Weekend drama Believe In Love makes strong premiere
by javabeans
Believe In Love, which comes from the makers of 2009’s hit family series Sons of Sol Pharmacy, enjoyed a very strong first outing this weekend, with its first episode bringing in a 21.6% viewership rating (AGB Nielsen) on Saturday evening. In the same timeslot, its competitors brought in a 12.2% and 11.2% for SBS’s Laugh, Mom and MBC’s Gloria, respectively.
AGB numbers aren’t available yet for the second episode, but TNS gives 21.1% for Sunday. This bodes well for Believe In Love, which is already performing better than its predecessor; Marry Me started out with a 16.7% and averaged a 24.2% for its entire run, peaking with 34.8%. Meanwhile, Sol Pharmacy‘s first episode came in with a solid 18%, and went on to top 40%, so this is a good sign.
The drama is built around a normal family, with Song Jae-hyo at the center of it, playing a vice principal at a boys’ school. Simple conceit, but what this team did so well with Sol Pharmacy was creating heartwarming, hilarious bonds between its characters, most of whom were ordinary folk going about their lives and enduring the kinds of everyday dramas that real people face, whether it’s trying to balance family with career, or finding your special someone, or what to do when mom hates your special someone. All with a good-natured, bubbly sense of humor.
Though length keeps me from recapping family dramas (this one’s slated for 50 episodes), I still enjoy watching one on occasion, and I’m downloading this one as I type. While I’m not expecting much of it, if it turns out to be cheery and funny, and I’m always ready to welcome one of those to the dramascape.
Those who saw Sol Pharmacy will recognize a group of familiar faces. Its mom (Yoon Mi-ra), loud cousin Mi-ran (Ha Jae-sook), neighbor Brutus (Jo Jin-woong), and lovable-yet-obnoxious (or is it obnoxious-yet-lovable?) Dae-poong (Lee Pil-mo of the glorious HAIR!) are all in the new cast as well.
Others include Lee Jae-ryong (Goodbye Solo), Park Joo-mi (Ladies of the Palace), Hwang Woo Seul-hye (Crush & Blush), and Moon Jung-hee (Oh My Lady).
Perhaps you’ll also recognize others if not by name then by recent roles — whether it’s Melgidec from Runaway Plan B (Song Jae-hyo), the Sungkyunkwan thief’s little brother (Kim Dong-hyun, who has apparently switched over to a stage name in the past week, now Kim Da-yul), young Tak-gu (Oh Jae-mu), or the High Kick granny (Na Mun-hee).
Believe in Love airs on KBS on Saturdays and Sundays.
Via Yonhap News, Asiae
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1 llei
January 2, 2011 at 5:05 PM
http://anjellholic.tumblr.com/post/2511768370/the-last-episode-of-marry-me-mary-was-written-by-jang.....
not related to this article but now we know why MMM was just plain crazy!!
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GrandmaFran
January 2, 2011 at 5:28 PM
LOL
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kelly
January 3, 2011 at 5:32 PM
It seems like you couldn't let MMM go.........
Do you know what the original storyline was? It must have been worse.
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2 Joseph
January 2, 2011 at 5:28 PM
Wah I wanna see this!!!!
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3 ar_arguably romantic
January 2, 2011 at 5:31 PM
Looks great and nice to see familiar faces! I wonder why the kid decided to switch over to a stage name!
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4 Myuu
January 2, 2011 at 5:31 PM
Well, yeah. he had to. The real plot was really crappy,
http://geungeuncouple.blogspot.com/2011/01/jang-geun-suk-revealed-after-seeing.html
It would be a disaster if they didn't change it.
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anon imus
January 2, 2011 at 9:06 PM
i see a megalomaniac in the making, that's what i see. jgs is just too full of himself, he turns me off....
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anais
January 2, 2011 at 10:23 PM
Whether or not he's a megalomaniac in the making, if what the article claims is true, the best part of the finale - the part that people most loved - was his work. If that is the case, he should write more.
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Artemis
January 3, 2011 at 5:30 AM
somebody peed in your cornflakes today? huhu
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Artemis
January 3, 2011 at 5:33 AM
Clicked the wrong reply, sorry, it was meant for 4.1 anon imus.
Amanda
January 3, 2011 at 7:01 PM
Totally agree with you. I think he did a great job.
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Melissa
January 3, 2011 at 6:59 PM
JGS actually saved the drama if it was true that he had changed ep 16 ,so proud of him.
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5 supah
January 2, 2011 at 5:47 PM
I watched this last night, was really in the mood for a good and heartwarming family drama, but this ain't all that. The actress-with-four-syllable-name was ok, her grandpa was totally endearing, but overall it was just meh.
