Like MBC before it, KBS has also released its list of year-end acting award nominees.
And while Hong Gil Dong (above) wasn’t the most prominent drama featured among the contenders (that would have to be the daily drama Mom’s Dead Upset, which brought in a whopping four nominations just in the Daesang category), it’s the one I watched and enjoyed in what I thought was a rather lackluster list. (Also! Kang! Ji! Hwan!)
The (very long) list of KBS actors is topped by a subset of nine Daesang contenders, which includes the aforementioned crowd of Mom’s Dead Upset veterans as well as Song Il-kook in the sageuk Kingdom of the Wind, Kim Sang-kyung in the sageuk Great King Sejong, and Kang Ji-hwan in the fusion-sageuk Hong Gil Dong. (A big sageuk year, no?)
If you notice something strange about Lee Hana’s appearance in the upcoming finale of her drama Women in the Sun, it’s because was recently hurt while filming. Furthermore, the injury was to her face — underneath her eye, to be exact.
A scene shot on the 27th involved one character attempting to block another from wresting money away, and the shopping bag containing the money ended up scraping Lee Hana’s face. It doesn’t sound like a dire injury — although a young actress’s value is often, unfortunately, inextricably linked to the unmarred condition of her good looks — but she was whisked away to a hospital where she received emergency care. With the end of the series approaching, she continued filming despite the fact that the injury hasn’t yet healed and is still visible.
KBS’s Women in the Sun had started out in a distant second place to SBS’s more popular Iljimae, but has been steadily climbing in the ratings. With much of the praise directed toward Lee Hana for her strong performance, the series looks to wrap up this week with ratings projected in the above-20% range, or close to it (Iljimae wrapped last week, while the newer Lawyers of Korea has been struggling in third place; perhaps things will perk up for that series with its competition out of the way).
Another Wednesday-Thursday drama (ratings) battle is shaping up, with three new dramas squaring off against each other. SBS’s Iljmae and MBC’s Spotlight have just started airing, and now KBS’s Woman in the Sun is readying to join them. The series stars Kim Ji Soo in her television return after four years away, as well as Lee Hana, Han Jae Seok and Jung Kyeo Woon.
The drama held its press conference on May 23 in the 63 Building in Seoul, where the stars expressed their hopes for a successful run. Showing a particular preoccupation with ratings, Han Jae Seok mentioned his disappointment over his previous series, the high-budget flop Lobbyist: “The viewership ratings were lower than expected. The audience’s opinion and response didn’t meet expectations. To be honest, I was upset.” He was so worried about the ratings issue that he looked up his competition’s ratings numbers online to compare, but hopes that the vastly different genres will help viewers find his.
Meanwhile, Lee Hana goes up against her former castmate (having played Sohn Ye Jin’s younger sister in the drama Alone in Love and now competing head-to-head with Sohn’s Spotlight), saying lightly, “I’m sorry to her, but I hope our drama does better.”
In Woman in the Sun, described as a “story of love and hatred” centering around a “birth secret” and two half-sisters, Kim Ji Soo plays an ambitious news announcer who abandoned her half-sister, played by Lee Hana, in her childhood. Now famous and successful, her love interest is played by Han Jae Seok, a top mergers and acquisitions specialist. Lee Hana is the younger sister who grew up in foster care after being abandoned by her older sister in Seoul Station, who determines to get her revenge.
Well, I’ll catch this to see if it’s any good, but I’m keeping expectations (very, very) low. With Spotlight’s dullness and Iljimae’s utter absurdity, maybe Wednesdays and Thursdays will be quiet this season?
SONG OF THE DAY
Kim Yeon Woo – “사랑한다는 흔한 말” (These ordinary words, I love you) [ Download ]
