The 2000’s were definitely the heyday of K-dramas, or what constituted the classic genre of K-dramas that spawned the Hallyu wave with Winter Sonata in 2002. But this year is 2024 and K-netizens are using it to reminisce on the 20th anniversary of the 2004 year of K-dramas which when you assemble together is basically a powerhouse year of epic ratings or cult faves that mark many of K-drama viewer’s entre into the genre. In the year 2004, these K-dramas are aired and it’s not even the only ones just the most famous ones and all are doozies: Full House, What Happened in Bali, Lovers in Paris, Sweet 18, Phoenix, Love Story in Harvard, She is Nineteen, Save the Last Dance for Me, Terms of Endearment, and Ireland. A few are my all time faves, some are unforgettable watches, and most are worth watching today in terms of acting and storytelling even if the cinematography and costumes look dated.
Now I feel old 🤣🤣
Ah yes, Full House – where your “friends” literally STEAL YOUR HOUSE and get away with it. A true classic for the ages. Sweet 18 otoh, really WAS sweet.
The ending in What Happened in Bali traumatized me, lol. As well as the ending in Lovers in Paris. 😝
I had a crush on Eugene during Save the Last Dance for Me.
Full House – started the cohabitation trope
What Happened in Bali – one of the most controversial and traumatic dramas even until now, 20 years later
Lovers in Paris – the most rage-inducing ending of all of Kim Eun Sook’s dramas, never again mentioned in favorite lists
Love Story in Harvard – Kim Rae Won and Kim Tae Hee!
Save the Last Dance for Me – classic chaebol falls for a simple girl, lots of scheming and accidents and amnesia amnesia
Yes, What Happened in Bali ending was indeed traumatizing!
I cannot remember which is my first K-drama…
But I will always remember just how happy I felt watching the kdramas then… I really loved many of them.
It was like first love…
I felt the same way , back then i found all dramas great , for a french viewer it was like discovering a whole new world ! I prefer to not watch them again to let the beautiful memories intact ! They have a special place in my heart when now i tend to forget the ones i have watched 2 or 3 years ago aside “les coups de coeur ” ! But i must confess that my first drama wasn’t a korean one but taiwanese Meteor Garden and of course It started with a kiss
My first was Taiwanese too!!! Meteror Garden was also my first. I remember, I was quite disturbed by the forced kissed scene in those days, do you remember the scene when Dao Mingsi was angry with Shancai? But I still finished the drama and enjoyed it.
Then I moved on to Japanese dramas before Korean next. Really like first love…the happiness I felt was so pure..
Really ! Still remember the scene , nowadays it will be seen as a kind of sexual assault . Like you, after i watched Japanese dramas as Hana Yori Dango, and some manga’s adaptations before moving to korean ones and stick to them until this day ! Back then all theses dramas helped me going through a hard time , it may seems ridiculous but for me they meant so muck . It’s like listening a song that takes you back to a special moment of your life . I still remember the old song that was playing on the radio when i was moving to Bordeaux campus , Ordinary world by Duran Duran ! Some dramas are the same to me !
Same! I first watched most of these years after they first released but watching those early Kdramas, Jdramas and Tdramas were like a portal to a whole new world for me.
I know what you mean…I learn so much about other countries culture and practise in these dramas…feels like I was travelling there.
When I was watching a drama in 6 parts hoping the video won’t freeze…
Lol!!! That is so funny!! I remember those days too! 🤣🤣. I actually ended up spending thousands of $$ buy Videos/DVDs . Ouch😬… my husband was not happy with me…
I am trying to remember when did the 6 parts turn to one 🤔 ??
I think VIkI changed a lot of things for the viewers!
LOL that’s me! I was quite thankful when DramaFever came along 😊
As an European, I never had the chance to watch Kdrama on DramaFever.
@Sayaris Sorry to hear you guys didn’t get DramaFever in Europe. It did’n stay around long enough though, lasted for about six years and got axed. And I’d like to add, it’s always good to read your comments, they’re short and insightful. 😊
I watched many dramas in Mysoju ! But i also bought a lot of dvd !
Thank you very much!
At least, I didn’t suffer from the sudden shut down of Dramafever. It was so weird Warner Bros didn’t use their catalogue. They missed an opportunity.