I'm finally watching Smile, You -- and hate myself for taking so long to finally get to it! It's totally what I needed. <3
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6 Ani
January 2, 2011 at 5:51 PM
Any one remember how Bruce ended up being Brutus in Sons of Sol Pharmacy?
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Sere
January 2, 2011 at 6:22 PM
Grandpa started mispronouncing his name and then everybody followed suit?
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7 Sere
January 2, 2011 at 6:01 PM
Ooooooh I love this cast. Gah, I was going to start Family's honor when I was done with Lib (only a few eps left, omg! I'll go into withdrawal without Kyung-soo and Tae-sub!), but now I'm tempted to start this one? OMG, Sarah! Why do you do this to me every single time? I can't make up my mind now. *pouts*
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elle loves kdrama
January 2, 2011 at 8:04 PM
Family's honor is SO endearing. It was a little slow to begin with, but it picks up really quickly (I skipped a few episodes). PLUS Park Shi Hoo is simply adorable in this drama. The character development for his role is so much fun to watch!
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Sere
January 3, 2011 at 5:18 AM
I know! Everybody I know tells me the same thing.
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8 Serious
January 2, 2011 at 6:34 PM
i don't want to sound stalker-ish, but i've been refreshing the website every 5 minutes waiting for this particular drama recap to be posted... not that i'm rushing you GF, but... /refreshes again.
thank you in advance and can't wait for the recap :]
p.s. finally a drama built around a normal family(?) i think the whole rich family vs. poor family separating the couple is overly used (yet i love them..most of the time?) e_e
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9 minnieme
January 2, 2011 at 6:37 PM
Just a question, but where do you download your dramas? All the Korean sites require a SSN-type number :(
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10 theasianstalker
January 2, 2011 at 6:54 PM
OMG it's Melgidec. Is he evil in this drama too? Or just a normal Haraboji?
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marissa
January 2, 2011 at 11:06 PM
He's a warm Haraboji here, lol. it took me a few minutes in this drama to think of him as just another character instead of Evil Mel from Plan B.
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11 egg
January 2, 2011 at 7:41 PM
Man, Sol Pharmacy was such a hilarious drama! It's the first family drama I've ever watched and it did not disappoint, so maybe I'll give this one a try
But hahahaha what's up with the left most pic on the last row. Who's the guy lurking in the back by the tree while that happy family sits on the blanket in the front
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hjkomo
January 2, 2011 at 10:42 PM
That's Lee Sang Woo.
I haven't watched yet, but let's hope the writer has improved since Sons of Sol Pharmacy, which initially started out fun but dragged too much later on.
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Janna
January 3, 2011 at 10:20 AM
I laughed at the lurking picture too. Awwwkkkkwwaarrrddd.
I feel Sons of Sol Pharmacy did drag towards the end (too much Bokifer drama, not enough Mi Poong - his storyline kind of just ... dissolved.)
I may check this out after.. say.. 20 episodes have aired. Then I can righteously fast forward through all the frustrating parts.
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12 maria
January 2, 2011 at 8:54 PM
WHAAAT?!?!? do you mean to tell me that KIM GAB SOO is NOT in this one???!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
HOW DARE THEY!!!!!
DON'T THEY KNOW KIM GAB SOO IS IN EVERYTHING?!?!?!?!?!?!?
;P
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13 nelkk
January 2, 2011 at 9:39 PM
nice cast i just might watch it!
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14 schreber
January 3, 2011 at 3:49 AM
Given the set up, at least at the end of episode 1 and it's partial continuation in episode 2, I'm curious about the possible affair [emotional or physical] that's being set up between Hye Jin and Seung Woo. They spent a bit too much time on these two for it to amount to nothing more than a passing "Hello.
Moving along I was kind of disappointed with the Kwon family dynamic, it's bad enough that Ki Chang feels the need to discipline his students but it seems he can't see that doing the same thing with his wife and children spells disaster, even at the cost of humor (having his wife sit in a stool or high chair while he lectures her was just too much).
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15 Alvina
January 4, 2011 at 12:23 PM
I haven't watched this yet but I'll give it a look. Lee Pil-mo's family dramas never disappoint me and they're usually good. Actually I love family dramas in that you can skip episodes and you're still okay LOL.
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16 D
January 6, 2011 at 8:29 PM
ooo, Mama Song got a new hairdo! I love cousin Mi-ran.. and Brutus of course! but LPM with that hair (i dont dig it) hope he has a better personality here..
50 eps, i'll try to watch it..
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17 Victoria
May 6, 2011 at 8:27 PM
Does anyone know where I can purchase the OST for this drama? I have looked on Yesasia.com but to no avail. I really like the music especially the music in many of the scenes with Hy jin. I feel uncertain about downloading music from the web. If anyone can help me out with this that would be great.
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