Your reaction to this news may be dependent on (1) how much you liked romance sageuk The Moon That Embraces the Sun, (2) how much you thought the directing was one of its assets, and (3) how starved you are for news about new dramas. But bottom line: We’re getting another drama from the director who brought us last year’s smash hit drama Moon/Sun, PD Kim Do-hoon (also of Royal Family), who’s teaming with writer Yoon Kyung-ah (of Brain and God of Study).

The new show is a medical series tentatively titled Medical Top Team, which is a moniker I’m hoping gets swapped out quickly for a catchier, perhaps less literal, one. ‘Cause it’s billed as a “top team,” and that’s exactly what the show is about: a team of “genius doctors,” with each team member hailing from his/her own branch of medicine. Because if dramaland has taught us anything, it’s that mere talent is worth piffle when you could have GENIUSES instead. Among the fields represented: cardiothoracic surgery, internal medicine, general surgery,and anesthesiology.

I suppose that PD Kim’s involvement on its own brings buzz to this project, since Moon/Sun topped 40% ratings and came close to hitting 50% at its height. No matter what you think about the story itself, that’s a pretty remarkable achievement and MBC will be eager to see if he can duplicate the experience. On the other hand, these phenoms tend to be like lightning in a bottle; you just aren’t going to be able to consciously reproduce the same result. And I dunno about you, but it was bad enough watching Joseon royalty act like petulant adolescents hung up on first crushes; my tolerance level for that level of juvenile dramatics is pretty much nil when it comes to medical professionals who have a job to do and responsibilities to uphold that transcend teenage angsting. So we’ll see if dramaland will welcome yet another medical drama into its ranks; we’ve got so many so far that this one will have to bring something new to the table to capture interest.

Medical Top Team is courting a Wednesday-Thursday timeslot later this fall on MBC, with October or November as hopeful premiere dates. It plans to begin courting a cast once initial scripts are completed in April or May.

Via TV Report

RELATED POSTS

• Flowers strike back: Moon/Sun edition
• Jung Il-woo and the adults of Moon/Sun to appear this week
• Moon/Sun: Behind the scenes and on Strong Heart
• Interviews with Moon/Sun’s child actors
• Jung Il-woo and the adults of Moon/Sun to appear this week
• The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 1
• Hanboks galore at press conference for Moon That Embraces the Sun
• Moon That Embraces the Sun releases posters

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Post tags: The Moon That Embraces the Sun

Annnnnnnd another year comes to a close.

Big thanks to our recap minions HeadsNo2, gummimochi, and kaedejun for sharing their reviews with us and joining the spirited discussion for the Editors’ Picks this year. There wasn’t even any hair-pulling, and only one person lost an eye! It’s been a great year for K-dramas and an even better one at Dramabeans because of all our readers, so thanks to you guys for making this community what it is. Okay, enough mushy stuff.

And the winners are…

SONG OF THE DAY

Queen In-hyun’s Man OST – “내 남자, 김붕도” (My Man, Kim Boong-do) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of 2012 Editors’ Picks [Year In Review, Part 6] (4,080 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 315 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Answer Me 1997, Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Dr. Jin, Fashion King, featured, Gaksital, History of the Salaryman, Nice Guy, Padam Padam, Queen In-hyun's Man, Rooftop Prince, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, The King 2 Hearts, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, year in review

If there’s anything that Santa has taught me over the years (other than a musical mnemonic about single-malt scotches), it’s that Christmas is a time of giving. Dramaland gives us so much throughout the year, that I thought it was finally time for me to stop being a grinch and give back, out of the goodness of my heart. *waits for credit*

So this year I’ve made a Christmas list, and every drama I’ve watched this year is on it. Because everyone deserves presents. Yes, even you, Show.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

The King 2 Hearts OST – “Hang-ah’s Dream” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Dramaland: The gift that keeps on giving [Year In Review, Part 5] (8,856 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 138 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Gentleman's Dignity, Answer Me 1997, Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Faith, featured, Gaksital, I Do I Do, I Miss You, I Need Romance 2012, King of Dramas, Nice Guy, Queen In-hyun's Man, Rooftop Prince, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, The Chaser, The King 2 Hearts, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, To the Beautiful You, Vampire Prosecutor 2, year in review

My first year-end review!

I was so excited for this opportunity that I decided to watch as many dramas as I could in preparation this year, and all but forced myself to doggedly stick with obvious train wrecks because I figured, “Hey, at least it’ll give me something to write about.”

If I learned anything, it was that I should never do that again. That’s a life lesson every drama viewer should learn early in their infancy, so I’ll just chalk it up to some late blooming on my part. Ergo, take some of these review choices with a grain of salt and (hopefully) not as a pure representation of taste.

This was the year for time traveling heroes, questionably nice guys, single-minded kings, guardian angels, reapers, rockers, brothers, heroes, and hanbok-wearing chickens. Not every year has a bandwagon, but 2012 sure did; there was more time traveling than you could shake a stick at. And for most of those offerings, you’d be shaking that stick pretty angrily.

Since hindsight is 20/20, I’m riding out this year’s trend by posing this question to each drama: If I could turn back time, what would I do differently?

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Read the rest of If I Could Turn Back Time [Year In Review, Part 4] (7,565 words)

© HeadsNo2 for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 154 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Dr. Jin, Equator Man, Fashion King, featured, Gaksital, History of the Salaryman, Love Rain, Nice Guy, Oohlala Spouses, Operation Proposal, Padam Padam, Queen In-hyun's Man, The King 2 Hearts, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, To the Beautiful You, year in review

Review extravaganza time!

