Congratulations to another star couple: film and drama actors Han Jae-seok and Park Sol-mi just got hitched today (April 21) in Seoul. They look adorably happy, which I suppose is a good way to look on your wedding day.

Both actors have a pretty lengthy tenure in dramaland — Park Sol-mi’s debut drama was 2001′s Our House while Han Jae-seok’s career dates all the way back to 1995 with SBS drama Jazz — but it wasn’t till they were both working on 2010′s KBS sageuk drama Merchant Kim Man-deok that they met and began dating. (In case you can’t quite place where you’ve seen them, Han Jae-seok was also in Glass Shoes, Women in the Sun, and most recently Oohlala Spouses, where I was rooting for him the whole way through to flout drama convention and win the heroine. Sigh, that show. Park Sol-mi, meanwhile, has also been in Winter Sonata, All In, Style, and Beloved You.)

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Read the rest of Han Jae-seok and Park Sol-mi’s star-studded wedding (165 words)

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Post tags: Choi Yeo-jin, Go So-young, Han Jae-seok, Jang Dong-gun, Joo Jin-mo, Kim Min-jong, Kim Seung-woo, Kim Su-ro, Lee Min-ho, Lee Tae-ran, weddings

Dude. WHY. Why why why with the repeat pairing that will not die in dramaland? Jung Yong-hwa and Park Shin-hye AGAIN? It’s been confirmed that the pair who were costars in 2009′s You’re Beautiful and again in 2011′s You’ve Fallen For Me are going to be reunited for a third time. Jung Yong-hwa just been cast in Kim Eun-sook’s next big rom-com Heirs (He Who Wishes To Wear the Crown, Endure Its Weight: Heirs) starring Lee Min-ho, due out this fall.

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Read the rest of Jung Yong-hwa cast opposite Park Shin-hye again, seriously (251 words)

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Post tags: Heirs, Jung Yong-hwa, Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye

In case you missed our first attempt at Mystery Drama Theater 3000, we’re bringing the concept back, only this time we’ve picked a less obscure show.

For our first outing we picked a show that was less-watched because we thought it would be nice to weigh in on something we hadn’t previously talked about. However, that also made the show harder to find, so for Numero 2 we’re going in the complete opposite direction (Dramabeans: The Land of Extremes and No In-Betweens!).

This time we’ve gone with a drama recognized by everybody and their mother (seriously, your mom’s probably seen it), which we’ve covered extensively on this here site: Boys Before Flowers, probably THE pop-culture sensation of 2009. It’s been a while since we’d seen the series, so it was an interesting experience to go back with somewhat new eyes and the benefit (?) of hindsight.

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Read the rest of Mystery Drama Theater 3000: Boys Before Flowers (135 words)

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, featured, Gu Hye-sun, Kim Hyun-joong, Lee Min-ho, Mystery Drama Theater 3000

Drumroll please… We have Lee Min-ho’s leading lady for his new drama He Who Wishes To Wear the Crown, Endure Its Weight: Heirs, aka The More Words We Put in A Title It Makes It Better, See: Hamster! Or yunno, just Heirs. Park Shin-hye has been cast as the heroine, fresh off the set of one drama (Flower Boy Next Door), a movie (The Gift of Room 7), and a short. Does the girl not rest?

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Read the rest of Park Shin-hye cast opposite Lee Min-ho in Heirs (266 words)

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Post tags: Heirs, Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye

Lee Min-ho! Back in a drama! From “rom-com queen” writer Kim Eun-sook! So many feelings to feel! Don’t forget to breathe!

This is quite the power hookup, as far as big names go — Kim Eun-sook dramas are huge hits almost automatically, with A Gentleman’s Dignity and Secret Garden being her two most recent offerings. Perhaps the bigger accomplishment is that her dramas aren’t “merely” popular; they often have that extra little kick that make them pop-culture buzz projects, whether it’s due to a particular line of dialogue or a recurring joke or a blue sequined tracksuit. (Hand-stitched in Italy!)

