News bites: April 10, 2024

45 April 10, 2024April 10, 2024

by tccolb

Introducing us to the larger cast, a new poster has dropped for Disney+’s Uncle Sam-shik, starring Song Kang-ho (Cobweb), Byun Yo-han (Mr. Sunshine), Lee Kyu-hyung (Big Bet), and Jin Ki-joo (My Perfect Stranger) among many, many other talents. Come May 15, the period series will be taking us through the turbulent 1960s in South Korea, with production led by filmmaker Shin Yeon-shik (Cobweb, Cassiopeia) in both writing and directing. [News1]

In the meantime, we can first take a gander into the late 1950s with MBC’s upcoming Chief Detective 1958. Just ahead of its premiere next week on April 19, the action-comedy unveiled another teaser with Lee Je-hoon (Taxi Driver 2) leading our pack of detective heroes. The prequel has filmmaker Kim Sung-hoon (Rampant, Confidential Assignment) at the helm with scripts by Kim Young-shin. [MBC]
LG’s Studio X+U released a promo video for their mystery-horror Tarot, with Jo Yeo-jung (Behind Every Star) presenting a brief synopsis along with footage from her segment in the omnibus style story. The clip is from the Cannes International Series Festival, which ran from April 4 until today. [Newsen]

JTBC’s The Atypical Family (previously Although I’m Not a Hero) came out with a new poster, drawing back the curtains on our group of once-supers. Starring Jang Ki-yong (Now We Are Breaking Up), Chun Woo-hee (Delightfully Deceitful), and Go Du-shim (Twinkling Watermelon), the fantasy romance is slated to broadcast on May 4 in the weekend slot. [JTBC]
DKZ’s Jaechan (Semantic Error) has been added to the lineup for Channel A’s Check-in Hanyang, taking on the role of the righteous Go Su-ra who can’t turn a blind eye to injustice. Potentially joined by Bae In-hyuk (The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract) and Kim Ji-eun (Branding in Seongsu) in the fictional sageuk and rom-com, production is still in the early stages. [JTBC]
New stills have dropped for Netflix’s dystopian sci-fi Goodbye Earth, where chaos has overtaken a world that has 200 days left until its doom. Directed by PD Kim Jin-min (My Name) with writing by Jung Sung-joo (Heard it Through the Grapevine, Secret Love Affair), the apocalypse countdown begins on April 26, with Ahn Eun-jin (My Dearest), Yoo Ah-in (Hellbound), Jeon Sung-woo (The First Responders 2), and Kim Yoon-hye (Shooting Stars) headlining the novel adaptation. [Osen]

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Lots to watch! Uncle Sam-shik is a must-watch.
Is Soo-hyun (Claudia Kim) wearing a fatsuit in The Atypical Family (I still like its old title Although I’m Not a Hero better)?
All those stills of Goodbye Earth, and not one of Yoo Ah-in. 😭

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Bunny S.

April 10, 2024 at 10:39 PM

Seconding that Although I am not a hero felt more appealing. I don't understand why they change the title sometimes at the last minute and sometimes a drama goes through multiple name changes that it gets offputting.

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Bunny S.

April 10, 2024 at 10:39 PM

*sometimes it happens

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Blue (@mayhemf)

April 11, 2024 at 3:50 AM

Yeah. I kept zooming in to see if he really was in there. I have a feeling they edited out his scenes to a bare minimum? Can they don’t give us a directors cut too for international audience?
😭😭😭

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PYC

April 12, 2024 at 8:03 AM

It makes me sad and angry that they can butcher YAI’s scenes. While I can understand (but not agree to) this but how do you still maintain the integrity of a production when it was written and produced with him as the lead. Is what’s left still watchable???

The best case scenario which is my personal hope is they just do not include him in the promotional materials but keep the series as it is when airing.

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Blue (@mayhemf)

April 12, 2024 at 9:56 AM

Just saw the Netflix trailer and he was nowhere to be seen. Ahn Eun Jin was the focus. His name is still there, so not sure to what extent he is edited out or if they are just not showing his face in promos and trailers. We will only know when we watch the drama.

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PYC

April 13, 2024 at 5:50 AM

I saw that too and hope it’s a ‘character’ trailer for Ahn Eun Jin but I’m not optimistic.

zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 5:31 AM

No comment on the name change. Ok... comment. These retitles are a HUGE pet peeve for me. On rare occasion, a better title is chosen, but most of the time it's either mundane or eye-rolling. Now that we know Netflix is going to be airing the already retitled "The Midnight Romance" I'm waiting to see if it will change again. In this case, it really needs to.

