Playful Kiss Confirmed As 16 Episode Drama
And…..it’s official. Playful Kiss (Mischievous Kiss) is confirmed to be a 16 episode drama. I hesitate to say it is being cut, because apparently MBC never did confirm it was going to be a 20 episode drama. Likely its length was left undetermined based on its reception. And since it’s reception is the worst in recent and not-so-recent memory, PK has been given the 16 episode stamp.
On one hand, I am enjoying PK so much, even with its mellow vibe and rolling progression of the story, that I would look forward to 14 more episodes of this type of drama and this story in particular. On the other hand, cutting it now is realistically the only thing that can happen, its ratings are so low I highly doubt it will be resurrected to any satisfactory degree in the near future.
My only fervent wish is that they cut all the fat, trim the cute but unnecessary scenes, and just get this couple to the alter by episode 12 or 14, and then let them deal with some young marrieds issues afterwards. It’s not ideal, but I can live with it. Live-filming means that the writer can focus on the meat of the story without PK devolving into a mess.
For all PK-fans out there, c’est la vie. Korean viewers have their own tastes, and PK clearly doesn’t fit their cravings right now. I can tell you all by the incredible number of hits on AKP since I started recapping PK, that PK is more popular online then anything I have seen in a long time.
Oh this hurts. I fear they are going to rush everything now. That is the problem I have with J-dramas. Everything always feels so rushed and I almost never feel like I have a satisfactory ending. Things are developing and boom they just end. It drives me nuts. MBC must be blind if they don’t see what a little diamond in the rough they have here. I have absolutely no doubts Playful Kiss is going to be a huge hit overseas or should I say IS a huge hit already.
Also I watched Episode 6 again and I liked it better the second time I watched it. I could see more of what the writer was trying to do. The writer seemed to be developing a little of the secondary characters story lines in this episode. While I like the secondary characters I really only like them when their interaction deals more with the two main characters. That is what made it seem flat to me. Too many secondary scenes that didn’t interest me but I get what the writer was doing. You know I suppose since they cut it down to 16 they will have to now concentrate more completely on Seung Jo and Ha Ni so it might be ok. That is as long as they develop the story all the way and don’t just throw it all into the last couple of episodes. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
That’s not surprising. In all my years of dramawatching, I have never seen ratings this bad for any major network drama. (I am not comparing it with cable dramas like Joseon X-Files or Someday, obviously). I don’t particularly mind the cut because it was announced early enough, the writer should be able to deal fine with it.
It’s a pity it’s not popular in Korea though – I find it’s an understated lovely little gem. I adore Baker King so I don’t begrudge it its insane ratings, and while Gumiho Girlfriend is not my thing at all, a lot of people do love it so there must be something there, so I don’t mind it doing decently either. But I wish there were some ratings left for the poor neglected PK. I do find that except for BOF and Goong, a lot of teen oriented dramas in Korea seem to crash and burn (this, Tamra, Return of Iljimae, Sungkyunkwan Scandal – none of those broke into double-digits even despite being really good, though SKS may yet do it). Maybe they should just give up those dramas.
If they are following the anime where they have only 24 episodes with only half an hour each and managed to finish the story satisfactorily throughout their early married life to the birth their child, we don’t have anything to worry about….though I hope MBC won’t change their mind and trim it more in short notice at the end like they did to ironic title drama Heading to Ground…. PK is really unlucky to debut at a wrong time
I wasn’t expecting too much from the drama and when it started airing, it seemed okay for me. What I didn’t expect is the super low ratings the show’s getting. I mean, that was KHJ. I’m not a fan of KHJ but I know he has a huge fan base to back him up. I dunno where all the girls are hiding all this time. T.T
I’m not sure how the drama would go on with just 16 episodes. T.T Before, I was thinking that 20 episodes isn’t enough, what more with just 16 eps?? T.T
And yea, I kinda found out your blog to read recaps of this show cause I’m few episodes late since I’m waiting for subs. Thank you for the recaps. 😉
PITY! And I join the rest of you in hoping they don’t do a cram speed-rush of events now, to mash everything into the remaining 10 eppies. It’s slow sometimes, but enjoyably watchable so far.
