My pick for Drama of the Year: City Hall.

I’ll start of with an admission.  When javabeans asked me to give my thoughts on 2009, I was pretty excited, and agreed without much thought.  After all, 2009 was the best year of k-drama watching I’ve ever had.  But then it hit me: 2009 was also the only year of k-drama watching I’ve ever had. lol. And so, even given the number of dramas as I have seen this year (probably topping 50) I feel a bit out of my league.  How can I be critique-ing with any legitimacy?  

Nevertheless, I do think a newbie’s perspective on dramas is not necessarily a bad thing - since everything is new to me, it is tougher for me to be jaded.  Like when I saw Save The Last Dance For Me (my third k-drama ever!), I spent days afterwords thinking about what it would be like to have amnesia and then a second round of amnesia where I would forget what I had promised to remember while being forgetful the first time time around…

So while I can’t do an expert review, since I’m not an expert, I can give a newbie opinion on what worked for me, and what didn’t.  First though, a little background on me so that you know where I am coming from.  Sample of pre-2009 dramas that I liked:  My Love Patzzi, Who Are You, Full House, Save The Last Dance For Me, Two Outs In The Bottom of the Ninth, and Super Rookie.  These dramas tend to mix cuteness and heart together in a way that Western television shows still haven’t figured out how to do consistently.  I think it has something to do with the soundtrack songs that act as demi leit motifs and burrow the sentiment of the drama into your heart and mind. I mean would Full House have been as good, without “I Think I” by Byul? Or how good would Save The Last Dance For Me have been, without Edward Chun’s breath-y lyrics?

And taking it up a notch, here is a sample of pre-2009 dramas I loved:  Goong, Coffee Prince, Bad Family, Dal Ja’s Spring, Hong Gil Dong and My Girl.  Even more than the first group, these latter dramas did more than just create a nice balance of cuteness and heart; these dramas created a love story so palpable and real that, if you wanted to, you would need both hands to reach out and hold onto one.  And lastly, my first and still favorite drama of all is My Name is Kim Sam Soon, which combined everything – the cuteness, heart, love story, wonderful acting and a kickass OST.

Enough with the old, however. In no particular order, here are my thoughts on 2009 (oh, btw, hit “play” for the mp3 so you get the full technicolor and sound effects of this review. if the song ends, and you’re not done reading, then just scroll back up and hit play again. hehehe!):

SONG OF THE DAY

City Hall OST – “웃어봐” (Laugh) by Chae Dong-ha [ Download ]

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Read the rest of A Newbie Reviews 2009 [Year In Review, Part 3] (3,980 words)

© samsooki for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 155 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Accidental Couple, Assorted Gems, Cinderella Man, City Hall, Friend Our Legend, IRIS, Job Well Done, Kyung Sook Kyung Sook's Father, My Fair Lady, Partner, Queen Seon-deok, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Story of a Man, Tamra the Island, Temptation of Wife, 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

With Brilliant Legacy out of the picture, KBS’s cheery family drama Sons of Sol Pharmacy has reclaimed the top spot as the number 1 weekend drama after ten weeks of being pushed aside by the now-wrapped Brilliant Legacy.

Sol Pharmacy‘s Saturday episode recorded a 26.3% just as its storyline gets more interesting in the Dae-pung and Bok-shil area. On the other hand, a new contender, SBS’s Style, premiered well with a 17.6%. That number made it number 1 in its time slot, and number 2 among the weekend dramas overall.

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Read the rest of Sol Pharmacy reclaims top weekend spot (241 words)

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Post tags: drama ratings, Friend, Iron Empress, Job Well Done, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Style

SBS’s Saturday-Sunday drama Brilliant Legacy [찬란한 유산, aka Shining Inheritance] is pulling in the highest ratings among the weekend dramas, with yesterday’s episode recording a 26.8%. It airs against KBS’s historical series Iron Empress (13.3%) and MBC’s Strike Love (4.1%, ouch).

Meanwhile, at an earlier hour (weekends air two hours of dramas), the lively and enjoyable Sons of Sol Pharmacy House (aka My Too Perfect Sons) on KBS is holding strong with a 21%, over SBS’s Does Anybody Love (11.3%) and MBC’s Job Well Done (aka Good Job, Good Job; this Saturday canceled its broadcast due to an hour on ex-President Roh Moo-hyun’s death, but last Sunday’s episode brought in a 10.2%).

I’m not following Brilliant Legacy/Shining Inheritance, but I know a bunch of you are, and are enjoying it. (I’m sure the good-looking young cast doesn’t hurt! Moon Chae-won and Han Hyo-joo are both improving as actors and lovely ladies — even with Han’s hair resembling a mushroom cap, although she’s cute enough that she can pull it off. Meanwhile, Lee Seung-gi is playing against type as the bad boy, while Bae Soo-bin is always handsome, isn’t he?)

I caught the first episode and thought it was okay, but it just didn’t speak to me, I suppose. I am following two other weekend shows, however, and enjoying both Strike Love for the sweet romance and Sons of Sol Pharmacy House for its hilarious comedy.

What say you about the weekend dramas?

Via My Daily, Asia Economy

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 69 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bae Soo-bin, Brilliant Legacy, Han Hyo-joo, Iron Empress, Job Well Done, Lee Seung-gi, Moon Chae-won, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Strike Love

There are a couple of new dramas on the block, although I don’t know if either of them will make a splash. Both come from MBC, who’s probably sweating bullets now that East of Eden has left the building, and taken with it its high-profile stars, its twisty storylines, its onscreen and offscreen drama — and oh yeah, its consistently solid ratings.

The first of the new shows to air is the Chae Rim vehicle Good Job, Good Job [잘했군 잘했어], which kicked off this weekend. Next will be Monday and Tuesday’s new offering, Queen of Housewives [내조의 여왕].

The reason I think both MBC dramas have a steep uphill climb ahead of them isn’t because they’re both sure to suck. Rather, both look cheerfully good-natured; too bad this is the age of the “makjang drama” — those over-the-top dramas we love to hate but watch anyway (or 욕하면서 보는 드라마).

(No really, it’s practically becoming a genre in and of itself. Evil characters, birth secrets, terminal illnesses, over-the-top violence, convoluted love geometry — this is the era of all of ‘em.)

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Read the rest of Good Job, Queen of Housewives (451 words)

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Post tags: Chae Rim, Daniel Choi, drama ratings, Eom Ki-joon, Ja Myung Go, Job Well Done, Kim Nam-joo, Oh Ji-ho, Queen of Housewives, Seo Hyo-rim

If you, like me, thought that Eom Ki-joon as a bastard-y, womanizing drama director was the best part about The World They Live In and his storyline with Seo Hyo-rim the most interesting, you may be interested to see them together again in MBC’s new weekend drama, Good Job, Good Job [잘했군 잘했어] (working title).

Although they shared a romantic storyline in World, however, they’ll be romantically paired with other actors here — Eom will be linked with Goong S‘s Queen in her first post-divorce comeback, Myung Se-bin, while Seo is matched up with their World co-star Daniel Choi.

The new drama will take the timeslot currently showing Moon Sori’s Golden Age of My Life, and premieres in March. Eom, meanwhile, is up for a Baeksang award for his World role in the new actor category.

Via Star News

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Daniel Choi, Eom Ki-joon, Job Well Done, Seo Hyo-rim