This drama is titled (a little awkwardly) He Who Wishes To Wear the Crown, Endure Its Weight: Heirs. (I hope it’ll just go by Heirs in the way that the long version of Nice Guy’s title was only used on posters and promos.) There’s very little information available about the concept or story; we merely have writer Kim’s assurances that she is creating the hero just for Lee Min-ho, to suit him perfectly. Considering how her male leads have historically been very memorable, I have no doubt we’re in for an interesting role here.

I’ll admit that I’m not personally super excited about Kim Eun-sook’s work (I have major love-hate relationship with her shows), but I do think that having her name attached to a drama means it’s very likely going to be a fizzy, banter-filled, slick and glossy romantic comedy that audiences just love to eat up, which appeal to a wide age range of viewers, whether teenaged or ajumma-aged or older (hey, grandmas love romance too, right?). And I can definitely get onboard Lee Min-ho being in another romantic comedy.

As for Lee Min-ho… well, he’s Lee Min-ho. You know, I’ll call a spade a spade: Faith finally opened my eyes to the cracks in his acting facade, whereas previously I’d sincerely believed he had once-in-a-generation phenom potential. Now I’ll concede he is a pretty good actor for his age and experience level, but not without some obvious limitations, who has some work to do to upgrade to the next level of his craft. That said, Lee Min-ho does possess a rare spark that lives regardless of technical skill, and he may still be a once-in-a-generation actor in a pop-culture sense — damn, he is popular. It’s his special It Factor that makes him so exciting to watch… and no, the beauty doesn’t hurt.

Directing is Kang Shin-hyo, who worked on Tazza and Midas. Heirs will be 20 episodes long and plans to air on SBS later this year.

Via E Daily

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• A Gentleman’s Dignity: Episode 1
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• Secret Garden: Episode 1

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Post tags: A Gentleman's Dignity, Lee Min-ho, Secret Garden

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.

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

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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

javabeans: Good news: Lee Min-ho has a new photo shoot, and he’s 5 for 6 on the hotness scale, aka His Usual. Bad news: That 1 of 6.

girlfriday: I think this is a case that defies math. It might be 1 out of 6, but it’s tipping the scale.

javabeans: You sure about that? ‘Cause… I’m stuck on the 5. My mind chooses to ignore what it chooses to ignore. Such as Faith, we might say. And Mad Hatter Lee Min-ho is very much on the top of that list.

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Read the rest of Lee Min-ho’s mostly hot @star1 photo shoot (151 words)

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Post tags: conversation post, Lee Min-ho, photo shoots

We finally reach the end of our journey, but it’s only the beginning for Eun-soo, who at last deals with that pesky issue of time travel and faces the consequences of messing with the space-time continuum. If there’s anything I’ve learned this year in dramaland, it’s that there’s always a price to pay for tampering with time…

 
FINAL EPISODE RECAP

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Read the rest of Faith: Episode 24 (Final) (3,289 words)

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Post tags: Faith, featured, Kim Hee-sun, Lee Min-ho

One episode left! We’re at the end, which means the conflict centralizes upon our most important story threads in our finale week. Yes, that means some of the little side arcs do fall by the wayside, but considering where this show is strongest, it’s best that we spend our final stretch dealing with the things we care about: the royals’ happiness, Ki Chul’s sanity, Eun-soo’s safety, and Young’s heart.

SONG OF THE DAY

Faith OST – Rumble Fish – “사랑아” (My Love) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Faith: Episode 23 (3,692 words)

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Post tags: Faith, featured, Kim Hee-sun, Lee Min-ho

With just two more episodes to go, our central political conflict finally comes to a head, followed right after by our time-crossed-lovers predicament. You almost wish they could have just one day of peace before the clouds roll in, but then that would make for bad drama. Our heroine faces her most monumental decision yet, which we knew she’d have to confront at some point: return to her time and live, or remain with the man she loves and risk near-certain death?

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Read the rest of Faith: Episode 22 (3,946 words)

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Post tags: Faith, featured, Kim Hee-sun, Lee Min-ho