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vienibenmio

April 11, 2024 at 6:46 AM

Wait, which one's The Midnight Romance?

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bong-soo

April 11, 2024 at 8:11 AM

It is not listed in the above report.
I believe the reference is to tvN’s THE MIDNIGHT ROMANCE IN HAGWON.

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zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 8:48 AM

Yes! Sorry I wasn't clear about that. I'm referencing the upcoming drama with Wi Ha Joon and Jung Ryeo Won. The literal translation of the Korean title is "Graduation" or "Graduate." It's been marketed for a few weeks now with the English title "The Midnight Romance in Hagwon," but given that "hagwon" is a romanization of a Korean word that means "academy," I'm guessing Netflix will axe it. Maybe just cutting the title down to "The Midnight Romance." But they could change it altogether. Or not. Let's see what happens! 😉

2 Wise

April 11, 2024 at 1:41 AM

Goodbye to Earth : Will Yoo Ah In scenes be mostly or entirely deleted from the show? I do hope they keep all his parts intact.

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zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 5:34 AM

He's definitely been edited out to some extent. Netflix has already said so in a press release when they announced the air date.

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Wise

April 11, 2024 at 8:15 AM

I see. That’s a shame though. I hope it will not mess up with the storytelling.

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zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 8:32 AM

I'm actually very curious what's going to happen. They've been vague about the extent to which he's been edited out. Given that he was a lead, it's hard to imagine how the drama can hold up if he's been removed completely. Although he's conspicuously absent in releases of stills, he's still listed as the second lead on the Netflix site. We won't know until it releases. I find the whole thing disappointing because I don't believe in kicking people when they're down, but I guess their hands were tied and we don't know the exact nature of the contracts involved. They may not have had a choice but to release a chopped up version, even if it's crappy.

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zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 8:34 AM

Or they may have decided to salvage what they could, and go for the attention that the controversy will bring.

Wise

April 11, 2024 at 8:58 AM

…and go for the attention that the controversy will bring.

I wish they are really dare enough to say come what may and go against the norm.

zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 9:04 AM

@stranger Agreed. I had been hoping for that during the delay, but that was dashed when they made a public statement about the editing.

3 Unaspirated

April 11, 2024 at 4:50 AM

At this point I’m a little relieved when there are a couple of dramas in these posts that I’m not interested in! So many dramas and so little time for me this spring!

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zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 5:23 AM

The number of dramas being released in May is bordering on absurd 🤪 And now they've moved "Bittersweet Hell" (formerly Our Home/House) into May as well. I'll be enjoying most of them via recaps 😉

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Unaspirated

April 11, 2024 at 9:08 AM

Same! At least at first. I can only sustain two live-watches with my current schedule, so the rest will have to be watched after the fact and just read about for now. I still love following though!

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Minnie🫘👩🏻‍🚀Pioneer and Teacher 👩🏻‍🏫🌱🏹

April 11, 2024 at 5:35 AM

Honestly, I am beginning worry about work productivity 😂😂😂

I found myself checking Viki yesterday at work. I have never even opened Google there (I work with kids). Bad bad bad.

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Unaspirated

April 11, 2024 at 9:05 AM

I work on a computer all day, so I have to be so careful! My rule is that I just don’t do anything drama-related on my work computer ever. Period. Otherwise it’s such a slippery slope!

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Diana Hansen

April 11, 2024 at 7:22 AM

I'm with you on this!

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4 Dylan [is enjoying Shogun]

April 11, 2024 at 5:34 AM

Goodbye Earth's premise just reminds me of The Last Policeman series, that was really good. I do wish the original novel the kdrama is based was in English somewhere.

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5 DancingEmma

April 11, 2024 at 5:58 AM

I wish Jaechan and Park Seoham would act together again in “Semantic Error 2”.

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6 welh

April 11, 2024 at 6:00 AM

At Cannes Series screening, TAROT received a good response and Jo Yeo-jung had a strong performance but the show did not win in its competition category. During her Pink Carpet interview, Jo said that she was proud that TAROT was the first Korean TV show to be nominated at this festival.