I know: Already? It feels like just the other day I was killing myself to corral all my thoughts in coherent fashion in a monster review of 2011′s dramas, and already it’s time to lose sleep wrangling my thoughts together for 2012. Time sure flies when you’re having fun, or old. Guess which one I am?

These days I shy away from blanket statements like “This was an awesome year” or “This was a terrible year.” Dramaland has been putting out so much material that all the nuance gets sucked out of a flattening statement like that. If anything, 2012 was the year it overflowed with variety—so yes, there were terrible shows, and there were awesome shows, and there were shows every step in between. But thanks to the explosion of cable programming—aided by the launching of not one, not two, but four new cable stations boasting big drama lineups—there was just about something for everyone.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Shut Up Flower Boy Band OST – “Jaywalking” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of 2012: Something for everyone? [Year In Review, Part 1] (9,584 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 260 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Answer Me 1997, Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Color of Woman, Dr. Jin, Dream High 2, Faith, featured, Gaksital, History of the Salaryman, I Do I Do, Ma Boy, Nice Guy, Oohlala Spouses, Queen In-hyun's Man, Rooftop Prince, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, Standby, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, Vampire Idol, Vampire Prosecutor 2, year in review, You're Here You're Here You're Really Here

Finally, the finale! The show sure has poured on the speed in the last several episodes. hurtling us toward conclusions and endings, both happy and sad. Whether or not the show’s ratio on that latter point is satisfactory is up to you to decide.

The show bowed out with series high ratings of 42.2%, crushing the (nonexistent) competition. (To be fair, there was basically no competition, with a Drama Special on one rival station and a Salaryman special on the other.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Wheesung – “눈물길” (Tear ducts) from The Moon That Embraces the Sun’s OST.
[ Download ]

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Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 20 (Final) (4,736 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 230 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

 
Here we are, back by popular demand: another podcast!

Podcast #11

Running time: 49:23

In which we:

• Catch up on which new shows have premiered in the new year;
• talk about Salaryman and Jung Ryeo-won’s improvement in it (3:25);
• Moon That Embraces the Sun, ratings, why it’s overrated, why it’s popular (7:00);
• Dream High 2, why it’s no Dream High 1, why it doesn’t work (16:50);
• why Shut Up: Flower Boy Band is so awesome (24:58);
• cable shows, Operation Proposal (32:16);
• 1 Night 2 Days, aka 1N2D, aka “1bak” (34:41);
• and musings on what we’d like to see in the future (46:15).

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Read the rest of Dramabeans Podcast #11 (121 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 74 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Dream High 2, featured, History of the Salaryman, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

Things finally come to a boil, as the baddies up their game in a big, big way. Will Yang-myung cross over to the dark side? Will Hwon finally get to protect the person he loves till the end? Will logic hang on by a thread? It looks like you can wound the beast, but you can’t slow it down by much: Today’s episode recorded 38.7% ratings, even after a week’s hiatus.

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Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 19 (3,688 words)

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Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

The addition of drama PDs to the MBC labor strike has rendered it impossible for The Moon That Embraces the Sun to finish production on this week’s episodes, as previously feared. There’s just too much work and too few hands among the short-staffed crew, and MBC has announced that they’ll be airing Moon/Sun specials this week to fill in the gap.

The upside: The filming with the principal cast will end on time, which is good news since Kim Soo-hyun and Jung Il-woo are booked solid, having assumed they’d wrap this drama by Thursday. The reason the two final episodes will not be ready for this week’s broadcast slots is because there isn’t enough time (or hands on deck) to complete all the editing and post-production work.

This isn’t a great scenario for MBC, which has been extremely happy about selling out all of its advertising slots weeks in advance, and can boast a national drama in its ranks after, let’s face it, a lackluster past few years. I’m sure all eyes will be on the ratings meters next week, to see if a week’s delay causes numbers to plummet, or if people will tune in regardless ’cause, well, what else is there to watch?

Speaking of which, this sends the other stations scrambling to figure out what to do with their shows. Initially all three stations were to premiere their new shows on the same day, March 14. But Moon/Sun‘s postponement pushes back the Ha Ji-won/Lee Seung-gi vehicle The King 2 Hearts, which’ll air on March 21. Now KBS and SBS have to deal with the question of whether to also push back the premieres of Equator Man and Rooftop Prince, or risk handicapping their new dramas by pitting their launches against a Moon/Sun finale.

According to reports, SBS has decided to postpone Rooftop Prince accordingly, and will air a two-episode special, Family Portrait, in the intervening week. KBS’s decision is less certain; some reports state that Equator Man will also get pushed, while another cites a source with Equator’s production stating that they haven’t made any plans yet.

Via Joy News, Osen

RELATED POSTS

• MBC strike threatens to delay Moon/Sun finale
• High Kick 3 pre-empted due to ongoing MBC labor strike
• Moon/Sun: Behind the scenes and on Strong Heart
• Interviews with Moon/Sun’s child actors
• Jung Il-woo and the adults of Moon/Sun to appear this week
• The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 1

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 87 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: drama production, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

Some possible bad news for fans of MBC drama The Moon That Embraces the Sun: head PD Kim Do-hoon has joined the ranks in the ongoing labor strike over at MBC, in what will probably be the union’s big last-ditch effort to turn the tables. The drama finally managed to pass the 40% ratings mark and became designated a “national drama,” which means delaying production and derailing this train just before the finale would be the biggest blow the union could deliver to the network. It’s as good a bargaining chip as any, and the timing isn’t trying to deceive anybody — it’s we’re going to leave you hanging when you’ve promised your advertisers 40% ratings. The hit series has two episodes left, scheduled for this coming Wednesday and Thursday.

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Read the rest of MBC strike threatens to delay Moon/Sun finale (398 words)

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Post tags: The Moon That Embraces the Sun