K-netizens Disagree with Entertainment Reporter Article that Post Military Park Bo Gum has Been a Disappointment with Movie and Variety Show

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• Somehow would it not be the director and writers fault. Lately some of my favorite actors have been picking up some dud like dramas to play in. That buzz factor just is not there and a good actor can only bring a spark with his or her character but not for the whole production. That is a bit unfair but whatever floats everyone’s boat over there. Also couple chemistry is fine and all but if the story has flat ending and no
  Sense to the story it can be a bit of a drag. Lately many dramas have been trying to thrive on a couples chemistry too much and forget that a story must finish off with finesse and not like a stale fart. Dramas in general have been that way for some time now.

  • Park Bogum has been picking up meh projects even before his military service though, his picker has been broken for some time it's just that now that's reflected in commercial failure.

    it's a credit to him that he managed to carry Record of Youth and Encounter to decent ratings but those dramas are a complete snooze, successful yes but boring to watch despite the hype.

    • Yes I did not bother with record of youth because celebrity or idol dramas turn me off. Dream High was my last drama with said tropes. I tried encounter but the first episode was just too corny and felt like a Disney music moment. And Park Bo Gum looked odd with his longer hair. After Reply 1988 and the one historical drama he did I just can’t seem to watch what he does. It just does not catch my interest. Though he is a great actor.

  • I pity those actors that’s good at acting but keep choosing bad projects. As a viewer I have encountered many drama that looks good in paper but not executed well at all. Well that sentiment maybe because my fav actor is also like that, always praised when it comes to acting but his work either flopped or did mediocre…

• I'm not sure why Wonderland didn't do well when it was a decent watch. I watched it last week on Netflix and thoroughly enjoyed it. We shouldn't always pay attention to the negative reviews and give some shows and movies a try. But yes, Bo Gum's acting was really good. He's one of those actors where all his characters look and feel different from one another.

  • Second! We shouldn't always give too much weight to negative reviews and just watch ourselves to decide. Everyone has different preference and takes about drama. I myself am not a fan of well received Reply 1988 thanks to FL and the 2nd ML whom I don't like.

    I only watched two of PBG's dramas in the past, Love in the Moonlight and Encounter. I enjoyed both cos the dramas have different stories than others that I've seen so many repetitive tropes and predictable. Good for me to know those dramas others criticized in the comments. I'm gonna check it out myself. LOL.

    Last drama that I remember so many criticized but ended up to my liking was Lee Joon Gi's Arthdal Chronicle II. Who knows I won't like Record of Youth?

    • @Somebody I agree but I also found Love in the Moonlight too tropey. I mean I still enjoyed it but...

      “Spunky female lead who disguised as a guy in a youth sageuk” trope - check

      “Righteous prince/king male lead who's surrounded by corrupt officials and want to make a change” trope - check

      “Brooding loyal bodyguard to the male lead” trope - check

      “Second male lead who's more carefree than the male lead and who also falls in love with the female lead and ultimately sacrificed his own life for her” trope - check

      And I could think of many more lol. Again, I still found the drama fun to watch but it's not very unique, story-wise and had lots of typical sageuk tropes lol. As for Encounter, I kinda found boring but yeah it's at least a bit different than other dramas. I think that proves that tropey isn't always bad, tropey dramas can be fun too. And also unique ≠ good

• An unsuccessful project is not any one specific person’s fault, whether it be writer, actor or PD. Regardless however, it follows everyone and stays in their resumes. Now on PBG, tbh he’s has hardly been active since coming back from Military. Even Wonderland, as boring and messy as it was, was shot before he enlisted. So really, we’ll only know how much of a disappointment his choices are after his next two dramas release. Theres buzz particularly for Good Boy in Korea so if it flops in ratings, that’ll really amp up discussion.

  My Name is Gabrielle is a snooze fest lol. Concept, cast members, location, everything. The ratings continues to hover in the 1% range (or lower) and it tells a pretty accurate story.

  • To be honest I had a wild take. A bit racist idea but it would be funny if they replaced those people life but tell the people around them that they’re the same person, just got plastic surgery. Since they’re actor, they would need to mimic habit and mannerism of the person, so it would show off their skills, I think it would be fun but might get criticized lol

• Instead of a disappointment, I actually have become more impressed with Park Bo Gum and Suzy, in their acting/talent and choice of projects. Their projects are not that popular (and clearly wont be given the concepts) but clearly good for improving & displaying their skill&versatility. I believe they choose those projects to explore more versatile roles and oppotunities & expand their career.

  I am so impressed with Park Bo Gum's personality, capability and English speaking skills in My Name is Gabriel! I watch all his scenes and mostly fast-forward the rests because only his ones are interesting. The rest are pretty boring.

• I'm a huge Gong Yoo fan but Wonderland was terrible. But it sucks that PBG is getting most of the criticisms because he was so active promoting it. There are a lot of other leads in the movie.

  Off topic but Koala, did you hear about KES adding Ahn Gilho as a PD for Everything will come true? Thats a far more interesting story to speculate on hehe.

