jTBC Courts Even More Controversy By Re-broadcasting Snowdrop and the Only South Korean Television Channel Not to Live Broadcast the President Annual New Year’s Address

At this point I wonder if jTBC is just trying to troll the K-netizens, otherwise why keep doing bizarre stunts around its controversy laden period drama Snowdrop. This Monday in South Korea, President Moon Jae In delivered the annual President’s New Year’s speech to the public and every single television channel cut into programming to live broadcast it. Every channel except for jTBC that is, which chose to re-broadcast the most recent Snowdrop episodes 6-7. SBS, MBC, KBS, tvN, Channel A, TV Chosun, MBN, all cut into whatever was scheduled to air at the time of the speech to live broadcast it. I don’t think it’s counterprogramming for jTBC to do this and even more perplexing that it chose to air Snowdrop as opposed to another program even if it chose not to live air the President’s speech. K-netizens are once again triggered with calls to boycott jTBC or vows to never watch another jTBC show. Sigh. This is like an infinite bad loop, never a dull moment with Snowdrop other than in the drama story itself.


Comments

jTBC Courts Even More Controversy By Re-broadcasting Snowdrop and the Only South Korean Television Channel Not to Live Broadcast the President Annual New Year’s Address — 48 Comments

  1. Wow…all this time, I just thought JTBC was being stupid with handling the whole debacle, but now it feels like someone higher up is being blackmailed into doing this (maybe some Burning Sun-level of dirt) or JBC really want to get the show cancelled (and was disappointed that the government didn’t oblige them) because they no longer want to be saddled with it. Joseon Exorcist was cancelled and everyone just moved on.

  2. You got to wonder about the executive choices. Snowdrop was finally climbing in ratings why keep getting into controversies.

    • I suspect either some execs are being blackmailed to promote the show come hell or high water or they’re actively trying to get the government to cancel the show?

      • I am loving Jtbc the more and more ????… They fit the so called knets or whatever they are called so well.

      • The first option is right out of a conspiracy nut’s mind and the second option makes no sense whatsoever lmao

  3. LOL I’m thinking this is surely high level trolling or someone pulling a YOLO stunt. It’s hilarious honestly.

    But if this isn’t intentional, JTBC must’ve been hiring monkeys to run the show.

    • But it was a rerun of the eps? They already aired it live on the weekend? The choices they are making are nonsensical. You would think that they would be more careful? ?. They only just got out of jail. They should’ve just kept their heads down and avoided future controversies.

      • The recent JTBC stunt shows its true color, a right wing media who is pushing their political agenda through snowdrop. Moon jae In is in his last term with the election in 3 months. It was his last new year speech to the citizens as a president. I read he was one of the student activists during democratic rising in S.K. I am more and more believing that snowdrop is part of the bigger political agenda.

  4. JTBC is funded by the Chinese investor money so they don’t really care + they’re not a public broadcast channel so not like the gov can control them

    • I dont know why Korean citizens are against this drama….the drama it’s really outstanding international fans are loving the drama….Why Korean citizens are upset did they did something wrong or what ? If the drama is about history than past is past right…but honestly I really love this drama…

  5. Nothing to see here, it’s all a coincidence and if not, it’s just hype marketing. I don’t get why Koreans are so upset and just can’t accept this show, JTBC is just trying to promote good entertainment. Although I have no emotional attachment to the events that are covered in the drama, it’s ridiculous that they don’t feel the way I do.

    (yes this is all sarcasm).

  6. I don’t understand the point of re airing the previous episodes and get negative attention from the people…maybe the reason is deeper than we think or maybe it’s not. also, although I had to force myself to watch first 2 or 3 episodes I think the story was getting interesting and I m curious about the next episode. I think it’s going to be one of those sad ending dramas.

  7. A couple of points: JTBC has the right to not broadcast the address, and to set its own programme scheduling.
    It does feel as if Netizens are looking for any excuse to criticise JTBC and Snowdrop. How sad! It is an interesting thought provoking drama with one of Korea’s best exports, Jung Hae-in.