PK has its own understated charm. Doubt the poor ratings are truly reflective of its non-popularity. Let’s see with Baker King ended (but now it’s Bi/Rain, Lee Jung-jin … oh no!) if ratings will edge slightly.
Nevermind watchability. From standpoint of fan girls alone … weird. Shouldn’t KHJ alone be able to command his own following on the sidelines, to boost dismal ratings?
From what I am beginning to see Hyun Joong’s fans are not from Korea or should I say the majority are not from Korea. So I guess that could be indicative of the ratings since it is on a Korean tv channel. Also the time slot it is airing is late and it would seem, if the comments I am seeing are accurate, the younger fans are not allowed to watch that late because of school. I believe a more accurate statement would be that the ratings have nothing to do with non popularity “in Korea” because Playful Kiss seems to be extremely popular every where else and I wouldn’t even go as far to say that it is non popular in Korea. I believe it was terrible timing when they debuted Playful Kiss. The days of the week it airs is wrong, the time of the night it airs is wrong, and the time it started to air was wrong because of the popularity of the competition. Poor planning all around.
you are right Hyun Joong’s fans are not from Korea only iam from Eygpt and i know that he has ahuge number of Arab fans and iam one of them. we wre wating to this drama since it was filming and we love and support it actually korean drama in general has a huge number of arabic fans and Hyun Joong became very pouplar to us since B
ohmygoshhhh this sucks so bad! i’m so bummed! 🙁 🙁 NO WAYYY to 16 episodes! petition pls!! any koreans here?? pls helppppp.
I am so bummed! I understand that they have to cut it since the ratings in Korea are so low but I really like PK! It’s just want I need after a long day at work…not too crazy or corny…just right for the tummy!
I will be sad to see it over but I hope they can tie up nice and pretty in the episodes they have left…sighs all around 🙁
I can tell you all by the incredible number of hits on AKP since I started recapping PK, that PK is more popular online then anything I have seen in a long time.
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the news is so sad but your last statement lessen the dissapointment im feeling
well i hope the cast and the production crew know how we overseas fan appreciate their hardwork
even though the drama is shortened lets hope they do a good job in making it more interesting and cuter. i am with PK all to the end.
is there proof saying that MBC confirmed that it’s gonna be a 16 ep drama? i’ve goggled the korean sites and i havent seen any articles regarding on the 16 ep thing. even on vikii, PK Team themselves said that it’s not confirmed yet and no official word from MBC.
MBC has scheduled Playful Kiss’s successor drama, My Lovely Home, to premiere on October 27, 2010, which would make the premiere date the week after PK’s 16th episode.
I think that is confirmation and proof enough, without MBC needed to release an official notice that PK is a 16 or 20 episode drama. Many times dramas lengths are in fact ascertained by seeing when its successor drama is scheduled to premiere. Of course…….MBC can move back My Happy Home’s premiere anytime in the future, and allow PK to run longer than 16 episodes. K-drama are notoriously fluid in its running length this way.
The anime version was satisfactory although fast-paced. First kiss happened in Episode 7. They got married in Episode 14.
Here, they had their first kiss in Episode 6. Hmm.
I was really looking forward to seeing them as a married couple. But with 16 episodes, I don’t know if that’s possible.
oh noooooooooo
whats akp ? .__.
This is crap I was wishing for at the least 20 but I do agree the girls in korea are rageing ovwer another hot actor probably not to many khj fans but I’ll stick to the following episodes and watch them over and over for a year.
-The critisize
they better not rush it! i jsut discovered this dram a few weeks ago and got a bunch of friends to watch it with me and we all loved it! i can’t belive they can’t see that PK is super popluar here in the states! i love it and it better not be rushed!
To be honest i felt bad knowing that PK is cut short because of low ratings. I mean here in the Philippines many of us are begging for the latest updates for this show. I hope they wouldn’t take this incident too hard. When they look outside Korea they would find many avid viewers who are really putting up time surfing the internet just to watch an episode.
I hope they can extend Pk. I really love this drama i hope mbc will listen to the online viewers. pk is the hottest drama online.