2007 was a rich year for drama-land. There was something for everyone, whether your tastes ran toward dark thrillers (Devil), intense dramas (White Tower), heart-warmers (Thank You), off-the-wall eccentrics (Mixed-up Investigative Agency), trendy fare (Coffee Prince), romantic comedies (Dal Ja’s Spring), and so on.

2008, on the other hand… not so much.

Every drama has its good and bad points, but it’s a lot easier to decide how you feel about one when those qualities are expressed in the extreme — i.e., very good, or very bad. When everything is a muddle in the middle, though, it’s harder to draw the lines.

That’s why in contrast to last year’s “Best” and “The Rest” designations, this year I don’t really distinguish “good” versus “bad” — or even “favorites” and “hated dramas” — and can only grade on a spectrum. I call that spectrum “MEH” with the extreme poles representing “generally watchable” and “generally unwatchable.” It’s just been that kind of year.

SONG OF THE DAY

Painter of the Wind OST – “색” (Color) by JOO [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Finding Merit in the Mediocre [Year in Review, Part 4] (4,967 words)

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Post tags: A Star's Lover, Beethoven Virus, Bulhandang/Robbers, East of Eden, Gourmet, Hong Gil Dong, I Love You, Iljimae, Love & Marriage, On Air, One Mom, Rivals, Strongest Chil Woo, Tazza, The Last Scandal of My Life, The World They Live In, Three Dads, When Night Comes, Who Are You?, year in review

The K-drama world rolled into 2008 still riding the high that was 2007, a year in which a startling number of quality dramas were made, and enjoyed. Maybe it rolled in too fast. It ended up getting smothered by the waves of its previous success. In fact, you could say that it even got hit on the head by a stray surfboard, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Depressing enough intro for ya?

But seriously, 2008 was a dark year for the K-entertainment industry, with not only dramas, but also movies suffering and generally showing poor quality. And not only that, but the economy went kablooie, and we suffered a sobering amount of tragic K-celebrity news.

Personally, this was a supremely frustrating year for a longtime and devoted K-drama fan like me. Before this year, I always gave dramas the benefit of the doubt, and would usually watch at least a certain number of episodes before I passed judgment on them, and decided to continue or discontinue watching. But this year, with every stomach-churning dud, I became more and more impatient, and started going through drama episodes like a vulture searching for roadkill. And boy, did I find a lot of roadkill.

I’m pretty sure 2008 was a record year for me in terms of abandoning dramas. And to think that I used to be the girl who would finish every drama she started, no matter how bad or how boring they were! But the older I get, the less patience I have, and the more critical I become. Besides, I’ve now realized just how precious my time really is. I don’t want to waste it on useless pap, thankyouverymuch.

Still, despite all that, there were a small handful of quality dramas this year. None of them quite matched the heights of some of the dramas of 2007, but still, any kind of quality was more than welcome in this gloomy year.

SONG OF THE DAY

La Dolce Vita – “사랑 꽃” (Love Flower) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Dahee Fanel’s 2008 Review [Year in Review, Part 3] (4,255 words)

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Post tags: A Star's Lover, Beethoven Virus, East of Eden, I Love You, Iljimae, Kingdom of Wind, La Dolce Vita, My Sweet Seoul, On Air, Rivals, Spotlight, Strongest Chil Woo, Tazza, The Painter of Wind, The World They Live In, When Night Comes, Who Are You?, year in review

This is interesting because I’m actually watching all three Monday-Tuesday dramas right now, and I agree with the general points made, and yet find the outcome curious. Gourmet is the undeniable winner, consistently earning more viewers than When Night Comes and Strongest Chil Woo combined — and based on what I’ve seen, rightly so.

But what strikes me as odd is that although Chil Woo manages every week to barely beat out Night, ratings-wise, their numbers have been fairly comparable. So why is one being called a mania drama (a cult hit), while the other is on the verge of being pegged a flop? To wit:

MBC’s ambitiously prepared Monday-Tuesday drama When Night Comes hasn’t been able to work free of its struggle. On top of that, its lead actors’ conditions have been aggravated by injury. These days, Night seems to be acting true to its title, slipping into trouble when night comes along.

And yet, by contrast:

The KBS2 MondayTuesday drama starring Eric (Moon Jung-hyuk), Strongest Chil Woo, seems set for mania drama status following Hong Gil Dong.

Although the ratings have come to a standstill after going up and down around the 10% mark following the premiere, it’s stirring up strong response within a faction of its viewership.

SONG OF THE DAY

When Night Comes OST – “사랑 탐험” (Love exploration) by Buga Kingz [ Download ]

 
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Read the rest of Monday-Tuesday ratings analysis: One hit, one cult following, one flop (237 words)

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Post tags: drama ratings, Eric, Gourmet, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-gun, mania dramas, Strongest Chil Woo, When Night Comes

 
The following article from OSEN takes a look at the difference between the types of dramas on the air these days. I find a lot of mainstream entertainment press to be oversimplified (I’m sure I’m just not looking in the right places), but it’s something to chew on, for those of us who are curious about the relationship between ratings and the popularity/quality/success of a drama — as much as we all like to say it doesn’t matter.

