Tag: cross

Dramaland Forecast: March 2018

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Previously: Jan – Feb

Completed:

  • None since last month

Currently Watching:

  • Misty – I feel like it says something about how much I love a drama when Mary wishes there was a hangout or something, and I’m like “game on.”
  • Should We Kiss First – there’s a cringe-level to some bits of humor but it also reminds me of Kim Sun Ah’s earlier rom-coms, so I’m fully enjoying it, especially since it seems like we’re settling into a comfortable balance of humor and seriousness and bittersweet sadness.

Dropping/Skipping:

  • Cross – I really have no desire to watch tons of painfully detailed surgeries, no matter what sort of revenge I’m eventually promised
  • Laughter in Waikiki – not my cup of humor tea.
  • Children of a Lesser God – this director is on my blacklist, plus after the hours I spent analyzing Black, I’m not ready to jump back into an OCN supernatural thriller.
  • The Great Seducer – I don’t understand how this is supposed to be a remake of Dangerous Liaisons yet not be on cable, but whatever. “Loosely based” makes me wonder just how loose. If this had a more seasoned cast, I might consider it, but nothing about the production appeals to me so it’s an easy skip.
  • That Man Oh Soo – OCN keeps trying to break into the romance genre (and apparently cast as many idols while doing it), but I’m just not buying it.
  • Switch – I keep trying to write something vaguely upbeat about this but honestly the last thing I liked Jang Geun Suk in was Mary Stayed Out All Night. I don’t know enough about this production team to make an educated decision, but this legal drama is probably one I’ll skip.

Upcoming dramas of interest:

  • Live – this is my most anticipated drama of the year because it’s Noh Hee-kyung’s latest drama, and she’s paired up with her fave director (Padam, Padam…; That Winter, The Wind Blows; It’s Okay, That’s Love) so you know it’ll be visually gorgeous. I’m also looking forward to a different take on police officers. It’ll be interesting to see them portrayed in a more human-interest focused story, where they’re just people living their lives as best they can and not merely there to solve the case of the day. Plus it’s Lee Kwang Soo’s first major drama starring role so I gotta support my twin, the giraffe.
  • Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food – I’m a sucker for a good noona romance, and I trust this director (Secret Love Affair; A Wife’s Credentials; Heard it Through the Grapevine) to make a show that’s more than just a cheesy rom-com. Part of me is secretly wishing it’ll be like a What’s Up Fox? remake, though (okay, maybe not a remake, but I’d really love to revisit that emotional journey).
  • My Husband Oh Jak Doo – even though I like the cast line-up, I’m a bit iffy on this, and it’ll probably take me watching the first few eps to decide if it’s worth it. But hey, contract marriages are generally a drama winner, right?
  • Let’s Watch the Sunset – this one is on the “maybe” pile, although I fear it’ll be too tear-jerking for my taste and will easily go into the “dropped” pile. But I like the cast and I at least want to support all the female directors I can.
  • My Ahjussi– I really love this director but I’m still skeeved out that this sounds like some manic-pixie-dream-girl in her twenties helps a 40-something man find meaning in his life. Maybe if they surprise me and she turns out to be his long-lost daughter and he has to figure out what it means to be a dad, I’ll be all-in, but right now I’m just, ehhhhhhh…
  • Life on Mars – I’ve mostly focused on March premieres, but the tentative cast for this remake has me excited. Jung Kyung Ho as the Sam character, Park Sung Woong as the Gene character, and Go Ah Sung as the Annie character seem pretty ideal to me. It helps that this would be airing on OCN, which not only has a proven track record for crime procedurals with a twist, but has also shown us through Tunnel that they can handle “time travel” as well. I know the default is to be suspicious and wary of remakes, but I think this could be excellent, especially since the PD in charge was the one who also did The Good Wife, which is perhaps one of my favorite remakes – there was respect for the original yet it incorporated elements that fit the culture.

As always, any drama not listed means I have nothing new to add since the last mention and/or it’s not something I care about enough to add to the list.

