How ’bout some new stills from Dating Agency: Cyrano, the upcoming rom-com from tvN? We’ve seen posters and teaser videos, but the drama just released its first stills today, featuring its lead star Lee Jong-hyuk as the gruff boss of the theater troupe–turned–dating agency, which stages encounters designed to put its lovelorn clientele in the best possible light before the objects of their affection.

Since Lee Jong-hyuk follows Uhm Tae-woong’s character from the movie, and like him this character will be sharp, decisive, and cynical… until he meets his romantic match, perhaps? I ask that as a question because there appears to be no Lee Min-jung character in this drama; Sooyoung will be playing the lead, but her character seems rather different from the ladies of the film.

(...)
Read the rest of Dating Agency: Cyrano releases first stills (313 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 61 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cable programs, Lee Jong-hyuk, Lee Yoon-ji

I’ve got double-plus-good news: Lee Jong-hyuk looks smexy in the posters for his new rom-com Dating Agency: Cyrano, and better yet, there’s zero trace of his llama hair from A Gentleman’s Dignity. It’s the little things in life. The new series from tvN is gearing up to premiere this month and has finally released a poster and a few sneak peeks, though so far they’re more conceptual teasers about the premise than actual looks at the drama world.

(...)
Read the rest of Poster and teasers for Dating Agency: Cyrano (327 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 86 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hong Jong-hyun, Lee Chun-hee, Lee Jong-hyuk

EPISODE 15. Broadcast on April 14, 2013.

javabeans: New Variety Roulette! Today we’re checking out the newish show, Dad! Where Are We Going?, which was a hit right out of the gates. The premise is simple, with a bunch of celebrity dads taking their young children on an overnight trip.

girlfriday: Yeah it’s 1 Night 2 Days if the marrieds just brought their kids along, which of course turns it into a completely different show.

javabeans: I really think the charm is in how the presence of these stars’ children strips away a bit of everyone’s variety facade. The best variety moments — for me, at least — are when you see the reality behind the format, when the scripted stuff gives way and you get to laugh at the spontaneous reactions and in-the-moment emotions.

(...)
Read the rest of Variety Roulette: Dad! Where Are We Going? (3,326 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 113 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Lee Jong-hyuk, Sung Dong-il, Variety Roulette

Casting news is rolling in for tvN’s new romantic comedy series Dating Agency: Cyrano, which is based on the film starring Uhm Tae-woong as the matchmaker-turned-romantic-target and which has inexplicably shuffled around the words in its title but made no more sense of them. Is this their one concession toward reminding us that it’s the same story, but different?

The show has already cast Lee Jong-hyuk in the lead role (in the character Uhm played), while Girls Generation idol Sooyoung is in the Park Shin-hye role as one of the dating agency’s employees. Lee Chun-hee was also part of the last round of casting, playing a character new to the storyline.

(...)
Read the rest of The flower boys join tvN’s Dating Agency: Cyrano (285 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 43 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hong Jong-hyun, Jo Yoon-woo, Lee Jong-hyuk

First of all, there’s a new Flower Boy drama on the way. Rejoice! And… Lee Jong-hyuk is headlining? Now, I LOVE me some Lee Jong-hyuk, but don’tcha think he’s more flower ajusshi than boy? The fourth installment of the Oh Boy series for cable network tvN will be Cyrano Dating Agency — and yes, it’s the same agency that Uhm Tae-woong once ran in the movies. He’ll be playing that same character, and is probably a better fit for the smooth-talking puppetmaster of romance, though of course he becomes his own worst enemy when it comes to his own love life. If this is the result of Lee Jong-hyuk dropping I Summon You, Gold, then I think that makes him the winner. Also me.

(...)
Read the rest of Lee Jong-hyuk headlines next tvN Flower Boy series (436 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 92 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cable programs, Lee Chun-hee, Lee Jong-hyuk

javabeans: Dramaland is crazeballs. We knew this. And yet, every day brings more proof. You may not have had upcoming weekend drama I Summon You, Gold on your to-watch list (or even drama radar), but the behind-the-scenes news is turning out to be much more juicy. Also, really confusing.

girlfriday: It’s definitely another life-imitating-art classic King of Dramas scenario. The drama actually swapped creative hands a month out from its premiere?

javabeans: Yes. It’s switching its entire production team in the eleventh hour. What’s craziest about this scenario is not that it lost its lead actor, Lee Jong-hyuk (sadface), or that it’s lost a director or writer or even jumped stations (it hasn’t lost those, just its hero). What’s crazy is that it is switching production companies. As in, the people actually making the show. Who does that? How does that even work?