  • I came across some leaked pictures and aesthetic wise it looks really bad especially KWB look as a genie.

    The original director and KES have totally different vibes. I was surprised they decided to work together.

    • 100% correct. I was honestly so surprised when I heard he was the PD working with her. He hardly has a successful drama trackrecord so it was already surprising, but his style does not match KES's whatsoever. I think everyone questioned that choice very early on and was proven with this change. AGH also has a bullying situation happening, and yet he was brought on board. I suppose most PDs would not want to join in the tail end of a drama so there's that...

  • consider the flip side - if the project was successful, he would probably be getting more of the credit for it too, and the resulting increase in buzz/deals.

    re: PD change on KES drama, sometimes that can save the project especially if it results in a change/improvement in aesthetics like in the case of Lovely Runner PD Yoon Jong-ho (who reshot entire scenes and saved certain pivotal ones from being cringe vs the earlier PD who had Kim Hyeyoon styled like it was the 1980s and not 2008). Even Queen of Tears started off with a different PD signed on before filming, Kim Jiwon was cast only after they changed the PDs to Jang Young-woo/Kim Hee-won.

    • Queen of Tears and EWCT have two wildly different situations. The former did not start filming with Lee Eungbok and took a while to take off after IU decided not to go ahead with it. EWCT had already filmed 75% of the drama before AGH was brought in. Even the location shoot in Dubai was done months ago. This is a very unusual situation that even the media and knetz have called out. Not just a regular bring-in-new-PD for aesthetics type situation. And knowing how meticulous and particular KES is, and also how Lee Byunghun is not exactly the most successful PD, the speculations are that she did not like his work. Anyway, my point is that this is not as simple as you are making it sound.

    • I wasn't saying the PD switch was like Queen of Tears, I literally said QOT did their PD switch BEFORE beginning filming.

      Lovely Runner was the drama I mentioned above that reshot episodes/major early scenes with a new PD and that worked well for them. Back in the day, Producers (2015) also switched PDs after the drama had started airing because they got poor feedback about early episodes being too much like a variety show, finally they had to get a drama PD who fixed it and got them to 17 percent ratings by the end. But doing that definitely adds to the budget. As for Lee Byung Hun, he's very successful as a film director but less tested for a series, I liked Be Melodramatic and he even directed Kim Woobin before, if it was 75 percent done and about to be redone that's going to cost the production/push the budget even higher.

    • Here's the thing, QOT and Producers are not actually comparable situations. QOT for reasons you already stated so I am not sure why we are talking about it at all. Producers because that was a Live shoot. As in they had the audience reactions, took that into consideration, then changed the PD based on the feedback which was quite negative on the mockumentary style of EP1-2. LR - as much as I loved - did not follow the bts so no comments on that. However, it is a low budget drama with no known names beforehand.

      Now back to EWCT, the talk is not about the budget, as much as it is about KES's supposed disastisfaction with the current shape of the drama. The rumor is that she and PD LBH do not see eye to eye with how the drama was to be produced. It is one of the most highly anticipated dramas of the year and has a lot of eyes on it. It is fully pre-produced, is an OTT exclusive and includes a month long overseas shoot. And it has completed 75% of more. So this is a lot bigger than LR re-shooting some scenes in a drama with zero expectations, Producer where changing a PD did not equate to actually reshooting anything, or QOT. Whether the hope now is for things to be re-shot in EWCT (budget will come into play big time if so) or whether they just plan to just complete the drama with the new PD and edit what they can; thats unclear. The news said they formed a "B-team" so the impression is that it is not a replacement of PD but rather an addition.

      And PD LBH's drama trackrecord is abysmal imo and I personally consider dramas and movies two different industries particularly for writers and PDs. PD LBH was always a choice questioned by many particularly in SK but adding PD AGH who is controversial for a completely different reason altogether is also a questionable decision. We'll see but this drama is sounding a bit like a hot mess, but I hope not as I love both leads and think they have proven fantastic chemistry.

  • Just want to clarify that I like LBH works I have watched - loved Be Melodramatic and Extreme Job was fun. I just think his quirky style does not mesh with KES cheesy style.

    I also read that this was almost 80% done when the new director was brought in. Anyways, I think it will be a mess. KWB and Suzy are not actors who can elevate a mediocre script or direction.

    • I actually thought this project was promising based on him being the PD, like he could bring a new spin to KES' style of presenting a story

      and yeah, Be Melodramatic is a good drama with decent ratings for cable based on its stars (no big names) and concept, that's hardly an 'abysmal' track record in tv directing.

    • @Han - I'm somewhat indifferent to the PD but thought the pair up with KES was seriously questionable. She usually needs a PD who can ground her drama and personally I found her work with Lee Eungbok the best. But yep, already sounding like a hot mess. Hoping its better than King at the very least.

