Most of the attention on exporting K-dramas have shifted to Mainland China in the last two years and for good reason. It’s the largest audience market by size and K-dramas are more naturally digestable due to the similar Asian entertainment tastes than marketing to the Western audience. Japan remains a solid and steady market for Hallyu entertainment whether K-pop or … Continue reading →
This post is a few days late but the last celebrity dating news of 2014 arrived courtesy of C-ent and one of my soft spot fave C-actors. After a week of intense media scrutiny and totally contradictory weibo updates, C-actor Hu Ge confirmed right before the end of the year that he’s dating newbie C-actress Maggie Jiang. They met on the … Continue reading →
The heavy hand of China’s SARFT strikes again in what is being called the equivalent of Cleavage-gate in the C-interwebs. It was an entertaining week of media speculation when the currently airing popular star-studded period C-drama The Empress of China (武媚娘傳奇 The Legend of Seductress Wu) abruptly got yanked off the air mid-airing. The weak explanation was that the network … Continue reading →
Maybe I’m in a particularly easygoing mood lately, how else to explain why I’m crazy affectionate towards all the promos for Kill Me Heal Me. It’s got that combination of pretty and interesting without trying too hard. All signs pointed to this drama needing to reach high for it’s wild premise of a leading man with 7 different personalities, yet … Continue reading →
The first drama and character posters are out for Hyde, Jekyll, Me right in time to start off the 2015 drama year on a positive note. It all looks good but not great, not that I was expecting great or even needing it to check out this drama. Hyun Bin really is enough to lure to me, and having him … Continue reading →
I haven’t been able to write anything substantive about the currently airing KBS Mon-Tues drama Healer since I’m traveling. I’m not just watching it, I’m totally loving it! That means I’m even more reluctant for the drama to end and Blood to arrive, aside from finding everything about Blood’s casting to be cringeworthy. Male lead Ahn Jae Hyun looks like a … Continue reading →
SETTV is really pulling at straws to try and sell the half-baked Friday night idol drama Aim High. It’s nowhere near the ratings of Pleasantly Surprised or the critical buzz of In a Good Way. I tried the first episode and hated it from beginning to end. It’s such a shame because I love Lego Lee and like Chris Wang very … Continue reading →
J-ent is off to a juicy 2015 start, much like K-ent started off the last two years with dating bombshells on the first of January. A major Japanese tabloid, renowned for breaking celebrity dating news, has splashed across the front page news that A-list leading lady Ayase Haruka is dating young smexy actor Matsuzaka Tori. The two costarred in the … Continue reading →
My gut feeling is that Jaejoong is one of those idol-actors who will always need to overcome his too pretty exterior and ignominious start to acting. Much like Eric is forever being called an idol-actor despite being a critically lauded seasoned actor for over ten years now. Jaejoong has a looooong ways to go before approaching Eric level transition but … Continue reading →
With the 2014 SBS Drama Awards, another prolific if underwhelming in quality year wraps up in K-dramaland. There wasn’t an underlying reason I saved this network for last in coverage, MBC went first and I only had time to write about the KBS awards before passing out sick as a dog after watching the new year’s fireworks light off. I … Continue reading →
The two multiple personality K-dramas going head-to-head to start off 2015 won’t be premiering at the same time. Kill Me Heal Me will arrive on MBC on January 7th while SBS airs Hyde, Jekyll, Me (official drama title) two weeks later on January 21st. Leaving the gate earlier doesn’t guarantee KMHM ratings success, but if it does hook the audience … Continue reading →
It feels like the production of Kill Me Heal Me hit rock bottom when Lee Seung Gi and Lim Ji Yeon pulled out at the last minute, and since then everything has been on the up and up. It’s still a long shot to work, what with the story involving a male lead with 7 different personalities and his romance … Continue reading →
Despite being the perennial prime time ratings loser in 2014, the KBS Drama Awards was heads and tails better than what MBC put on the night before in both fashion, star power, and actually awarding quality acting. Of course not every deserving performance got recognized but the network tried and didn’t pander as much to promoting the young and pretty. Veteran … Continue reading →