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7 Kafiyah Bello

April 11, 2024 at 6:18 AM

1. The CAST. I am really excited for this drama.

2. I feel like this has been teased for YEARS now, come on, I hope it lives up to its own hype.

3.hmmmm

4. That is a fat suit, hmmmmmm

6. Man, this is such a shame because Yoo Ah In is so freaking talented. SIGH.

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8 bong-soo

April 11, 2024 at 6:52 AM

No. 4. JTBC’s THE ATYPICAL FAMILY/ALTHOUGH I AM NOT A HERO.
I think this project started off as the Korean remake of the terrific 8 episode Netflix jdrama HOUSE OF NINJAS but transformed into what is on offer now. That is ok.
As always my availability angst has kicked in. In the past Viki has been very kind to Jang Ki-yong and licensed a goodly number of his dramas so I have fingers crossed that Viki will license this drama also.

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bong-soo

April 11, 2024 at 7:08 AM

Re Byun Yo-han (from No. 1) I am waiting for more information on his upcoming drama from Wavve BLACK OUT/SNOW WHITE MUST DIE (with Go Jun). This MDL article reports:
“Black Out will have its world premiere at the Rendez-vous (Out of Competition) section of the 7th Cannes International Series Festival, scheduled from April 5 to April 10.”
https://mydramalist.com/article/new-mystery-k-drama-black-out-to-have-its-world-premiere-at-canneseries

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welh

April 11, 2024 at 7:34 AM

BLACK OUT has a strong cast. But I don't know how available it will be for international audiences.

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bong-soo

April 11, 2024 at 8:07 AM

I don’t know if Wavve and Viki have any kind of official arrangement but over the years (back to 2018 anyway) Viki US has picked a large number of Wavve dramas and I give Viki credit for licensing dramas from the smaller outfits.
IMHO the Viki/Kocowa arrangement turned jnto a bust.
I randomly picked 10 dramas on the following Wiki list of Wavve dramas and Viki US is carrying all of them. So I have fingers crosse that BLACK OUT may wind up being available on Viki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wavve_original_programming

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zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 8:56 AM

I'm surprised One Day Off isn't on that list. iirc I watched that on Kocowa, but now I see that it's on Viki too. That might have been during my phase where I was annoyed that Viki was always behind with subbing. So I downgraded to Standard and subscribed to Kocowa where the episodes were always released quickly. I eventually went back to Viki because the subbing times improved and, generally, I like the quality of the subbing better. There are too many streaming options! Sorry for the tangent there 🙃

zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 9:02 AM

Oh wait... so my original point was to suggest that Black Out might be released on Kocowa and later on Viki. Although given its prestige now, a bigger platform might try to snap it up.

bong-soo

April 11, 2024 at 11:04 AM

@zindigo, streaming and availability is all a mash and for some reason it slipped my memory but seeing a couple of articles my memory was refreshed. Late in 2022 it was announced that Wavve was buying Kocowa. This brief article gives a description of the ownership structure of both:
https://deadline.com/2022/12/south-korea-content-waave-kocowa-acquisition-kcontent-1235204956/

To conclude. I am pleased to see Wavve’s dramas being licensed on Viki because it seemed a number of the dramas from the big 3 networks (KBS, SBS and MBC) which owned Kocowa were more and more bypassing Viki and licensing to other streaming outfits. As a US viewer it was most annoying to see the big 3 networks bypass Viki and license to Disney+ which does not make kdramas available in the US.

zindigo

April 11, 2024 at 3:06 PM

@marcusnyc20 Oh wow, I had no idea that Waave bought Kocowa. I'm happy to see Viki able to license more as well. Agreed on the Disney+ issue as I'm in the US as well.

Dylan [is enjoying Shogun]

April 11, 2024 at 11:10 AM

I really need to watch House of Ninjas at some point. People seem to just love it or hate it.

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bong-soo

April 11, 2024 at 11:30 AM

I am in the ‘loved it’ corner.

HOUSE OF NINJAS maybe slight beginning spOiler.
I really don’t think so but. Our THE ATYPICAL FAMILY above seems to have lost their super powers and wants to have them restored.
In our HON family (granny, mom, dad, big bother, sis and little bro) they are trying to leave the ninja (shinobi) life and live as a regular/normal family especially for the little guy.
Recall in GODFATHER III (1990), Michael says the famous line, “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!
Something like that happens in HON.

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♡Peach_Mochi♡

April 11, 2024 at 11:37 AM

I loved it, too. Would also like to see the story continue as there's much left unfinished. Granny and little bro stole the show with much-needed levity to balance the darker storylines.