Since I’ve had a lot of requests for drama recommendations following You’re Beautiful, I thought I’d put this up as its own post. I may be spotty with some of the other genres out there, but I’m ALL about the trendy drama! The following is a list of my recommendations (and some that are not recs but merely possibilities) for trendies that have a similar tone and vibe to You’re Beautiful.

I’m sure many of you have seen many (maybe even all) of the dramas on this list. But some others who haven’t racked up as many drama-watching hours may want a guide to help them navigate the many, many offerings out there.

First, we’ll start with the other the Hong Sisters dramas…

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Scriptwriters Hong Mi-ran, Hong Jung-eun

With SBS’s You’re Beautiful ending this week, I thought I’d like to take a look at the brains behind its wonderfully addicting appeal. I’ve compiled the information below from various interviews over the past few years and highlighted some of their statements about their past dramas.

In case you’re unfamiliar, the Hong Sisters are a team of two sisters who have made a name for themselves in recent years in the kdrama world, notably in the romantic-comedy genre. In five years, they have penned five hit drama series — and while the last two did not break 20% ratings, they did succeed in stirring passionate fan response and creating buzz commensurate with the others. The dramas are:

• Delightful Girl Chun-hyang, KBS 2005
• My Girl, SBS 2005-06
• Fantasy Couple, MBC 2006
• Hong Gil Dong, KBS 2008
• You’re Beautiful, SBS 2009

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What would happen if the descendants of Joseon-era Robin Hood-like hero Hong Gil Dong were alive today and secretly carrying on his legacy of punishing evildoers and helping the poor?

That’s the premise behind the new movie Hong Gil Dong’s Descendants [홍길동의 후예], and it stars Lee Beom-soo (On Air) as that descendant, We Got Married’s Lee Shi-young as his love interest, and comedian Kim Su-ro (Our School ET) as his nemesis.

If you’ve seen the recent drama version of Hong Gil Dong, you know the basic premise of the story (even if the Hong sisters’ writing is prone to the overly exaggerated comic gag). What Hong Gil Dong’s Descendants does is reinvent the basic tale of a chivalrous bandit and place him in modern times, crossing the old folk legend with a dash of Clark Kent-ian Superman.

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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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O, the mediocrity >>

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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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