    • Yeah at this point I’ve stopped giving knetz any leeway. Any sympathies I had before watching the show have been killed. I’m all caught up on the episodes and the criticisms have pretty much been proven moot by recent developments. The story is building up the ansp/nsa and dictatorship gov to be absolute villains who are headed in the direction of sacrificing a dorm full of female students to win a corrupt election. There’s no “right wing” propaganda, unless u consider showing their highest authorities as corrupt self serving, extremely incompetent clowns as propaganda lol
      At this point the constant outrage has gotten boring. The show won’t get cancelled. The ratings jumped back up and they might go higher. Even if they don’t, its doing great on disney+ despite being available only in five countries. The show itself has gotten really damn interesting and even the female lead’s initial terrible acting has shown improvement. The knetz making this over the top, obviously fictional drama the mascot in their political tug of war has become tiring now. I’m glad jtbc isn’t bending over to mob outrage.

    • The more episodes we get the more obvious it becomes that the show is in no way ~beautifying~ or whatever tf the ansp or pushing right wing propaganda. They’re being shown as absolute scum who get worse as the plot unfolds. It’s understandable why jtbc is pushing back so strongly and why so many of the frustrated staff are speaking up. They must feel so wronged, and rightly so. The mass campaign that was (and still is) being run to completely slander and defame literally anything related to this drama feels less about ‘historical distortion’ and more about pure malicious vindictiveness at this point.

      • it’s funny how your defend is that
        “the plot shows this and there is no right wing propaganda” despite being not living in SK and living the memory while the problem is the the survivor that “fictionally” adapted said that what the shows said didn’t happen. There were no questioned that the government is terrible but the questioned is that their action minimizing the actual history. Incompetent government is a trope on itself and no one was talking about that.

        The another defend is that female lead terrible acting has shown improvement? like seriously low standard to actually able to watch it.

        Then disney+ has high rating despite many people had been unsubscribe like such a low ground, this tells more about the audience of the drama, Just said that you don’t care about other people history cause it doesn’t affect your enjoyment

      • Its hilarious how all the clowns here are regurgitating other random peoples opinions without having even watched the show yet and calling for pre-censorship to protect ‘democracy’. The irony lol

  8. At this point, you know netizens are looking for anyway to boycott JTBC and snowdrop. Even when the so called ‘historical distortions’ was actually false so far.

    • They’ll jump on literally anything at this point to “cancel” the show and the people involved. They’ll never admit that their preconceived assumptions were wrong and they misjudged the show. It’s a clash of egos now lmao

  9. Every now and then seeing this show, reminds me of Joseon Exorcist which makes me sad. Gah, the actors truly didn’t deserve the criticism nor lost offers that they got.

  10. So funny when the show is about pro north korean and ppl show so much support. But in reality everyone from the west hate komunis. Shit show, the male lead keep hurting female lead and if they stuck happy ending together i never gonna watch a show by them anymore.

  11. If only Snowdrop could be launch Worldwide it will have bigger sales and audience, every episodes have suspence,thriller and intrigue plus romance, this is like no other drama…it irks your interest to watch the next episode…vome faster Saturday and Sunday…please

  12. As an international fan I really loved this drama every episode was really interesting but at this point I guess JTBC should try to avoid future controversies when people are finally showing interest in the drama and it is rising in rating IDK but it does matter for this show and their future shows are well also we know that if the show is cancelled then we’ll never be able to see that story which we are getting now so please JTBC try to aleast avoid any controversies and complete the airing of show

  13. JTBC is crazy.
    International fans are even crazier for supporting and bashing Koreans for not approving this drama

    Every drama always write “this is just a fiction in the beginning of every eps’ but since this drama is is based on the 1987 era , they should have a tiny bit of respect not to distort the history by glorying the NSA.
    “NSA agents are regular people too” that’s what JTBC has clearly stated.

