Joynews Poll of Over 200 K-ent Insiders Selects Hospital Playlist 2 as Best Drama of 2021 Followed by Hometown Cha Cha Cha and then Vincenzo

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Korean newspaper Joynews is celebrating its 17th anniversary this year and during the week of October 12th-19th it commissioned a poll of over 200 Korean industry insiders to vote for what drama they think was the best in 2021. The voters consisted of production honchos, producers, PDs, screenwriters, agency management heads, and entertainment news reporters. Hospital Playlist 2 received the … Continue reading →

Snack Cart Support Pictures Show First Look at Son Ye Jin Filming Upcoming Female-centric jTBC Drama Thirty Nine

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The mega hit that was Crash Landing on You is now almost two years ago, and since then neither leads Hyun Bin or Son Ye Jin tried to capitalize on that surge of popularity with another drama or movie in quick succession. Not surprising since both are A-list established stars but now its Son Ye Jin who will be the … Continue reading →

Woo Do Hwan Readies for January 2022 Discharge From Military Service and in Talks for Netflix Drama Hounds

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The news is starting to shift to the K-actors coming back from military service soon, and there are a bunch who are male leads already or slated to slot into being one. Seeing aside Park Bo Gum and Yang Se Jong who are coming back in early 2022, the first will be Woo Do Hwan in January 2022, he’s currently … Continue reading →

Even Lee Young Ae Can’t Revive jTBC’s 2021 Year Long Flagging Ratings as Weekend Drama Inspector Koo Premieres to 2.640%

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I haven’t written about recently premiered jTBC weekend drama Inspector Koo (Koo Kyung Yi) because the cast and premise didn’t interest me, it’s one of those dramas that I will watch if I hear it’s good. But it’s still Lee Young Ae in the lead and she’s retained a near mythical image in South Korea even with her ten year … Continue reading →

2021 Year of the Youth Sageuks with Grown Up Child Actresses Kim So Hyun, Park Eun Bin, and Kim Yoo Jung Fails So Much Talent with Lee Se Young on Deck for the Final at Bat

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It hurts my drama loving heart to have seen so much talented wasted so far and I wish these young actresses came of age a decade ago when there was actually good female lead sageuk roles and amazing scripts. The year of 2021 was supposed to the arrival of the grown up child actress talents and their headlining role in … Continue reading →

New Mom Ariel Lin Posts Glowing Birthday Pic to Thank Fans and Shares First Look at Daughter’s Cute Hand in Hers

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It was hard enough to imagine perennially baby-faced TW-actress Ariel Lin as a mom already but then seeing her first post-delivery picture it’s even harder to believe she just gave birth. The radiant new mom shared a picture over the weekend thanking fans for their well-wishes on her becoming a mom. She also thanked her new daughter for making her … Continue reading →

K-netizens Have Positive First Impression of the Complementary Visuals of Song Hye Kyo and Jang Ki Yong in New Stills for Now, We Are Breaking Up

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This drama is hard to predict the Korean domestic viewer reaction to it before it airs. I don’t think it’s a given that upcoming romance drama Now, We are Breaking Up is guaranteed any type of ratings just because the female lead is Song Hye Kyo, so it’s really going to come down to story and directing, and then the … Continue reading →

2021 Blue Dragon Film Award Nominations Led by Leads and Films Escape From Mogadishu, The Book of Fish, and Space Sweepers

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The nominations are out for the 2021 year end Blue Dragon Film Awards, which only fetes the big screen works and remains the most prestigious of the cinematic only prizes in South Korea. This year the nominations are a mix of young talented stars and the usual established lauded veterans. Starting with Best Actor, the nominations are Kim Yoon Seok … Continue reading →

Jirisan Episode 4 Jumps Back to 9.384% Rating and Better Yet Audience Reviews are Positive and Say This Should Have Been Episode 1 as the Directing Problems are Gone and the Script is Tight

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This has been a see-saw weekend for tvN weekend drama Jirisan (Mount Jiri) so it’s once again hard to see where this drama is headed for the long run in terms of ratings and audience reception. This Sunday’s episode 4 brought in an increase to 9.384% ratings which isn’t as high as the breaking 10% episode 2 but the better … Continue reading →

Lovers of the Red Sky Memorable Bodyguard Song Won Seok Rejoins with Ahn Hyo Seob in Upcoming Rom-com Office Blind Date

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The “mysterious and reticent warrior bodyguard” is such a K-drama sageuk trope especially for this younger lead romance centric sageuks. There have been countless rising K-actor that got their a memorable step up playing this role – Song Jae Rim in The Moon Embraces the Sun, Kwak Dong Yeon in Moonlight Drawn by Clouds, Hwang In Yeop in Tale of … Continue reading →

The OTP Relationship Deepens Meaningfully as the Big Bad Plot Coalesces to Break them Apart in Episodes 11-12 of Dali and the Cocky Prince

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This week’s episodes 11-12 of Dali and the Cocky Prince is eating a meal with half good dishes and half awful dishes but together its thematically coherent. We need the bad in order to appreciate the good, though this drama romance doesn’t need to put the leads through the ringer in order for them to love and cherish each other, … Continue reading →

tvN Mountain Action Drama Jirisan Has Surprising Steep 3% Ratings Drop in Episode 3 to 7.850%

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Well this isn’t good news for the cast and crew of tvN high profile big budget action thriller Jirisan (Mount Jiri). Yesterday was the third episode airing for the drama and coming off a big premiere weekend prior where both episodes set new cable ratings record, the first for being the highest premiere rating and the second for being the … Continue reading →

Lee Joon Hyuk and Lee Kyu Hyung to Cameo in Inspector Joy and Happiness, Respectively, Adding More Mature Sexy to the Upcoming Dramas

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I was already planning to watch these two upcoming dramas but this just raises the interest level like exponentially. I love me some super underrated gems in K-ent and these two dudes fit the bill exactly. Lee Joon Hyuk will be doing a guest starring turn in upcoming comedic sageuk Inspector Joy with Taecyeon and Kim Hye Yoon, while over … Continue reading →