javabeans: Woohoo, Season 2! Looks like it’s a go. They’re looking at this summer as a projected broadcast date.

girlfriday: And with the cast intact, yeah?

javabeans: According to this report, Yeon Jung-hoon and the Season 1 crew will be coming back.

girlfriday: Whew. Well that’s the only way to do it. This isn’t a show where you can carry over the concept and not the cast. What will our scooby gang do in Season 2?

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Read the rest of Vampire Prosecutor secures original cast for Season 2 (530 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, conversation post, Lee Young-ah, sequels, Vampire Prosecutor, Yeon Jung-hoon

Ji-yeon, the young singer of girl group T-ara and budding actress, has been confirmed for the cast of Dream High 2, joining her groupmate Eun-jung (who starred in the first series) in the franchise.

This means we’re about to be deluged with a number of casting announcements for the anticipated sequel to the youth drama all about singin’, dancin’, and bright young dreams crashing up against the harsh realities of what it takes to become an idol star. And who better to portray that than actual idol stars? A lot of times, idol presence in a drama amounts to little more than stunt casting and ratings grabs, but the original Dream High did a pretty solid job of mixing actors with idols and bringing out everyone’s strengths — and sometimes even turning their weaknesses into hilarious plot points. (See: Robot Hye-mi.)

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Read the rest of T-ara’s Ji-yeon cast in Dream High 2 (287 words)

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Post tags: Dream High 2, Ji-yeon, sequels

Good news, bad news: Cable rom-com drama I Need Romance is getting a second season on tvN. Yay for more thirtysomething fare, more cable dramas, and more I Need Romance. Sadly, it won’t be starring the original cast — Jo Yeo-jung, Kim Jung-hoon, Choi Jin-hyuk, Choi Yeo-jin, Choi Song-hyun — which is the bad news. But it makes sense, given that the show ended with enough closure to make a sequel with the same characters a bit redundant. I mean, if that couple went through any more onscreen tribulation, they’d lose the few audience members left in their tiny camp.

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Read the rest of I Need Romance gets a Season 2 (253 words)

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Post tags: I Need Romance, sequels

What is wrong with this drama?

More change-ups in the main cast, with recently added Jo Yoon-hee now subtracted from the total. I enjoy that the Korean press is just as addled as we surely are, with headlines like “Why in the world…?” and “What is the matter with Full House 2?” Good questions.

Officially, the reason offered by Jo Yoon-hee’s management is scheduling conflicts. Okay, so the second-rate actress (is that mean? Have you seen Lie To Me?) is dropping a mega-buzz project bound to increase her name recognition by a factor of, oh, at least ten, because the drama’s schedule conflicts with…what now?

Not that I’m bereaved over her dropping out, mind you — she was my least favorite member of the cast. It’s just that I think this drama has either got a frazzled PR exec in waaaay over his/her head, or has terrible planning. (In fact, I’m happier with the lineup without her, since Noh Min-woo really changed my mind about his acting skills when he showed he actually had some in Rock Rock Rock; Hwang Jung-eum is, I think, still technically limited but has plenty of charm; and Park Ki-woong seems to have hit his second wind in recent projects.)

Jo was to have played a femme fatale-ish character, an actress who shot to mega-fame after becoming a Hollywood star. Now maybe they’ll cast someone with enough screen charisma to actually carry that description. Even when we’re talking about fictional characters in a fictional world, inevitably real-world impressions carry over into the drama; it’s up to the show to capitalize on that meta or leave it lying there, wasted. Too bad Han Ye-seul’s too famous for this kind of secondary role. Or Kim Haneul, even if her version of that character (On Air) had me clawing at my ears with her shrillness. Hey, she was effective.

We should really open a betting pool for which actor/role is next to get all shook up. Any takers?

Full House 2 is all set for a March 2012 broadcast in Japan, but is still looking for a broadcaster back home. Wouldn’t it be funny if, after all this drama, it didn’t find one?

Via Star News

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• Full House 2 finally confirms cast
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• Full House 2 confirms Noh Min-woo, Hwang Jung-eum
• Supporting cast added to Lie To Me

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 47 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Full House, Jo Yoon-hee, sequels

No, really. For reals this time. Really, really. Upcoming remake Full House 2, aka The Drama That Cried Wolf (…if by wolf you mean cast), has FINALLY confirmed its leads, after skirting not one, not two, but three rounds of casting rumors for the two leading roles. Actors Hwang Jung-eum and Noh Min-woo are back on… for at least another press cycle. What? This is what you get when you confirm-deny-confirm. Basically, I’ll believe it when I see it, Show.

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Read the rest of Full House 2 finally confirms cast (119 words)

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Post tags: Full House, Hwang Jung-eum, Lee Seung-hyo, Noh Min-woo, sequels

Looks like Full House 2 is going ahead with recasting, rather than working out conflicts with previously cast leads Noh Min-woo and Hwang Jung-eum. Now Min Hyo-rin (Sunny, Romance Town) is a leading contender for the female lead, according to reps who confirmed that she received the offer and is considering it.

Also, we finally get the teeniest detail about the plot of the sequel: Full House 2 follows the romance between a poor but plucky aspiring reporter and a top star, who get caught up in a fake engagement. So, pretty much a copy of the original, where Song Hye-gyo was an aspiring internet novelist/screenwriter, and Rain a top star, and the two actually got contract-hitched in a supposed marriage of convenience that really wasn’t all that convenient.