(...)
Read the rest of I Summon You, Gold loses Lee Jong-hyuk in last-minute shake-up (327 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 51 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conversation post, drama production, Lee Jong-hyuk

New dramas, new dramas everywhere! I’ll never keep them all straight, I tell you. Who has the time to stay on top of an addiction at this rate? At least this one has a good reason to stop and take notice: there’s a new MBC weekend drama called I Summon You, Gold! (It’s a terrible title, but the best approximation of an incantation for gold to come out — of where, who knows.) and it’s courting Lee Jong-hyuk (A Gentleman’s Dignity) to be its leading man. Rawr. Just look at those teasing eyebrows. Those eyebrows KNOW THINGS.

(...)
Read the rest of Lee Jong-hyuk considers new weekend drama (273 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 27 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Lee Jong-hyuk

MBC’s over, KBS is to come (on this site, I mean; the actual awards were held concurrently with this one), so now we turn to the 2012 SBS Drama Awards.

Y’know, I was a little surprised when I came to the SBS show, having expected more titles in the winners roster. Because while MBC can always be counted on to give out ridiculous awards that you don’t agree with, SBS and KBS tend to distribute the prizes a bit more. (That’s not to say I love their process more, because every station uses these end-of-year ceremonies as a politicking tool. It’s just that they are a certain kind of predictable.) But then I took a look at the dramas up for grabs, and realized that SBS must’ve had a pretty dry year too.

In case you’re confused at how the shows are broken down into the various categories (by length, scale, production plans), SBS has three: the miniseries, the drama special, and the weekend/serial.

Miniseries from the past year: King of Dramas, Faith, The Chaser, Fashion King, History of the Salaryman. Drama specials: The Great Seer, To the Beautiful You, Ghost, Rooftop Prince, Take Care of Us Captain. (Wow, I’d forgotten all about Captain. Probably for good cause.) And the weekend serials: My Love Madame Butterfly, Tasty Life, When Tomorrow Comes, Five Fingers, A Gentleman’s Dignity, Dumb Mom, Live in Style.

(...)
Read the rest of 2012 SBS Drama Awards (2,343 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 163 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: awards, Chae Shi-ra, Go Jun-hee, Han Ji-min, Jang Shin-young, Jung Ryeo-won, Jung Yumi (2), Kim Haneul, Kim Min-jong, Kim Sang-joong, Kim Su-ro, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Hyun-woo (2), Lee Jin, Lee Jong-hyuk, Lee Min-ho, Micky Yoochun, Min-ho, Park Hyo-joo, Park Se-young, Park Shi-eun, Shin Eun-kyung, So Ji-sub, Sohn Hyun-joo, Sulli, Yoon Jin-yi, Yuri

FINAL EPISODE RECAP

javabeans: Cold open! Ha, I love that these actors play themselves at half their ages, like in this scene where they’re all decked out in school uniforms and totally playing blind to the fact that they’re acting with, like, 17-year-olds.

girlfriday: This is my favorite, just for the ridiculous factor of these guys in those uniforms.

javabeans: Aw, is this from before they were even all friends?

girlfriday: Okay, I love this. Do we finally get to see how they got to be friends?

(...)
Read the rest of A Gentleman’s Dignity: Episode 20 (Final) (3,770 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 79 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Gentleman's Dignity, conversation post, featured, Jang Dong-gun, Kim Haneul, Kim Min-jong, Kim Su-ro, Lee Jong-hyuk

javabeans: So we’re doing something different with these last two episodes of A Gentleman’s Dignity, because sometimes life gets busy while you’re recapping. Sad but true. But we know that a drama fix is never complete without a finale, so girlfriday and I decided we’d lend a hand and finish things off. But it’s been a while since the show ended, and uh, maybe one of us hasn’t actually been watching it fully, so…

girlfriday: This is gonna be interesting.

javabeans: Or really boring? Because now I remember why I stopped watching…

girlfriday: Guess we’ll find out!

(...)
Read the rest of A Gentleman’s Dignity: Episode 19 (4,338 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 62 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Gentleman's Dignity, conversation post, featured, Jang Dong-gun, Kim Haneul, Kim Min-jong, Kim Su-ro, Lee Jong-hyuk