Entries in the 'sports dramas' Category

Triple-teaming the Triple team

Posted on August 19th, 2008

(Yeah, the headline’s a bit of a stretch. But I couldn’t resist.)

Wha–? Lee Seon-kyun is going to be in MBC’s figure-skating trendy drama Triple?

I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense. He’d starred in director Lee Yoon-jung’s earlier series Taereung National Village (part of MBC’s Best Theater anthology). Following that, he’d agreed immediately to appear in Coffee Prince when she was planning that series. Now that she’s planning her next series, why not cast an actor with whom she’s had a good working relationship? This’ll be Lee Yoon-jung’s third drama series, and the third time she teams with Lee Seon-kyun.

Still, Triple seems like an odd choice, at least at first glance. (He should be moving on and doing hard-boiled crime thrillers and spare indie dramas with guys like Jang Dong-gun!) In this drama series, he’s been cast in the role of an ad agency exec who’s described as straightforward and honest with a sensitive side (so, like most of his roles then). The drama stars rookie actress Min Hyo-rin as its young figure-skating lead, but Jung Il-woo has been removed from the casting list (he was to play a speed skater) following his jump to another MBC series, Iljimae.

I’ll probably be watching Triple when it airs in January, but I’m on the fence as to whether it’ll be candy-coated fun, or a train wreck in the making.

Via Hankyung.com

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Jung Il Woo scores a “Triple”

Posted on May 4th, 2008

I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Pretty boy and recent university entrant Jung Il Woo — last seen in the movie My Love opposite Lee Yeon Hee and the family sitcom Unstoppable High Kick before that — is making his return to television in the upcoming MBC figure-skating drama being produced and directed by Coffee Prince PD Lee Yoon Jung, titled Triple.

The series is currently in the process of finalizing casting for its female lead, while Jung Il Woo is already starting script readings and physical training. The sixteen-episode miniseries centers around Jung’s character, a short-track speed skater, and a female figure skater, as well as their two coaches (one female and one male, naturally!).

It’ll be nearly a year and a half since his last TV project (High Kick), and he’s started skating practice. He’s already encountered minor injury while training, which is the reason he sported a slight limp at last week’s Baeksang Arts Awards.

Okay, I admit the series sounds like it could be unbearably cheesy. Like, total cotton-candy puff-fest. But also potentially OMG-so-girly-awesome like a Meg Cabot novel. It could be awful like the late-1990s ice-hockey kdrama Icing (anyone remember that?), or awful like Disney’s predictable Ice Princess. But you know what? I watched both.

Via No Cut News

SONG OF THE DAY

Maya - “Maria” [ Download ]

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From pretty boys to figure skates

Posted on April 12th, 2008

The adorably apple-cheeked director with the resounding belly laugh — Coffee Prince’s PD Lee Yoon Jung, that is — is taking on her next project: a figure-skating drama for MBC titled Triple.

The drama may not be that much of a stretch for her; prior to hitting it big with Coffee Prince, Lee Yoon Jung directed the Olympic-sports-themed short series Taereung National Village, which also showed her trademark ability to mine small moments out of big events and highlight emotion with a humanistic touch.

The drama will likely air near the end of the year as a Wednesday-Thursday series, and centers around 18-year-old figure skaters who aspire to success in a competitive field. The drama’s currently searching for its young female leads, and will cast till the end of the month.

Despite not having named its writer(s) or set its cast, you can be sure you’ll get a few things out of a Lee Yoon Jung drama: lots of poignant moments and a great soundtrack featuring lots of Western artists amidst indie Korean ones.

Via Star News

SONG OF THE DAY

Bluedawn - “보옴이 오면” (When spring comes). If you recall, Bluedawn had a prominently placed song in episode 9 of Coffee Prince in that key nighttime beach scene. [ Download ]

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Stepping into Jang Dong Gun’s shoes

Posted on November 23rd, 2007


Jang Dong Gun, Lee Seon Kyun

Oh man. What a trip back to the old-school days of Korean drama.

The Voice, aka Lee Seon Kyun, recently recorded an episode of the MBC talk-variety show Yoo Jae Seok and Kim Won Hee’s Let’s Play airing on the 23rd, wherein he shared a story about his acting “senior” and friend, supa-star Jang Dong Gun.

Back in his university days, Jang Dong Gun was playing basketball with fellow basketball enthusiast Lee Seon Kyun, when one day he turned to him (Lee) and said, “Your shoes look too worn — it must be uncomfortable playing with those.” With that, he handed him a pair of shoes, saying, “These are my sneakers from when I filmed The Last Match — if that’s okay with you, wear them instead” — and gave them as a gift. Lee Seon Kyun was so touched by the gesture that afterward, he always wore those sneakers when playing basketball.

(Of course, things got tricky when the sneakers started to smell because off Lee Seon Kyun’s peculiar habit of wearing them without socks! File that under “too much information”?)

Dude. I remember The Last Match fondly because it was one of the first Korean dramas I ever watched, way back in 1994, and was one of the earliest projects for two of the most famous all-time Korean actors, Jang Dong Gun and Shim Eun Ha. Along with Jealousy [Jiltu] (starring a very young Choi Jin Shil and the current sageuk pro Choi Su Jong) and Feelings [Neukkim] (which I’ve mentioned here and starred a very young Lee Jung Jae and Kim Min Jong), those three dramas composed a early-kdrama trifecta that helped shaped my current trendy-drama watching habit.

Source: Newsen

(Old-school soundtrack) SONG OF THE DAY

The Last Match OST - “다시 시작해” (Start over) by Lee Chang Kwon. Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to raid some of my long-ignored stacks of ancient kpop and kdrama CDs. Yay nostalgia. This was one of the most prominent themes of the series. Played a lot while Jang Dong Gun was off running around (literally, i.e. basketball training). Also played while he did a lot of pulling-up by his metaphorical bootstraps. [ zShare download ]

Read on for a total ’90s-drama digression >>


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Taereung National Village / 태릉선수촌 (2005)

Posted on August 16th, 2007

Despite the winningness of Coffee Prince, I’m starting to veer from cheery immersion into overload territory, and before that flares into full-on burnout, I thought I’d turn my attentions elsewhere to balance things out a bit. I’ve started watching some other series, dabbling in a sea of first episodes, trying to see which ones are worth sticking with.

The first to stand out as noteworthy is the short Best Theater miniseries Taereung National Village (태릉선수촌), which is a series of which I’ve heard many good things (this one’s for you, thundie!) and had been meaning to try even before realizing that its director is the same Lee Yoon Jung who is currently at the helm of Coffee Prince.

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Fortune Cookie - “일요일 아침” (Sunday morning) [ zShare download ]

Thoughts on TAEREUNG NATIONAL VILLAGE Episodes 1-2 >>


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