Queen Seon-deok

Yep, we as drama-lovers tend to have a love-hate (mostly hate, I think) relationship with drama extensions and, even worse, unexpected cuts. Even a good drama can be ruined in the end by unnecessary extensions — a long-running epic series may suffer less from adding episodes than a short drama whose story was never meant to go beyond 16 or 20 installments. I know that this trend stems from that pernicious habit of broadcast stations’ knee-jerk reactions to ratings, but as much as we hate that, I think we all kind of understand why a station places so much importance on ratings. Here’s an article that discusses the trend.

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Choi Chul-ho and Yoon Sang-hyun

The nice thing about a series like Queen of Housewives garnering such popularity is that you get some older actors, who have been in the business for a number of years but haven’t perhaps achieved star status, who now get to come into a late fame. Not that the lead actors were obscure before — they’ve all got a number of projects to their names — but it’s not so often you’ll see them cast as romantic leads in a series popular enough to give rise to a “syndrome,” i.e., a pop-culture craze. Maybe they didn’t achieve F4-level ubiquity, but they’re enjoying the thirty/fortysomething equivalent.

Ladies like Kim Nam-joo and Lee Hye-young have enjoyed a pretty solid amount of popularity, but the men in particular have really struck it big. Namely, the drama’s lead men Oh Ji-ho as well as the two interviewed here, Choi Chul-ho (Big Sister, Dae Jo Young, Immortal Lee Soon-shin) and Yoon Sang-hyun (Winter Bird, Fireworks). Their ages are 33 (Oh), 39 (Choi), and 36 (Yoon). It’s particularly nice to see how friendly and joking Choi and Yoon are with each other as they talk about their drama, which just ended last week.

SONG OF THE DAY

Queen of Housewives OST – “사랑이야” (This Is Love). [ Download ]

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I’ve always thought Yoon Sang-hyun was a pretty charismatic guy — he was pretty decent back in Fireworks (his character was an ass and the drama sucked, but he and Kang Ji-hwan were enjoyable) and he was cute in Three Dads, One Mom — so it’s nice to see him enjoying his sharp rise in popularity with his latest role in Queen of Housewives.

A photo spread of Yoon is featured in the June issue of Marie Claire magazine, which also contains an interview wherein the actor talks about his sudden fame and his latest role.

Of his current status as the endearing Tae-bong character Yoon says, “Popularity? I’d like to be an actor with a long career, but this popularity came so suddenly… Phew.”

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Oh Ji-ho, Kim Nam-joo

After Boys Before Flowers left the air, MBC’s Monday-Tuesday drama Queen of Housewives [내조의 여왕] shot up in the ratings, where it currently resides in the 22%-25% range. Not about to let a popular and well-received show go easily, MBC is looking to extend the drama.

One rep from the production team said, “Based on the viewers’ positive response, we decided to extend the broadcast run. At first, we considered a two-episode extension, but now we’re looking into adding another week for a four-episode extension.”

The final result is to be decided between the production company and MBC, and the two parties will enter meetings this week to hammer out the details.

No complaints from the stars, who are all enjoying a rise in visibility. Naturally the lead stars Kim Nam-joo and Oh Ji-ho are getting lots of attention, as well as Lee Hye-young playing the sly corporate wife and Choi Chul-ho as her stern husband. But the upswing has been most dramatic for Yoon Sang-hyun, the playboy-ish curly-haired CEO, and Sunwoo Sun, who plays his neglected wife (who also recently came out about her real age), who were the least-known at the drama’s outset. Yoon had small roles in lesser-watched dramas (Three Dads One Mom, Fireworks) while Sunwoo is still a rookie.

I’m behind in watching this drama but still onboard, as long as it remains funny and lively. An extension works for a pleasant, engaging show like this, so there probably won’t be many difficulties in making it happen.

Via Sports Seoul

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• Stars caught lying about their ages
• Queen of Housewives (MBC)
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I found MBC’s Monday-Tuesday drama Queen of Housewives [내조의 여왕] to be a pleasant surprise, as I hadn’t had any expectations for it. At first glance, it’s possible to dismiss this show from its unexciting synopsis and a cast that may be solid but not quite buzzworthy.

But no, Queen of Housewives is light and funny, and easy to watch. I breezed through the first four episodes in no time, and find myself wanting to keep going. I do have a few issues with it, which I talk about below, but on the whole find this series pretty enjoyable.

A couple things: This covers Episodes 1 through 4, but it isn’t a proper recap. Also, I don’t think I’m going to do individual recaps for this series, but I may decide to weigh in periodically, if I keep liking it.

SONG OF THE DAY

Queen of Housewives OST – “여우랍니다” (I’m a fox) by Lee Soo-young [ Download ]

QUEEN OF HOUSEWIVES Episodes 1-4 >>

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