Although, I’ll be impressed if they reverse the roles this time and make the hero the poor, plucky writer and the heroine the top star. Why do I have the feeling that’s not gonna happen?

Plot unoriginality aside, I actually think this could be a good move for Min Hyo-rin, who’s been climbing in visibility as an actress. For a long while she was pretty much a CF and photo-shoot fixture without making much headway in her singing career; she’s still got ad contracts everywhere, but now her career’s really picking up as well. She scored with the hit movie Sunny, as well as a second-lead role in Romance Town. (Her debut drama, Triple, wasn’t much of a success although I still think it helped her more than not, since she had nothing to lose.)

Interesting that Full House 2 is already scheduled to air in Japan on channel TBS next March, while it still lacks a timeslot in Korea.

Via Sports Chosun

RELATED POSTS

• …on the other hand, Jo Yoon-hee & Park Ki-woong join Full House 2
• Noh Min-woo and Hwang Jung-eum un-confirm Full House 2
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• Min Hyo-rin joins the thieves in Gone With the Wind
• Sunny breaks 2 million tickets in two weeks
• Girls rule the school in Sunny
• Romance Town: Episode 1
• Min Hyo-rin as a flower girl for Vogue Girl
• Plans announced for a Full House Season 2

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Post tags: Full House, Min Hyo-rin, sequels

girlfriday: Oh noes! She’s that horrid second lead from whatsitcalled, right?

javabeans: Yes, she’s that terrible whosywhatsit from that dismal whachermacallit.

girlfriday: GAH.

javabeans: But Park Ki-woong is cast as the other second lead. Now I’m torn!

girlfriday: Half awesome, half awful?

javabeans: Exactly. It’s not even half meh, half okay. It’s half BOOOOOO, half YAYYYYY!

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Read the rest of …on the other hand, Jo Yoon-hee & Park Ki-woong join Full House 2 (364 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 59 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conversation post, Full House, Jo Yoon-hee, Park Ki-woong, sequels

javabeans: Okay, the news is that this casting for Full House 2 has been deferred, not outright cancelled. But with Noh Min-woo signing onto a different series and Hwang Jung-eum enjoying such a rise in popularity, I don’t know if they’ll stick around indefinitely for a drama that’s been “in the works” for basically seven years.

girlfriday: I knew it was a fat chance in hell that drama would get its act together.

javabeans: I was actually more surprised at the idea that it would go through as planned. Plus, word is that Noh and Hwang had a “big difference of opinion” with producers regarding the characters and the show.

girlfriday: Oh, that’s not a good sign, from the get-go.

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Read the rest of Noh Min-woo and Hwang Jung-eum un-confirm Full House 2 (482 words)

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Post tags: Full House, Hwang Jung-eum, Noh Min-woo, sequels

And here I thought this casting rumor was all full of hot air. But as it turns out, Full House 2 is back in the works, and has confirmed its leads after dancing around the topic for ages. They’ll be played by two up-and-comers, Noh Min-woo (Midas, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho) and Hwang Jung-eum (Can You Hear My Heart?, High Kick Through the Roof).

If you’re like me, you probably thought rumors of a Full House sequel would pop up every year from now to eternity without a drama ever actually materializing. After all, sequel rumors have been floating around practically since the original rom-com miniseries hit 40%+ ratings back in 2004 and made two superstars (Rain, Song Hye-gyo) even superer. And I recall last hearing news about a sequel three years ago, with nothing coming of it.

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Read the rest of Full House 2 confirms Noh Min-woo, Hwang Jung-eum (334 words)

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Post tags: Full House, Hwang Jung-eum, Noh Min-woo, sequels

Dream High Season 2 is ready to begin pre-production work, according to a source with the production company, who’s aiming to broadcast the sequel next January. While airdates are always flexible, the producers are in a good position, having already concluded scheduling talks with KBS and getting their agreement.

Currently they’re in scriptwriting mode, and plan to begin casting after they’re done with scripts. (The drama previously announced a reality show to follow the audition process for the background cast; no updates on that at the moment, but I’m assuming that’s still a go.)

I presume they mean they’ll cast after completing the pilot script, not all the episodes, although how fabulous would it be to have this drama totally pre-planned? Dramas that are 100% pre-produced haven’t historically had the most success with audiences, but this is a case where it could really work, since they’ve already proven their ability to construct a heart-tugging narrative and carry it through effectively. On the flipside of that coin, this IS also an idol drama, so I can see the push for live-shooting as well, to best cater to fan responses.

According to the production rep, they haven’t totally decided whether to extend the story established in Season 1, or whether to build an entirely new story, and are considering all possibilities. Personally, I’d LOVE if they kept Kirin alive, and just rotated out the student stories. That maximizes the world already established, brings back some favorite characters (Jin-man! Oh-hyuk! Kyung-jin!), and also frees them up to swap in busy idols who would have difficulty committing to more than one season. Other K-dramas have attempted the season format but none have been truly successful, or true sequels, either — but maybe what Korea really needs is one great high school serial. Chop-chop, I’m waiting!

Via Osen

RELATED POSTS

• Dream High 2 to audition cast via reality show
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• Dream High: Episode 1
• JB and GF face off: Battle of Delusional Hopes

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 85 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dream High, Dream High 2, sequels