SBS Drama Taxi Driver Drives Over Speed Bump as One Screenwriter Leaves the Series After Episode 10 and Says its Due to Disagreement with the Direction of the Story the PD is Insisting On
Well this is certainly an interesting ride to sit in the backseat on. SBS Fri-Sat drama Taxi Driver has been a solid medium-ish hit for the network, with ratings starting out at 8.7%, 10.7% and the most recent episode 12 getting 10.7%, 15.3%. I thought it would go up more after the promising start but there is still a chance of hitting 20% with four more episodes to go. With that said, last weekend the production announced that one of the two screenwriters Oh Sang Ho was left the series after episode 10 and the remaining 11-16 would be penned by the other screenwriter Lee Ji Hyun, and that this was the original plan. Days layer Oh Sang Ho has blasted that statement saying it was never the plan and he had no choice but to leave because he was hired to write a satisfying crime punishment action drama and that the PD starting in episode 11 wanted him to add romantic scenes between the two leads which was not the tone or story consistent with the set up. He refused so a new screenwriter was brought in starting with episode 11 and it is clear that the tone and story changed starting then. Oh Sang Ho does not understand why the PD is saying he was always planning to leave after episode 10 and he’s giving an interview to clarify that so people around him do not misunderstand. Dang, go standup for yourself Writer-nim!
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Tsk tsk tsk. Look at that. It’s like TUC all over again. But why do these producers always feel the need to force a love line even when it’s not necessary? Is it a cheap shot to grab ratings? Shows like SF et al. worked just fine without romance. Big ups to the writer for calling out their bullsh/t coverup statement.
SBS as always using controversy to gain ratings they never learn. They must have been disappointed TD didn’t breakthrough 20% and is starting to lose out to Bossam for the 20-49 age group.
This is why a good idea in kdrama is always dragged down by cliches.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most coincidental “childhood connections” is shoehorned in by pd insistence rather than writers.
So tired of these PD’s that like shoehorning romance into almost kdrama in existence, so annoying.
Also I love that the PD blasted back at their lies! Love it! Hope this happens more.
Don’t you mean the writer?
Fri-Sat is the best SBS timeslot. It’s just meeting expectations. If it were getting these ratings in the Mon-Tue/Wed-Thu slots then it’ll be a real hit. That said I feel like SBS cancelled all their drama timeslots except this one. I can’t think of any currently airing SBS dramas.
They tried to revive Mon-Tues with Joseon Exorcist, but they cannot really fill that vacancy on short notice. Racket Boys is only premiering on that time slot as scheduled (10 weeks after Exorcist) this May 31.
Yeah I forgot about that incident. That said, the Wed-Thu timeslot for SBS is vacant as well (though that timeslot certainly does not need any more competition).
Go work with OCN next time writernim. You’ll never have to worry about unnecessary love lines there.
Best comment! I know where to turn to when I want serious crime dramas with no lovelines. Throw in Nam Goong Min dramas too. He seems to avoid dramas with love lines for the last few years. Its nice watching dramas like Stove League, Manager Kim and Awakening for a change.
Even with the amount of violence used in the show it feels flat, predictable, and boring. We have leads who live tragic lives but are so uncharismatic and unappealing. The prosecutors hella annoying.
I can’t help but compare it with Vincenzo because both shows are quite similar. Yet V successfully carved interesting characters that you want to root for even if their values are questionable. Here I barely care about any of them. And I don’t think it’s the acting that’s lacking. I think V as a character and as a show has a clear goal in the end—to end Babel and get the gold. Here, what exactly is the end goal of the characters? Turn the prosecution around and be supportive of them? Is that what the show is trying to do? Maybe I’m just missing something. Cause the show feels aimless.
@Jushi, I agree with your point of view. I think they can’t decide if it’s an assembly casts or a single character focus storyline. I also can’t connect to any of the characters, they don’t show enough of each character motivation, everything seem a little gloss over. At least in the recent eps, they finally focus on the female prosecutor.
Yep. At times, I feel like this is the ML’s story. And the other characters are just there as side dressing. Not bad per say, but I do think they do need more characterization for each character even the ML. I guess SBS is the culprit, not every show needs a romance, just saying!!
Tbh being a fan of Esom, I have to say I was a tad disappointed with the narrative arc of her character so far.. while I understand that her role’s not in the original manhwa and was specially created for the drama, I’d expected her to have more of an impact to the story line (clearly not the case til recent episodes)since she IS billed as the FL y’know. I definitely still enjoy watching this drama and will continue doing so, but my gut feel is that her character has indeed been sidelined for the first 10 eps under the ex writer-nim which perhaps is in line with the manhwa material, and that is fine since I’ve resigned to the fact that KHN will remain in the background until this news article came out. I hope that the new writer will not simply force a romance between our leads (if anything, I was low-key shipping KHN & her investigator colleague, their bond makes more sense but urgh I’ve not recovered from the recent ep *sobs*), but show us a bad-ass character growth for KHN in the remaining time (I know folks may not care, but this is just a fan’s wishful thinking =p). 4 more eps to go, fighting TD!
Ditto about giving some bad ass touch to KHN character ! Character is just so weak. Nothing accomplish.
I like this without love story evolution. Esom character here is so weak. She shld have joined the Taxi driver team but still a prosecutor on the surface. Im still watching it. We’ll let’s see how will this go after writer changed.
Hull sbs doesnt make season 2 just like penthouse?lol.