Dramaland Forecast: February 2018

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Previously: Jan

Completed:

  • Prison Playbook/Wise Prison Life – this so far is going to the one to beat this year (well, technically half of it aired in 2017), which means all the other dramas I watch are gong to have some stiff competition to gain my trust and approval. I was surprised at how much the reaaaaaaallllly long episodes seemed to fly by (helped, perhaps, by me watching half an episode at a time). I loved spending a “year” with these inmates and guards, learning more about everyone and finding the humanity behind their prison numbers. I have a slight quibble* about the ending, but everything was perfect and for once I genuinely believe that another season could not only be justified, but just as enjoyable as the first. (*Shin PD, you’re killing me with not letting the gay characters have their happy endings.)

Currently Watching:

  • Just Between Lovers – I’m still watching this, I think. I stopped at ep 4 and then focused all my drama attention on Prison Playbook as I struggled to get over the Evil Cold From Hell, where my attention span was extra minute thanks to all the cold meds and general fatigue. Now I’m distracted by all the new shiny premieres. I want to finish it because I really loved the vibe (this is maybe my new favorite director) but I also wearied of all the hype, because I’m a simple, fickle soul, so there’s a chance I may not pick it up any time soon until the hype has been long forgotten and I can enjoy it in peace.
  • Cross – I watched the first two episodes (okay, one-and-a-half as of this posting, but it’ll be two soon!) and I’m withholding judgement so far, but it hasn’t grabbed me yet. The first couple of minutes of the first episode got me all excited but then it dropped into a standard medical drama that I feel like I’ve seen a zillon times before. I’m hoping the revenge aspect ramps up because I want to like it, but I also can’t stand it when medical dramas get super detailed in their goriness because I am a wimp.

Dropping/Skipping:

  • Radio Romance – I haven’t paid any attention to its premiere to know what the buzz is, but I just can’t get past the age difference. So, pass.
  • Return – I downloaded the first four episodes (the first week), but haven’t had a desire to give it a shot, despite my love for both Go Hyun Jng (queen!) and my desperate hope that Park Ki Woong finally has a role that’ll remind me why I love him so much in the first place. 
  • Mother – I’ve seen the original and enjoyed it, and I’m in no hurry to replace that memory.
  • Hwayugi – this’ll probably be saved for a rainy day when I’m looking for something mindless to binge.

Upcoming dramas of interest:

  • Misty – I’ll check out the premiere to see if it grabs me, but I’m not particularly expecting to keep it on my watch schedule.
  • Laughter in Waikiki/Eulachacha Waikiki – this looks like it could be cute, but I’m so picky and fickle about cute shows that all I can say is maybe I’ll check it out, maybe I won’t; maybe I’ll enjoy it, maybe it’ll annoy me. It just depends if I’m in the mood for something adorable and dumb (and I’m still getting a Three Men and a Baby vibe).
  • Should We Kiss First – my most anticipated premiere of the month! I’d probably die for Kim Sun Ah, and I’m eager to see her comeback in a drama that’s billed as “a story of the love lives of four middle-aged adults who have lost their faith in love.” Maybe I’m an old cynic, but this sounds exactly like my kind of romance.
  • Children of a Lesser God – by now you all should know that I’m a pretty huge fan of OCN shows in general, and this one has an intriguing concept (as well as an excellent cast), but this director has worked on previous dramas that just did not sit well with me, so my instinct is to pass because the production team usually makes or breaks a drama for me.

As always, any drama not listed means I have nothing new to add since the last mention and/or it’s not something I care about enough to add to the list. I only focused on upcoming Feb dramas because I totally spaced that today’s the first day of February and then there was a hasty scramble to throw this together so I could get it out ASAP.

Dramaland Forecast: January 2018

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Previously: 2016 –2017

Well, here we are – another year over, and a new one filled with promising dramas… that I will probably not end up watching. Heh.

Thanks to these regular “forecasts” (even the ones that were thrown together in a last-minute “wait it’s the end of the month already???” panic), I’ve discovered that a lot of the dramas I look most forward to, I inevitably end up dropping. But maybe 2018 will mean more success for me drama-wise. Although I did, apparently, complete seventeen dramas last year, which is a pretty decent run.

Completed:

  • Black – I spent literally 100,000 words on this drama (although maybe only 85,000 were actually published) so I don’t want to spend too much more on it, but it was a fascinating journey and one I’m really glad I experienced. It was also one of the trickiest dramas I’ve ever recapped, thanks to the endless challenge of trying to sum up over an hour of plot crammed with important details while trying to not to exceed my word count (too much). I think I’ll remember this drama more for the experience than for the actual drama itself. I do recommend more people giving it a chance, though, because it gets more and more compelling (don’t just base your opinion of it on the first couple of episodes!). But I also want to warn everyone to stop watching before the last twenty minutes. Ugh. All that effort, and we get THAT ending.