    Moreover the female lead is the daughter of the head security chief (who is an upright man trying to catch the bad guys) falling in love with a real NK spy. Ironically In real life NSA agents jailed, tortured, and killed the innocents by framing them as NK spies

    Imagine the survivors and the victims family watching this. Please have some basic humanity, your dear Jisoo drama isn’t more important than human rights.

    Take a look at YOM. That is a masterpiece drama with low budget but pd and writer said clearly in their interview that not a single thing about the history should be distorted. The pain and sacrifice from so many people fighting for democracy can never be forgottend.

    Not only that the two leads acted so well despite not having the best props compared to other high budget drama.
    They carried the whole show just with their sizzling chemistry and top notch acting skill….everything felt so natural about them unlike Snowdrop which I felt super artificial.

    • I agree with you on this. SD is simply layered with controversy after controversy in almost every aspect of the production – from the scripting to the genre in the storytelling, to the hiring decision, to the choice of broadcast and to how the show’s marketing and promotional materials have been strategically planned and deliberately crafted to evade a much more underlying malicious purpose at play.

      As much as freedom of creation and artistic expression are important to me as an artist myself, civic obligations (to the state) and civil responsibilities (in respecting and protecting the rights of others) are just as imperative because all of us are STILL members of a cultured society and a polity. Freedom is not absolute because no one stands as sovereign. At this juncture, the production had fully exercised their artistic freedom but have blatantly denied and dismissed their civil duties. Did they take the initiative to check against their scripts with appropriate members of society? When a furore had erupted amongst the masses, did they approach the pressing issues with humility and respect? This is why I take my hat off to how the YOM team approached the subject matter – with care, respect and mindfulness. Many wounds are still fresh and healing. That drama is actual historical fiction. Even the attitudes of the leads playing their roles in YOM and in SD are starkly different.

      Now, all I am getting are more sarcasm, legal threats to muzzle the masses, contempt, scorn, mockery – all amounting to blatant dishonour and disrespect. All the more why this show needs to be cancelled to put a lid on uncouth attitudes and recover the rights and respect of others that have been robbed. It has only grown to be cancerous to the well-being of the society and this overwrites what efforts have been put in by the cast and crew by a large extent.

      With the actual presidential elections around the corner, we cannot dismiss and underestimate the extent of influence the media has on their polling decision subconsciously. From an outsider’s standpoint, we can only imagine what kind of political climate they have been through for a year with the geopolitics of the East Asian region evolving with China’s growing influence to have accounted for the reaction of the locals.

      • And supporting mob mentality, mass harassment and censorship to “safeguard Korean democracy” over a damn drama lmao can you people hear yourself yikes

    • Literally Everything you said has been proven wrong by the latest episodes, or is on its way to being debunked in the next. Watch what the actual writing if the drama is saying instead of relying on articles written by clowns that haven’t even seen the damn show

  14. its like the channel wants to keep the controversy alive to get more buzz for the show… free publicity for the show… 3% for a show with such a huge cast is a big let down for jtbc. more people might watch it just to know what the fuzz is all about… but i doubt there is gonna be any huge change in the rating…

  15. I think JTBC are just desperate. A lot of money went into this drama but it isn’t a success. They have been hyping this for months, cast that idol woman and were expecting high ratings but even with all the promotion and the controversy (no such thing as bad publicity after all) the drama still isn’t getting any traction.

  16. I think this whole production is cursed from the start. Sad news – absolutely shocked to hear that Kim Mi Soo who played Jung Min in SD has passed away suddenly. May she rests in peace. I hope all the hate and harassment towards the drama will stop now.

  17. My deepest sympathy and condolences to Kim Mi Soo’s family and friends. I pray that all the hate will stop too. These are real people associated with the drama, cast, crew and real victims. Jtbc now stuck in hard place on how to honour KMS’s memory and respecting her family. A precious young person’s life has been taken. Time for peace and reconciliation.

  18. May she rest in peace and deepest condolences to her family. I’m speechless. A young talent gone too soon. I sincerely hope everyone do look out for one another, find ways to keep ourselves happy and healthy. We just do not know what’s round the corner.

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