Mary Stayed Out All Night will end next week in a flurry of cheers or jeers, depending on whether the screen writer has taken her happy or crazy pills. Current mood in M3-land – cautious hope smothering an urge to go Hulk out on someone. Regardless of how M3 goes out, its successor Dream High is pretty much itching to get started, from the heaps of stills and teasers which have been released this week.

I do enjoy a good high school drama, except the ones I’m partial to are J-doramas. Some of my faves include Nobuta wo Produce, Dragon Zakura, and even the adorable Yankee Kun to Megame Chan. K-drama aren’t known for their school fare, and the last major school drama was the well-received Dragon Zakura remake God of Study (which I still haven’t the urge to watch).

Between Dream High and What’s Up?, after watching the teasers and seeing the stills for Dream High, I am still leaning lopsidedly with interest towards What’s Up? I have nothing against idol actors, even a drama consistently predominately with them, but I generally observe a greater emotional range and intensity when actors play a role versus an idol. But what really tips the scale is how by-the-books the teaser trailer and character descriptions feel. The stills are even worse – I really dislike the uber-posed ones, the stills where the lead actors look they they are frozen in mid-motion about to break dance.

You have the rich girl, her wallflower best friend, the rebel loner, the class clown, and the new arrival – all characters that populate pretty much every single high school drama permutation. I’m not feeling the sense of wonder or excitement one ought to from watching the teasers. Rather, I felt bored, stifling the urge to roll my eyes at the heightened intensity of the teaser cuts.

If I decide to check out Dream High, it will be for one person only – the gorgeous and sublime Kim Soo Hyun, who has knocked my socks off in every youth role he’s done so far. If anyone is interested in this drama, check out the teasers, and enjoy the stills! I do like the group pictures, which look more natural and emphasize the friendships amongst the characters rather than the theatrical element.

Dream High stars the aforementioned Kim Soo Hyun, T-ara’s Eunjung, Miss A’s Suzy, 2PM’s Taecyeon, and singers Wooyoung and IU. The adults are played by Eom Ki Joon and Lee Yoon Ji as teachers at the high school, and Bae Young Joon in more of a recurring status cameo role as the head honcho.

Teasers for Dream High:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6LCQM4mvIc]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elYObG_7yTI]