Don’t forget Hotelier and All about eve. I guess both are before all of these drama but those two are invited me to kdramaland.
yeah. All About Eve is a masterpiece.
Those are much older KDramas. Hotelier and All About Eve aired in 2001 and 2000, respectively.
Ok i am officially SO old now
I’m not into melo, and Full House was too cute cringey for me. So I never watch any of these classics. My first Kdrama was Kim Sam Soon, which happened a couple of years later.
2004….seriously..what a year..what a year for a kdrama…All the masterpiece classic was from that years..insane♥
I’m Sorry I Love You…man, never have I cried so hard watching a kdrama. This one is still the one to beat for me in terms of tearjerkers (kdrama wise).
ah Full House – one of the crappiest rom coms to ever exist yet started a pretty long Rain phase for me. Then there’s What Happened in Bali when JIS was actually a pretty lousy actor 😂 that crying scene of his still makes me physically cringe. It’s doubly shocking how bad he used to be considering how great he is today lol.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a reply drama. Would love one during this time period focused on Hallyu sort of like what they did with Reply 97 focused on kpop. I think it would resonate with quite a lot of viewers.
So many good memories, 2004 the year i discovered Kdramas , back then for a french viewer as me it was like a new world . I thought that K entertainment was wonderful land and my friends thought that i was an alien . In 2004 , Kpop culture wasn’t known in France . I enjoyed so much Full House, Sweet 18 , Snow White,Prince’s first love, She is 19, Magic ( Kang Dong Won, Kim Hyo Jin ) … What happened in Bali was like What the f…is this end ? With Miss Kim makes 1 M i fell in love with Ji Jin Hee and Park Gun Hyung . When a man is in love and stained glass with Go Soo, Bae Soo Bin and Lee Dong Gun . 😭😭😭😭😭😭now i just have to go to listen Memories by Barbra Streisand !
So many good memories, 2004 the year i discovered Kdramas , back then for a french viewer as me it was like a new world . I thought that K entertainment was wonderful land and my friends thought that i was an alien . In 2004 , Kpop culture wasn’t known in France . I enjoyed so much Full House, Sweet 18 , Snow White,Prince’s first love, She is 19, Magic ( Kang Dong Won, Kim Hyo Jin ) … What happened in Bali was like What the f…is this end ? With Miss Kim makes 1 M i fell in love with Ji Jin Hee and Park Gun Hyung . When a man is in love and stained glass with Go Soo, Bae Soo Bin and Lee Dong Gun . 😭😭😭😭😭😭now i just have to go to listen Memories by Barbra Streisand !
If I have to choose which one to watch again , I think I ‘ll choose Save your last dance.
Full house -too cringey
WHIB- I don’t remember loving it.
I’m sorry I love you- Everybody so sad and depressed
Lover in Paris- Noo, I don’t like that troupe right now.
Sweet 18- Did I love it? Like ,maybe
Love story in Harvard- I don’t remember what it’s about
She is 19, phoenix- forgot
Terms of endearment, Ireland – didn’t watch
Terms of Endearment was my first Kdrama, watched it on Arirang channel. So much heartache between a really young HGI and JiSung there 😭 Has it been 20 years already? Dang…
Autumn in my Heart was the kdrama that got me into kdrama and started a Won Bin crush that have never gone away. 😂 Never watch any of the other seasons dramas…
But out of all these, I have only watched Full House (ooh Rain) and What Happened in Bali (ooh JIS).
Still a fan of these guys and they still look great.
Me too! I was probably a child at that time. I was like what’s this?…LOL Even watched Hotelier and Four Sisters.
Four sisters, i watched it too , and We are dating now , All about eve i was a fan of Chae Rim and Kim So Yeon , and My love Patzzi with Jang Na Ra and kim Rae Won, Attic cat , Something about 1 % with Kang Dong Won . Aside Chae Rim all theses actors are still pursuing a good acting career . Kim So Yeon who got married with Lee Sang Woo who i saw first in 9 end 2 outs !
Ugh Won Bin! How I wish he’d grace my screen again. That man is so beloved that even though he hasn’t appeared in any film or drama in 14 years, he still gets CFs. He was the whole package in my opinion, visual + great acting. Blew me away in Man from Nowhere
Haha I can still hear Jo In Sung’s character pleading and screaming ‘Kajima!!’
