang Ji-hwan in the fusion-sageuk Hong Gil Dong. (A big sageuk year, no?)

Take a full look at the nominations >>

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Advice from the tired and extremely footsore: if most of your campus goes straight up and down, wear comfy shoes. Also, do not fall behind on your readings. Ever.

Well, here we are at the end of the road. I expected it to be more Saw and Grudge-like (I admit, all the eye-related CGI scare the living daylights out of me), but I’m fine with the poignant, human side of tragedy too. It’s nice to have a series like this where every episode is its own story because then you choose the one that sounds good to you, and you can pick up the series in the middle of airing because there are no spoilers.

SONG OF THE DAY

Pe2ny – “Alive” feat. Tablo, Yankie [ Download ]

Episode 8: The Returning Lady >>

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