It’s August so time for a ghostly K-drama to arrive much as one always does every August during the traditional ghost month of the Asian lunar calendar. Last year there was the double serving of The Master’s Sun and Who Are You but this year comes only one ghostly drama and it’s a fantasy sageuk to boot in the form of Records of a Night Watchman. That’s pretty ambitious to mash together spectral horror with fantasy wizardry into a palace intrigue setting. I wonder if this drama was planned way before Dr. Stranger aired to scared them off of tackling too many things all at once. Starring Jung Il Woo, Yunho, Go Sung Hee, Seo Ye Ji, Yoo Tae Young, Choi Won Young, and Kim Sung Oh, this drama has succeeded in raising my eyebrows with its low-rent promotional material and raised it even higher with everything seen of Kim Sung Oh’s character as a power hungry shaman channeling a sad aging rock star.
The press conference, on the other hand, was unexpectedly lovely to behold. The two male leads showed up in nicely fitted suits and the two leading ladies were dressed classy and elegant. The only nit would be wishing Go Sung Hee’s dress was any color other than black since Seo Ye Ji in the eye-catching green stands out so much more. The most important feature of a drama press conference is when the network release the long trailer and this one does not disappoint. Or maybe the more accurate description is that what is shown is hard to stop watching (so it’s exciting, I guess?) but also conveys the whiff of hot mess (so that’s not good, yes?). I have enjoyed my share of hot mess dramas, usually for a compelling OTP, so whether Night Watchman will float my boat will have to wait until it airs next Monday.
Kim Sung Oh clearly dyed his hair that awful shade of dirty blonde but with darker roots, a color that seems to be infiltrating the K-drama universe since Ji Hyun Woo also sports it equally unattractively in his currently airing drama. I can’t decide what’s most visually offensive, his orange tan or the hair color.
Long trailer for Records of a Night Watchman:
I was wondering: how do you feel Ms Koala about kdramas flopping right and left and failing to reach the 20% ratings mark? I just realized that the last hit that had graced kdramaland is You Who Came From The Stars.
Honestly, I think this drama will do well because Koreans love ghosts and fusion sageuks, most of those dramas did well: Master’s Sun, Gu Family Book, etc. I also think Cantabile Romance will be a hit thanks to the great Joo Won/Shim Eun Kyung combo.
YFAS was the exception, not the rule. Drama ratings aren’t what they used to be even last year. I wouldn’t say everything is flopping, just that standards are lowered. Double digits seems to be an accomplishment.
YWCFTS wasn’t an exception, there were several hits like Empress Ki, Master’s Sun, I hear your voice, Heirs, Secret Love etc.. While this year, there is none so far.
Not really , last year there was a bunch of dramas with 20+ rating,Master Sun,Good Doctor ,Yawang,The Heirs,Empress Ki etc.
This year there is YFTS and some weekend dramas but thats it.
Agree that drama ratings standards are lower recently due to a combination of factors including post-ferry incident sentiment, boycott of tv stations etc. Have also noticed that ratings are generally higher across the board in autumn/winter probably due to school holidays and more viewers staying at home because of the cold weather. In addition, for one drama to exceed the 20% ratings mark, its’ competitors in the same timeslot must do badly with at least one of them with ratings of around 5% or less. The current batch of dramas (for eg Wed-Thu dramas) are pretty evenly matched, so the ratings would be spread out quite evenly amongst all three.
Wow! Action-packed trailer! It reminds me of the fantasy elements in “Jumong” and “Legend”. Is that little girl the same child actress in Two Weeks? She’s adorable! So far it looks interesting. I’ll check out this drama next week.
Thanks Koala for sharing this trailer. 🙂
Yes, the child actress is the one from Two Weeks.
Not a big fan of the trailer as it’s mainly the children’s footage.
Also, I really, really hate the top-knot the lead actress sports, and a lot of the CGI effects look so hokey….
Ugggh, probably going to skip this unless I hear a lot of good things about it…
If it is as exciting, action packed as the trailer is more than good enough for me. Jung Il Woo is good enough carry it as the hero.
The villain bad hair, outfit can be a minor issue. Hopefully it not terrible as Gu Family book……
Looks interesting to me. A fantastical tale. Havent watched this genre since i stepped into kland!
Arang and the Magistrate is pretty good.
As I said before, I dunno if I want to see this one as the production quality leaves a lot to be desired.
I AM interested in the premise. I just have my doubts on the execution….
I didnt complete arang. At a certain point , it stopped making narrative sense to me. I know lots love it though. Thanks for reminding me 🙂
The only one that stand out among the 4 lead actors is Jung II Woo. Lucky the director added a comedy feel to the drama with the 3 ghosts and especially fatty Go. He is such a funny guy and fun to watch. If only these 4 are the main stay it would help the drama a lot. And the director also state that it is not a horror cold plot. It may just may stand a chance with the foursome. And I have to add please keep those that could not act as minimal in appearance as possible .
Only one that stand out among the 4 lead actors is Jung II Woo. Lucky the director added a comedy feel to the drama with the 3 ghosts and especially fatty Go. He is such a funny guy and fun to watch. If only these 4 are the main stay it would help the drama a lot. And the director also state that it is not a horror cold plot. It may just may stand a chance with the foursome. And I have to add please keep those that could not act as minimal in appearance as possible .
Seo Ye Ji’s dress is quite classy and eye-catching, but wouldn’t it fit a much older actress instead? With Jung Il Woo standing next to her and his hand on her, he’s like the dotting oppa watching over his very young dongsaeng. Not the least bit of an OTP in my eyes.
Seo Ye Ji looks really pretty here.
And I can totally see what you meant when you said she looks like Lee Yoo Bi – she really does!
Can I just say what a relief to find someone who genuinely knows
what they are discussing on the web. You certainly realize how to bring an issue to light
and make it important. More and more people ought to read this and understand this side
of the story. I was surprised that you aren’t more popular because you surely possess the gift.