Currently watching:

  • Wise Prison Life/Prison Playbook – I’m still crawling through each episode at my turtle pace (DON’T SPOIL ME), but I don’t regret my slow speed, because it’s a drama that requires my full attention – unfortunately my full attention can only last so long. I’m still amazed that I can love a show with so few women in it, but I adore these characters. Ensemble pieces will forever be my weakness. I’m also happy to be reminded how delightful Jung Kyung Ho is, since he’s been busying himself with projects these past few years that haven’t interested me until now.
  • Just Between Lovers – I love it so much. So much. I’m still a couple of episodes behind (DON’T SPOIL ME) but this is in the running to be my favorite of 2018, even if half of it aired in 2017.

Dropping/skipping:

  • Two Cops – I tried, but it just wasn’t working for me. Which means my track record for dropping Jo Jung Suk’s dramas (ever since King2Hearts) is still perfect. Although fair warning that you’ll eventually see some gifsets reblogged whenever they reach my daily Hoya queue.
  • Jugglers – the first ep didn’t do anything for me, even though I really wanted to like this show. I planned to give it a few more episodes but never got around to it.
  • Hwayugi – I was delayed in starting this show due to a very busy couple of weeks, but now I think it’s the kind of show that might be best skipped and more entertaining to follow the drama about the drama itself. I’m still hoping it turns out okay, though, since it has so many of my faves in it (Lee El deserves a good role!).

Upcoming dramas of interest (this will probably be the longest one of the year, since I’m looking at the entirety of 2018 as “upcoming”):