      @Royal We - since the 'abysmal' was targeted towards my comment, I'll just say if you think Be Melodramatic (with less than 2% ratings in 2019 and stars Chun Woo-hee, a pretty known award winning movie actress), Chicken Nugget, and some unknown other drama called Alice is a drama PD track record thats better than 'Abysmal', you've got a very different standard than I do. Particularly glaring when that PD is then paired up with KES - the best drama writer in terms of records and awards in SKorea. Anyway we can agree to disagree on what is considered Abysmal.

• I watch My name is Gabriel and I really enjoy it alot. But I really do not like the hosts. Them talking over as the artiste living new lives in the videos annoys me alot. But to be honest, this program have lots of issues it still needs to work on to make it much better.

  • I really don't like this format in korean variety shows where hosts talk too much and we have to keep going back to the studio for them to make silly comments and weak jokes.

• I don't think that's fair at all. Both those projects are ensemble projects and have director and script issues so why blame PBG for their failure. PBG and Suzy really went hard promoting 'Wonderland' even though they are in only a fraction of the film from my understanding and the reviews for their roles were good. What little money the film did manage to make was probably mainly thanks to them.

  The real test will come when his dramas are finally released as he hasn't led a drama in 4 years because its true his immense popularity doesn't really correlate with his output. I feel like PBG is considered a celebrity more than an actor now. He's known more for his endorsements, visuals, hosting, variety than his acting. Of course this could change if his next projects are well-received.

  I mentioned it before but I read a comment a few months ago that said Lee Do Hyun has the career PBG could have had if he didn't take such long acting breaks. I don't necessarily agree as they have very different images but I thought it was an interesting point

  • they are totaly different capability as an actor. though I rate LEE Doo Hyun more in terms of acting.

    • In terms of acting, LDH was pretty lame in The Glory that brought him to fame? At least PBG has proven able to carry dramas himself. What about LDH whose popular dramas were always led by seasoned veterans? Yet to see him able to carry a drama to commercial success at least.

    • @somebody : I've never seen Park Bo Gum carried a drama with his great acting, Maybe you mean popularity ? His acting in encounter is so bad.
      his best definitely repply series. but even so it's an ensemble cast drama. and the rest of his performances is forgetable.

      It's my opinion though. maybe we have different preference.

    • @somebody lee do hyun carried may of youth and 18 again imo (tho the veterans in that drama were good too). even in a second lead role (hotel del luna) and supporting roles (sweet home), he still steals the scenes lol, he's that good. you can't really blame lee do hyun if he's underwhelming in the glory, it's just that his character was literally just a plot device to help the female lead get her revenge and he almost had nothing to do but follow around song hye kyo's character and dote on her. it's basically like yeo jin goo's role in hotel del luna, and we all know yeo jin goo is a great actor, but even great actors would look meh if the character they're playing is meh. they can only do so much with such a meh-written character like that. not lee do hyun's fault, and even then, he still did great with what he had to work with (he was fantastic in his emotional scenes with the killer of his character's father, in my opinion)

    • I agree. LDH is the most promising of the 90s line - he has a good range and can play diverse array of characters. I think his transition to Chungmu-ro will also be smooth.

      PBG is kinda trapped in this good boy image and his drama selection is lacking. He also does not have chemistry with female leads in romance roles. He needs to do more genre roles. I think he is a decent actor but he needs to stop with these vanilla roles.

  • Yeah pbg took too much time between his works. With his popularity, so many script must have came to him. I don’t know if he is as versatile as lee dohyun. But he did well as psychopath in hello monster and also good in several romantic roles he has

• i think he knew it well he took long hiatus because it's navy military for over 2 years / after he finished MS he was transfered to new agency so he didn't sign any project during that time / When Life give tangerines took over a year to finish and he started shooting Goodboy right after and he didn't have any rest. Even when he was away from public he took Musical to improve himself in another acting field although it's limited to small group of audience and it was well received. That variety show he took only 3 days. it never was his main work tbh he was just 1 of the cast.

  Wonderland PD cut off too many bogum-suzy scenes and their narrative became confusing but bogum still promote as best as he can although he and suzy have very busy shooting schedule. i believe work ethics and positivity he has for his work will prove he'll be a great actor in the long run in the industry.He has reputaion of being good to the team even he-suzy had 30 mins screentime while some actors of wonderland didn't even care to promote a bit lol

  His cumulative work after MS will be soon released at the end of 2025.

• What he needs is a GOOD SCRIPT and a solid leading ladyyyyyy! Is that too much to ask foooorrrr!?!! Lol 😂🙏

  The answer is yes 😅💀 K-ent is struggling right now

  • With Good Boy and When Life Gives You Tangerines he can have both thankfully. It’s weird that the same news agency published hit pieces on both the male and female leads immediately after the full cast line up for Good Boy was confirmed. Sounds some weird reverse marketing or the news agency has a a bone to pick with the drama. Whatever no such thing as bad publicity I guess. The anticipation for any PBG drama will always be high.

    • Two leading ladies I have confidence in! Just hope the story isn’t lacking 🥺🙏

• dont forget he is also taking master in the last 2-3 years. he takes his sweet time to improve himself. when he acts, i can feel his emotions and warmth. bo gum is my sweet spot