The upcoming High Kick Through the Roof, the new MBC sitcom brought to you by the makers of Unstoppable High Kick, started filming this month and has already put in its first all-nighter.

The family sitcom’s first day on the set was August 20 at the Ilsan Dream Center in the city of Goyang. (The first outdoor shoot was on the 12th.) All of the main players were present, which includes grandparent characters Lee Soon-jae and Kim Ja-ok, parents Jung Bo-seok and Oh Hyun-kyung, and the younger cast including Daniel Choi (The World They Live In), Seo Shin-ae (Thank You), Shin Sae-kyung (Queen Seon-deok), Hwang Jung-eum (We Got Married), Julien Kang (Dream), and new singer AJ.

The show is being called “High Kick 2,” although it’s not really a sequel and employs all new characters. What it has in common is its PD Kim Byung-wook, who is known for creating “syndromes” (pop-culture sensations) with his sitcoms, which may lack grand visual tableaux but are bolstered by interesting stories about ordinary families that draw in viewers.

High Kick Through the Roof will premiere on September 7.

Via No Cut News, Review Star

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The young cast of “Unstoppable High Kick” Season 1

Hmm….. When it was announced that the popular family sitcom Unstoppable High Kick was thinking of another season, I was skeptical that it would actually happen, if only because a great part of its charm was its hot young cast of new faces, and they’ve all gone on to bigger things. They include: Jung Il-woo (Return of Iljimae), Kim Bum (Boys Before Flowers), Kim Hye-sung (Boy Meets Boy), and Park Min-young (Ja Myung Go).

And yet, production is indeed under way for a second season, and will bring back gruff grandpa Lee Soon-jae — but switch the rest of the actors. Among them are Jung Bo-seok (La Dolce Vita, Dae Jo Young) in the dad’s role (acted in the original by comedian Jung Jun–ha) and Oh Hyun-kyung (First Wives Club) in the mom’s role (originally acted by musical actress Park Hae-mi). Grandma Na Mun-hee will not return, and the season will start fresh with new storylines. The series is currently auditioning for its new set of fresh faces.

Season 2 is not yet on MBC’s official fall schedule, but it looks like a promising follow-up to the currently airing sitcom Tae-hee, Hye-gyo, Ji-hyun.

I don’t know about this. I have a lot of affection for Unstoppable High Kick, but without any of my favorite characters returning, it seems like just a weak excuse to slap a successful name onto a new sitcom, doesn’t it?

Jung Bo-seok, Oh Hyun-kyung

Via JK News, OSEN

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Shim Eun-kyung, Han Bo-bae

MBC is coming out with a new sitcom, and it features a couple of the more notable faces of the child-star set: Shim Eun-kyung and Han Bo-bae. The young actresses play close friends in the upcoming series called Tae-hee, Hye-gyo, Ji-hyun [태희혜교지현이], which will be the first sitcom for both. Shim will keep to her tomboyish image, while Han’s character is feminine and sweet.

The sitcom is actually targeted toward an ajumma audience (although, really, aren’t most daily/family dramas?), and aside from these two 14-year-olds, the cast also features a number of well-known actresses aimed to draw in a 30- to 50-year-old viewership.

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Apparently the folks at MBC had been looking to revisit their hit family sitcom from 2006-07, Unstoppable High Kick, according to some reports. However, an MBC rep stated on the 16th that a Season 2 is looking unlikely. My question is: Was anybody expecting one?

The show had pulled in high ratings, and though it was built around three generations of one family, the new faces made it particularly popular with the young set. I had heard they were considering making it into a High Kick movie, but that didn’t work out.

The rep explained that while they’d like to make a Season 2, the greatest difficulty would be in reassembling its cast. The older actors would probably be easier to get back (Lee Soon-jae, Na Mun-hee, Jung Jun-ha, Park Hae-mi), but one crucial leg of the love triangle in the middle generation (and youngest generation), Seo Min-jung, got married, had a baby, and moved to the States.

And then there are the youngsters, who were all unknowns back then and now all budding stars in their own right. (By the way, if you’re a new fan of Kim Bum, you’ve gotta see how adorable he is in High Kick, particularly because he and Kim Hye-sung love each other — they’re best friends — so unabashedly it’s a scream. The characters are both straight, but their bro-love is played up for laughs.) For instance:

(I took this fanmade vid from youtube; credits and thanks to shykiwi1132.)

A quick rundown of the young stars now: Jung Il-woo is headlining his own drama, Return of Iljimae. Kim Bum is experiencing a fresh wave of popularity for Boys Before Flowers. Park Min-young is about to kick off her new drama, Princess Ja-myung. And Kim Hye-sung has been busy with film work and a role in Kingdom of the Wind.

It’s possible that PD Kim Byung-wook will helm a new sitcom instead, though the MBC rep didn’t completely rule out the possibility of a High Kick 2. But really, two years after it shot to popularity, is anybody thinking about the show anymore?

Via Star News

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I’m bored. Bored, bored, bored.

Not only bored, but restless. The only drama that holds my interest these days is Legend, and that’s just barely. It’s not hard to tell that my taste veers to trendy dramas — the fluffier, the better — and I feel the current lack keenly. As I was saying to a friend recently, I can find meaning in the most superficial of trendy dramas — just give me the sugariest cotton-candy drama and I’ll mine the hell out of it looking for depth and thematic resonance. Of course, I do have some standards — I won’t watch just any trendy drama, if it’s just a boring rehash of familiar stuff. But let’s say that if trendy dramas are the television equivalent of chick lit, I’m looking for Bridget Jones, not Shopaholic or Lipstick Jungle or whatever else comes with cheesy pink covers and pictures of high heels and handbags and jewelry. (I am not my accessories closet! … and if only I actually had an accessories closet!)

What does that have to do with The Unstoppable High Kick? Nothing really, except explain just how bored I am and in need of something light and fun, even if it doesn’t aspire to be meaningful. I missed the boat on High Kick when it first aired — daily sitcoms usually air over a hundred episodes, and that’s just too much of a commitment. It finished its run earlier this summer, but AZN has been showing it (unsubtitled), and I’ve let the episodes accumulate on my Tivo, watching them whenever I remember to. I’m somewhere up in the nineties now (there are 167 episodes), although I skipped a bunch in the beginning.

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Heritage – “Grateful” [ zShare download ]

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This is just an excuse to post pretty pictures >>

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