Though the tagline for MBC's new Wednesday and Thursday night miniseries "
The Lawyers of The Great Republic Korea" is "Love versus money", with two superhero dramas out right now, it should really read, "superheroes versus lawyers".
Following on the heels of the abysmal drama on reporters,
"Spotlight", which ended on a sour note last Thursday, this romantic comedy will need more than a few lawyers to compete SBS' with
"Iljimae".
The star power of
Lee Joon-ki as a Joseon Dynasty superhero in the hit SBS drama has swept viewer ratings nationwide. And celebrities
Lee Seong-jae and
Lee Soo-kyeong will need to showcase some stellar acting and flawless comic timing in order to nab audiences in "Daehanminguk Byeonhosa" ("
The Lawyers of The Great Republic Korea").
Actor Lee, who made his...
MoreAs the year 2007 ended, the dramas are also changing its path. On 26th, SBS Wed-Thur drama,
"Lobbyist" was finished, followed by KBS 2 "
In-soon is Pretty" on 27th. Previously, KBS1 historical drama, "
Dae Jo Yeong" was crowned with perfection on 23rd. The following is the summary of popularity rating of dramas in 2007 (data provided by TNS Media Korea), beginning with MBC serial drama "
Bad Woman, Good Woman" which began on 1st January 2007.
In the Department of Mon-Tue dramas… Between the dominance of "
Jumong", "
My Man's Woman", "
Coffee Prince", KBS was doomed, "Oh my God, What should we do?"
This year's KBS and SBS Mon-Tue dramas had a period of dark age due to MBC "
Jumong". Strictly speaking, "
Jumong" is the 'Old' drama, which began on 15th May 2006 and its leading actor
Song Il-gook received a Grand Prize in 2006 MBC Drama Awards for his excellent performance. However, its popularity continued this year. When "
Jumong" finally finished on 6th March, it recorded its maximum rating of 51.9%. Of course, this is the highest rating ever recorded this year. Even its average viewing rate was 41%. Ever since 2000, this record is the 3rd highest average rating, after "
Dae Jang Geum" (4l.6%) and "
Lovers in Paris" (41.5%).
After "
Jumong" was finished, SBS "
My Man's Woman" took the lead. Either by the talent of popular script writer,
Kim Su-hyun; or by superb performance by
Kim Hee-ae,
Bae Jong-ok and
Ha Yoo-mi; or by the presence of naïve man
Kim Sang-joong between these dominant women, the drama reached its maximum rating of 38.7% and
Ha Yoo-mi was given a title of 'Nation's sister' for her fine performance. Therefore post-"
Jumong" was taken by "
My Man's Woman".
Then the baton was handed over to MBC "
Coffee Prince". From 2nd July to 27th August,
Yoon Eun-hye,
Gong Yoo,
Chae Jeong-an and
Lee Seon-gyoon was at the center of hot topics. Despite its public attention and strong support from netizens, the rating of the last episode was rather low at 27.7%. From then, MBC "
Yi San" (began on 17th September, starring
Lee Seo-jin,
Han Ji-min and
Lee Soon-jae) had been keeping up the reign after catching up with SBS "
King and I", which made earlier start than "
Yi San". On 25th December, "
Yi San" recorded the rating of 28.9% and "'
King and I" resulted 16%.
Then who would have been the biggest victim here? Of course, it was KBS. It was devastated and was almost buried in the grave. Beginning with
Park Geon-hyeong and
Lee Ha-na's "When Spring Comes" (First episode 5.3%, last episode 15.6%);
Lee Da-hae and
Lee Ji-hoon's "
Hello, Miss" (19th March (14.8%) - 8th May (9.7%));
Cha Tae-hyeon and
Kang Hye-jeong's "
Flowers For My Life" (14th May (7.5%) - 3rd July (5.3%));
Lee Cheon-hee and
Kim Ha-eun's "Seoul's Sad Song" (9th July (7.5%) - 31st July (5.8%)); and
Yang Dong-geun and
Park Min-yeong's "
I Am Sam" (6th August (6.5%) - 2nd October (6.1%)) have all been utterly defeated.
Next in line, "
Evasive Inquiry Agency" (starring
Lee Min-ki,
Ye Ji-won and
Ryoo Seung-soo) resulted even lower rating (3.4% on 27th November) than what it started with (4.0% on 8th Octoer), despite passionate encouragements and supports from netizens. Its follow up,
"Bad Love" (began on 3rd December) haven't made any significant breakthrough in the competition with "
Yi San" and "
King and I", despite
kwon Sang-woo and
Lee Yo-won's dramatic performance. On 25th December, it recorded 9.2% rating and at this point, one could clearly see that all medicines proved useless for KBS Mon-Tue drama department.
In the Department of Wed-Thu dramas… either "
War of Money" or "The Legend"
Before the monstrous drama, "The Legend" made its grand appearance; the stag...
MoreBy Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
Japanese actor
Takuya Kimura won the Best Actor Award at the 2007 Seoul Drama Awards (SDA) held Monday night in Seoul. He won the award for his role in the Japanese TBS-made drama "The Grand Tribe", which aired on the cable channel XTM in Korea this summer.
British actress Helen Mirren won the Best Actress Award for her detective role in the popular British drama "Prime Suspect", which has aired on Mega TV, a channel run by telecom company KT, since July.
Both winners did not show up at the award ceremony, drawing criticism from viewers that the annual SDA, which is the second of its kind, failed to meet up to expectations. Instead, several Korean celebrities made special appearances for the ceremony as award presenters, including popular actors ...
MoreActor
Ryoo Soo-yeong is set to captivate the hearts of Taiwanese viewers with his KBS TV2 series from last year entitled "
18 vs. 29".
Ryoo's agency, Climax, reported on Jan. 17 that the series starring Ryoo will be shown by Taiwan's ETTV from Feb. 22.
In "
18 vs. 29" Ryoo plays actor "Kang Sang-young", who looks confident on the outside but is fragile and pure-hearted deep inside. Sang-young does his best to help his wife "Hye-chan" recover her memory, which she loses in an accident.
An ETTV reporter who has visited Korea recently to interview Ryoo said the actor stands a good chance of succeeding in Taiwan, as his role in th...
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