2000’s K-dramas were very makjang imo. I wouldn’t be able to stomach most of those shows today.
My first K-dramas were ‘My name is Kim Sam Soon’ and ‘Goong’…I still have a fond memory of ‘MNIKSS’, it really started my obsession with K-entertainment (Hyun Bin was my first K-actor crush after all and I visited Korea for the first time in 2010 during the Secret Garden’s craze)
On this list, I only watched:
– What Happened in Bali? (We can all agree that the ending was WTF)
– I’m Sorry, I Love You (depressing much?)
– Save the Last Dance for Me (Ji Sung and Eugene <3)
I watched all these dramas on DramaFever in 2009, when it launched its first app on IPad. I accidentally stumbled on the app, downloaded it, and that was it – the Kdrama addiction that hasn’t stoped. When Viki came along, I watched both sites. When DramaFever shut down in 2018, it felt like a tragedy.Before 2009, I only watched Hollywood, Bollywood, some French and all the British shows. After 2009, I only watch all Asian dramas. Got all my friends and family hooked on it too. Doesn’t matter if (15 for me) years later I watch the same tropes, actors, stories; it feels like coming back to see my favorite people and places.
I’d stretch the category in this post to include Stairway to Heaven, which started December 2003 and ended February 2004.
Filipino viewers were wildly obsessed with Full House and Stairway to Heaven when they first aired in back-to-back primetime slots in 2005.
I’ve only watched two of these… “Full House” I enjoyed at the first watch since it was one of my first kdramas, but realized how irritating Rain’s character was in hindsight. This drama was super draggy. “Sorry I Love You” put me through emotional trauma. I refused to watch any more sad kdramas after that.
Me too!!! I really did not enjoy the sad dramas…Korea was quite good at producing sad dramas…I could cry for days. I stopped watching dramas until I knew the ending…and till now after 20+yrs..I still have a habit of watching dramas after it ends and I know the ending..🤣🤣
holy crap. i guess this is my 20th year watching kdramas with full house being the very first korean drama i tuned into. with the exception of Phoenix and Ireland, I saw all those dramas. The addiction kicked in pretty hard
I’m a relative newbie I guess since my first kdrama was Secret Garden which I only really got into because my cousin was obsessing over Jang Hyuk vs Hyun Bin for the role. I couldn’t imagine Joo Won if he wasn’t played by Hyun Bin, and she couldnt let go of the fact that Sidus HQ screwed it up for Jang Hyuk. We were both in HS back then and I remember arguing over this topic with her literally during classes through notes LOL.
I went back to watch a lot of Hyun Bin dramas and Ireland was one of them. I cant remember much of it tho. My extended family is Korean so I went back in 2013 or 2014 for the first time thinking I was going to chase Hyun Bin like a crazy Sasaeng. Too bad I think during the time I went he was just not active and all I really saw was Kim Soo Hyun plastered just about everywhere. And I mean absolutely ~EVERYWHERE~. Now I love him, but back then, I was very disappointed LOL.
Anyway great memories!
Full House, Lovers in Paris, Sweet in 18, and perhaps some others that I don’t remember this much!!!!! Starting Kdrama as late as in 2012 and then took a break just a few years later, it seemed I still picked up some fun Hallyu hits. But Koala forgot to mention My Lovely Sam Soon? I found what drew me to Kdrama at first was the creative writing in romance that’s very different from western films, less sexually explicit yet very romantic. Those hallyu hits I watched were more original with fresh concepts than what’s reprised nowadays with many old tropes although still winning viewership with star power.
I still appreciate those dramas I mentioned above. If they can have something showcasing similar levels of creativity, rom com and melo certainly have chance to be my fave genres again. I just miss these genres in the early Hallyu wave than anything sold nowadays in these types of market. They have become stale to me and I got bored all the time watching recycled tropes with predictable vibes, not really interested in where story was going. That’s how pure rom com and melo nowadays have failed to sell to me.
My lovely Sam Soon was released in 2005 and got incredible ratings ! Still remember how sexy Daniel Henney was !It was the era in which idols as Jung Ryeo Won , Eugene, Sung Yu Ri, Yoon Eun Hye, Eric Moon, Rain, …lead the way into acting .
I did not get to pick up all the popular dramas in that era. But each one I watched was memorable.