  • Radio Romance – I don’t know what more I can say about this than has already been said. I love the concept and I love Doojoon, but I’m not a fan of casting such a young actress as his love interest.
  • Return – the teasers for this look terrible, but I love the cast (my queen Go Hyun Jung! And maybe Park Ki Woong in a post-enlistment role I won’t hate!), so I’m tentatively hopeful, even if it is a legal drama.
  • Longing Heart – OCN has yet to prove to me it can do a decent rom-com. I don’t think this will prove it to me.
  • Mother – I liked the original Japanese drama, so I’m curious how they’ll handle a remake. I feel like I should be able to trust a drama with Lee Bo Young, but I also wasted countless hours recapping Whisper, so… yeah… At least I feel like this director (My Beautiful Bride, On the Way to the Airport, Chicago Typewriter) is up for the remake challenge, and hopefully he’ll keep the atmosphere of the original.
  • Cross – It’s no secret I love Go Kyung Pyo, but I’m kinda squinty-eyed at the thought of a medical drama, even one billed as a revenge drama. The production team is a relative unknown for me, so there’s a 50/50 shot I’ll give this one a chance.
  • Goddess of the Court – I only watched maybe 2/3 of the first season of Drop Dead Diva, but I remember generally enjoying it and I can see how this could be a fun kdrama adaptation.
  • Devilish Joy – a rom-com centered on a condition called “Cinderella amnesia.” Yeah, I dunno either. Choi Jin Hyuk is rumored to star, but not even Sexy Demon Daddy can convince me this won’t be anything but disaster (at least, for those of us who are uber picky about rom-coms).
  • Grand Prince – despite the intriguing cast (Joo Sang Wook, Yoon Shi Yoon, Kim Mi Kyung), my sageuk track record is officially terrible, so this will be a pass just by default.
  • Mystery Queen 2 – I never watched the first one so this will probably be the first and last time you see me mention it. Not that Korean sequels necessarily have anything to do with the original series, but yeah, it’s not on my radar and will probably stay that way.
  • Misty – the fact that this on JTBC makes me more interested than if it were airing on a non-cable channel, because just based on the premise alone, I think I’d give it a pass, especially with a production team that I don’t know much about. But since it’s on cable, I have hopes that it will defy expectations and be something to sink my teeth into, if only to see Kim Nam Joo’s long-awaited return to dramaland.
  • Should We Kiss First? – the plot is about four “ajusshi/ajumma” age adults who’ve lost their faith in love, and it stars two of my favorite goddesses: Kim Sun Ah and Park Si Yeon. Give it to me noooooooooow.
  • Children of a Lesser God – no, this apparently has nothing to do with the old movie/play of the same name, but it is the next OCN thriller so of course I’m going to watch it.
  • Eulachacha Waikiki – it sounds like a remake of Three Men and a Baby but I actually really hope that JTBC can do a decent sitcom. I’d love more goofy drama rom-coms that don’t make me want to tear out my hair.
  • Sketch – who cares what this is about, it stars Rain so of course I’m going to at least watch the first episode, maybe even two episodes.
  • Live – this is perhaps my most anticipated drama of the year since it’s from one of my favorite writers, Noh Hee Kyung, and it starts Lee Kwang Soo, who I’ve wanted to star in his own drama for ages. Apparently Noh Hee Kyung agrees, since he’s been a supporting character in two of her previous dramas. I also really like Jung Yu Mi, so even though the plot is utterly vague right now, I do know I will probably love it – provided it’s more Dear My Friends and less That Winter, The Wind Blows.
  • Suits – I watched the first two seasons of the original show, and I liked it, but have pretty much forgotten anything about it beyond the basic premise. The way dramas have been adapting US shows, this could be a brilliant success (The Good Wife) or utter disaster (Entourage, Criminal Minds). I’m pretty neutral on it over all, and only the whims of fancy (and free time) will decide if I make time for it.
  • Miracle That We Met – it’s being described as a body-swapping melodrama, which is a genre I never seem to watch (er the melodrama genre – I’ve definitely enjoyed a few body-swapping dramas before!), but it stars Choi Ji Woo, Kim Myung Min, and motherfreakin’ Ra Mi Ran. Like, hot damn, what a cast. I just hope it’s more drama than melo.
  • Mr. Sunshine – siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. On the one hand, there is so much about this that sounds awesome: a period drama (turn of the 20th century), it stars Kim Tae Ri, Yoo Yeon Seok, and Byun Yo Han (squeal!). Buuuuuuuut it also stars Lee Byung Hyun, who I’m still side-eying after he walked away scot-free from all his scandals, and (most importantly of all) it’s written by Kim Eun Sook. SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.
  • Yeonnamdong 539 – I’m always a sucker for an ensemble cast, although I’m not sure what to expect from this roommate sitcom yet.
  • Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food – I literally know nothing about this drama except the title and that it’ll air on JTBC, but tbh that’s all I really need to know. What can I say? I’m weak for noona romances.
  • Let’s Hold Hands and Watch the Sunset – okay, so that’s a mouthful and let’s hope they find a better English title soon. But even though the plot sounds like it could be overly melodramatic (death is a catalyst for a married couple to rethink their lives), this is also from the same director of Radiant Office, so I feel like there could be some cute moments. Plus, I just want to support women directors, of which there are too few in dramaland (or the rest of the world, tbh).
  • Are You Human Too? – this drama sounds ridiculous enough to make me want to watch it (a woman makes an android that looks like her son to fool people into thinking he’s not in the coma that he really is), and I love Kim Sung Ryung and want to watch her play the mad scientist that came up with this idea. It also has Gong Seung Yeon, who I thought was fabulous in Circle, and of course, the always beloved Lee Joon Hyuk. BUT. It stars Seo Kang Joon. I don’t know what beef I have with him, but he falls into the Lee Jong Suk category of “pretty-boy actors that everyone else seems to love but who rub me the wrong way and I struggle to watch them play leading men in dramas, but find them tolerable when they play secondary or minor characters.”
  • My Ajusshi – do I want to see a twentysomething woman help a man in his 40s get over his mid-life crisis? No, I do not.
  • Fall From the Sky – don’t know much about this other than its based on the fantasy webcomic of the same name, the director also worked on Arang and the Magistrate, and Yoon Hyun Min is supposedly starring in it (but that’s really all I need to know, right?).
  • RUMORED SEQUELS: Signal 2, Voice 2, Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul Ho 2, Let’s Eat 3. All of which I will probably check out, but I’m not holding my breath that they will actually get made, or, if they make it to air, be as good as the original.

I did my best to make note of as many 2018 dramas as possible, but dramas that I have no interest in (i.e. weekend family dramas) or dramas that are still so vague on details that it would be just me putting the name of the drama and nothing else weren’t worth the effort to add. That said, I still probably missed some upcoming dramas. But I tried! And ran out of tagging space to prove it!