I stopped watching Style a while ago (I couldn’t take it anymore, it got on my nerves), but I’m still keeping an eye on the news about it, since it’s holding steady in the ratings in the mid-upper teens. (It hasn’t yet broken 20%, and has recently slipped into second place behind KBS’s weekend drama Iron Empress.) It doesn’t surprise me that the drama is now being criticized for its excessive shilling of products — as the article below points out, product placement in and of itself is fairly common these days, but when it crosses the line, viewers will notice that the drama starts feeling empty of actual story.

“A magazine 100% free of advertising? Are you joking?”

That’s a line of dialogue that magazine editor Park Ki-ja (Kim Hye-soo) fires at Seo Woo-jin (Ryu Shi-won) in SBS’s drama Style. Replace the word “magazine” with “drama” and you’ll hit the mark regarding Style.

Watching Style, with its fancy visuals, is like watching an hour of advertising. To some extent, it’s unavoidable to show what the characters like to drive, wear, eat, and use. However, Style is also coming under fire for this display and the characters’ conspicuous dialogue.

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Read the rest of Style criticized for excessive product placement (432 words)

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Post tags: drama production, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Style

I tend to agree with viewers of SBS’s Style that, despite its title, the fashions and feel of the drama lack a certain stylish flair. (Kim Hye-soo is looking fierce, but everything and -one else feel somewhat bland.) However, the drama sure isn’t skimping on the parade of luxury cars, and are adding yet another in this weekend’s upcoming episode.

Thus far, Kim Hye-soo’s fashion editor character, Park Ki-ja, has been seen driving around a Maserati Quattroporte S, valued at approximately $130,000. Her romantic interest, the famous macrobiotic chef played by Ryu Shi-won, has equally fancy wheels with the Maserati GranTurismo S, valued at approximately $140,000. However, as though that’s not enough, one of the Maseratis gets upgraded in an upcoming episode to a Ferrari.

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Read the rest of Luxury cars turn heads in Style (123 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Style

As announced, weekend drama Style has some upcoming star cameos in the works, and it looks like they’re using them all up in the same episode. The crew shot the scene (a party for the fictional Style magazine’s 200th issue) on August 10 and has released some behind-the-scenes images. As we know, Kang Ji-hwan is one of those stars, but joining him on the faux red carpet were members of pop group 2NE1, singer Bada, actress Cha Ye-ryun, and others.

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Read the rest of Style abounds with star cameos (169 words)

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Post tags: 2NE1, Bada, Cha Ye-ryun, Kang Ji-hwan, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Lee Yong-woo, Sandara Park, Style

So, Style. SBS’s new Saturday-Sunday drama is off to a great ratings start (mid-to-upper-teens), and given its competition (Friend, Our Legend and Iron Empress), it’s likely to stay that way.

I have mixed feelings about this show so far. It’s somewhat watchable, although the degree of one’s enjoyment is probably tied closely to how appealing one finds the characters. That’s one of my big blocks: there is not one character I like. I don’t hate them either, but there’s a slickness to this drama that coats the surface with its superficial sheen and makes it difficult to see the heart inside. If there is one. Still, there are pleasant, light parts that make up for some — but not all — of the weirdness of the plot.

SONG OF THE DAY

House Rulez – “Maldives” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Style: Episode 1 (2,693 words)

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Post tags: episode recaps, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Lee Yong-woo, Ryu Shi-won, Style

 
Official posters are out for SBS’s Style, which premieres August 1.

I… don’t have much to say about them, really. (They’re not BAD. I don’t think they’re exciting, either, though.) Judge for yourselves:

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Read the rest of Official posters for Style (48 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Ryu Shi-won, Style

Two weeks to go till Style premieres, which means we’re getting lots of news (or rather, “news”) about the drama these days. Maybe the reason I remain lukewarm on the fashion drama is because we’re only getting a glut of pictures, rather than interesting plot tidbits or actual descriptions.

Kim Hye-soo has provided us with another set of photos, this time uploaded to her cyworld mini-homepage. She’s shown on the set playing her deputy editor persona at the drama’s fictional fashion magazine.

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Read the rest of Behind-the-scene candid shots from Style (71 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hye-soo, Style

This batch is better than the last group of promotional stills from Style with their ugly blue backdrop (which I do know will probably be used to swap in some cutesy background images later — but my question is, why didn’t they bother to do that first before officially releasing them, then?).

The photos were taken during the drama’s promo and poster shoot on July 6 at SBS’s Ilsan production center set location. I’m still not quite sold on the characters’ wardrobes (Ryu’s in particular), but at least in terms of styling the ladies are looking glam, in particular the sultry Kim Hye-soo.

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Read the rest of Another look at Style promo photos (76 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Lee Yong-woo, Ryu Shi-won, Style