Popular Dramas, Buzzworthy Dramas — There’s a Difference

There are dramas that bring in high viewership ratings but don’t get talked about much. On the other hand, there are also dramas that don’t pull in strong ratings numbers but are constantly being discussed. A drama’s content, actors, and its PR are all potential factors in drawing attention, but they don’t necessarily correlate to good ratings. Because there are many ways to watch a drama these days, the significance of ratings is gradually receding, but it’s still the primary factor in deciding advertising, and is the standard for measuring popularity. …

SONG OF THE DAY

Gourmet OST – “너에게” (To you) by Casker. I’m still trying to catch up on Gourmet, but for now I will say it has a standout soundtrack. [ Download ]

 
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Read the rest of Popular vs. buzzworthy dramas (1,537 words)

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Post tags: drama ratings, Gourmet, Iljimae, La Dolce Vita, Lee Dong-wook, manhwa adaptations, mania dramas, My Sweet Seoul, Oh Yeon-soo, Sohn Ye-jin, Spotlight, Strongest Chil Woo, When Night Comes, You're My Destiny

So yeah… not a great drama.

It’s too bad since the two leads are entertaining together and they’ve got that bickering, competitive one-upmanship vibe going strong. But the rest of the plot, the directing, the cheesy music… meh. I haven’t found much on the director or the two writers, which is usually an indicator that they’re early in their careers. I also found myself wondering whether the writers had anything to do with Air City… It’s nothing specific, just the overall style and tone, as well as their liking of “twist” reveals that are supposed to be clever but are really kind of glaringly obvious. And their tendency to amp up mundane events as Dramatic! And! Exciting!

SONG OF THE DAY

Mighty Mouth – “Energy” [ Download ]

 
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Read the rest of When Night Comes: Episode 2 (2,301 words)

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Post tags: Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-gun, When Night Comes

To be brief?

Based on Episode 1, I found When Night Comes (also Every Night or Every Time It’s Night) to be part fun, and part corny. Its attempts to be slick and cool keep the action moving, but aren’t entirely successful — and while they’re not complete failures either, it falls short of its goal, landing it in Rivals territory: good acting by its leads, a few interesting scenes, peppered with a few ridiculous ones. Still, there’s hope.

SONG OF THE DAY

SG Wannabe – “우습지” (Isn’t it funny) from the drama OST. [ Download ] [ Re-upped higher quality ]

 
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Read the rest of When Night Comes: Episode 1 (2,610 words)

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Post tags: first episodes, Kim Jung-hwa, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-gun, When Night Comes

Stars of MBC’s When Night Comes were on hand on June 17 in Seoul for the press conference introducing their drama. Kim Sun Ah, Lee Dong Gun, Kim Jung Hwa, and Lee Joo Hyun were in attendance as their new series tries to take over from its predecessor Yi San’s successful ratings.

When Night Comes kicks off next Monday, but its competitors got a head start and premiered today: SBS with its long-awaited Gourmet (starring Kim Rae Won and Nam Sang Mi), and KBS with Eric‘s sageuk comedy Strongest Chil Woo. Ratings-wise, Gourmet came out on top, with its first episode posting 13.2% ratings versus Chil Woo‘s 11.5%. For their second episodes, Gourmet‘s ratings went up 2.9% (to 16.1%), probably taking all of the 2.4% that Chil Woo lost (total 9.1%).

I’ve seen the first episodes of both, although I’ll wait until I catch the second episodes before weighing in, but here are my predictions:

If When Night Comes proves to be a good show, it’ll probably split ratings with Gourmet, which looks like it’s on its way to being a hit. On the other hand, if Night disappoints with mediocrity, Gourmet will take the night, leaving Night to trail in second place with middling ratings. But I’m betting Chil Woo will probably be a spectacular failure either way (I enjoyed it, but yeah, it’s pretty awful).

SONG OF THE DAY

Spicy Soda – “소심 Blues” (timid blues) [ Download ]

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Post tags: Gourmet, Kim Jung-hwa, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-gun, press conferences, Strongest Chil Woo, When Night Comes

Let’s choose to look at this positively and not as a sign of trouble, shall we?

MBC’s long-awaited When Night Comes may have been garnering buzz for its lead stars Kim Sun Ah and Lee Dong Gun, but it’s had far less luck hanging on to its supporting actors. First, Lee Soo Kyung dropped out abruptly after filming had already commenced in Japan to headline the cast of her own drama, the upcoming Lawyers of Korea. Slated to play the third leg of the love triangle, she traded up from a supporting role in Night to a leading one in Lawyers.

Then, model-singer-actress Park Jiyoon was brought in to fill her spot, but almost as quickly as her role was announced, she suddenly pulled out of the project.

Now they’ve cast Kim Jung Hwa to mix up the budding romance between the two leads; her character is described as an overtly sexy woman who manages to also convey a cute and lovable appeal. Frankly, I think her image is a better fit for the description than Lee Soo Kyung as a “sexy fox” type seductress — Lee’s past roles have been more cute and cheery — although Park Jiyoon’s image also works.

With only about two weeks left till the series airs (June 16 premiere), hopefully this is the drama’s final cast shakeup.

Via IS Plus

SONG OF THE DAY

Loptimist – “널 사랑한 내가 밉다” (I hate the me that loves you) [ Download ]

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Post tags: Kim Jung-hwa, Lee Soo-kyung, When Night Comes

Since May 7, the upcoming drama When Night Falls has been filming in Japan; lead actress Kim Sun Ah wears a kimono (above) while filming on location in the city of Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture. (I suppose the more literal title translation is “Every Time Night Falls.”)

The actress attended junior and senior high school in Japan, and regaled the crew with a playful geisha impersonation on set. In the drama, she plays a spinster who works with cultural treasures. He’s an art professor with an interest in said treasures. Love ensues in a “cheerful,” “lively” and “sweet” romantic comedy.

According to the production team, the most difficult aspect about filming in Japan has been a result of Kanazawa being a history-rich location with a number of national landmarks and treasures. Thus the crew was kept under strict filming restrictions for fear of damage to property and cultural artifacts. Smoking was restricted, littering was forbidden, and to preserve the ground, people were even kept from moving in large numbers.

Kim Sun Ah stars opposite Lee Dong Gun (who was apparently visited daily by Japanese ajumma fans — some even reduced to tears), who continued on with filming despite the recent murder of his younger brother in Australia in March. The drama also stars Lee Soo Kyung (Golden Age of Daughters in Law, Soulmate) and premieres June 16 on MBC after Yi San (finally!) wraps.

Via My Daily

SONG OF THE DAY

Sakanaction – “白波トップウォーター” Shiranami Top Water. I don’t have much occasion to post Japanese music (and I don’t listen to it as much as, say, Korean or Western), but I sneak it in when I can. My tastes with Japanese music are pretty similar to my Korean music tastes — mostly indie and rock, both of which describe this band. [ Download ]

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Post tags: Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-gun, When Night Comes

• KBS’s new action drama Rivals, aka Kang-jeok-deul or Adversaries, premieres tomorrow. In striving for realism, Chae Rim visited a special attack squad and handled real firearms; Lee Jong Hyuk and stunt actors worked under a special-effects director and shot blanks from real guns. Now let’s see if the story’s any good.
• Kim Dong Wan, currently hospitalized after collapsing in the studio on the 11th, anticipates being released on the 15th, according to management. Reasons for his condition are attributed to stress from overwork; his solo album release will now be postponed until he is completely recovered, probably to early May.
• MBC’s upcoming Monday-Tuesday drama starring Kim Sun Ah and Lee Dong Gun, When Night Comes, is in the final stages of preparation and will soon start filming. The drama follows Yi San and is scheduled to premiere June 16. He plays an antiques-expert playboy with a thing for the virginal type; she plays a fervently patriotic spinster. The two share in romantic-comedy exploits as they search for national/cultural treasures. Kind of an oddly random assortment of details, though I suppose that’s not necessarily a bad thing.



• Lee Hana of the film Le Grand Chef and most recently in musician Jung Jae Hyung’s latest music video (see Song of the Day, below), follows her role in last year’s mania drama Merry vs. Daegu Battle in the upcoming KBS drama Woman in the Sun, also written by Merry scriptwriter Kim In Young. She’ll be acting alongside Kim Ji Soo (who makes her TV comeback after four years); the drama will follow currently airing Three Dads, One Mom.
• Last year, new pop group 8eight seemed poised for instant success, but faded fairly quickly out of the public eye after lots of hype. The trio says they’ve learned from the failure of their first album, born of an overly hectic schedule where they’d attempted too much, too fast: “We’d rushed through recording and our television debut, so the weak points were plain to see.” They’re now looking optimistically to their second album “Infinity.”
• Kim Haneul likes the comparison to her abrasive On Air character Seung Ah, and embraces her new nickname combining her real name with her character’s: “Kim Oh Seung Ah.” How is her character like herself? They’re both addicted to working out and have a love of sunglasses. For the past three years, she’s exercised three hours daily — sounds like someone’s got a bad case of exercise bulimia. (And no, I’m not being flip. That degree of fanaticism is very likely unhealthy.)

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Jung Jae Hyung – “Running,” whose video features Lee Hana. [ Download ]

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• Kim Dong Wan rushed to the emergency room
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Post tags: Kim Dong-wan, Kim Haneul, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-gun, Lee Hana, music videos, On Air, overworking, Rivals, When Night Comes