Believe In Love, which comes from the makers of 2009′s hit family series Sons of Sol Pharmacy, enjoyed a very strong first outing this weekend...

Posted by Never Ending Story | Labels: Drama Casting and News

Weekend drama Believe In Love makes strong premiere
by javabeans | January 2, 2011

Believe In Love, which comes from the makers of 2009′s hit family series Sons of Sol Pharmacy, enjoyed a very strong first outing this weekend, with its first episode bringing in a 21.6% viewership rating (AGB Nielsen) on Saturday evening. In the same timeslot, its competitors brought in a 12.2% and 11.2% for SBS’s Laugh, Mom and MBC’s Gloria, respectively.

AGB numbers aren’t available yet for the second episode, but TNS gives 21.1% for Sunday. This bodes well for Believe In Love, which is already performing better than its predecessor; Marry Me started out with a 16.7% and averaged a 24.2% for its entire run, peaking with 34.8%. Meanwhile, Sol Pharmacy‘s first episode came in with a solid 18%, and went on to top 40%, so this is a good sign.

The drama is built around a normal family, with Song Jae-hyo at the center of it, playing a vice principal at a boys’ school. Simple conceit, but what this team did so well with Sol Pharmacy was creating heartwarming, hilarious bonds between its characters, most of whom were ordinary folk going about their lives and enduring the kinds of everyday dramas that real people face, whether it’s trying to balance family with career, or finding your special someone, or what to do when mom hates your special someone. All with a good-natured, bubbly sense of humor.

Though length keeps me from recapping family dramas (this one’s slated for 50 episodes), I still enjoy watching one on occasion, and I’m downloading this one as I type. While I’m not expecting much of it, if it turns out to be cheery and funny, and I’m always ready to welcome one of those to the dramascape.

Those who saw Sol Pharmacy will recognize a group of familiar faces. Its mom (Yoon Mi-ra), loud cousin Mi-ran (Ha Jae-sook), neighbor Brutus (Jo Jin-woong), and lovable-yet-obnoxious (or is it obnoxious-yet-lovable?) Dae-poong (Lee Pil-mo of the glorious HAIR!) are all in the new cast as well.

Others include Lee Jae-ryong (Goodbye Solo), Park Joo-mi (Ladies of the Palace), Hwang Woo-seul-hye (Crush & Blush), and Moon Jung-hee (Oh My Lady).

Perhaps you’ll also recognize others if not by name then by recent roles — whether it’s Melgidec from Runaway Plan B (Song Jae-hyo), the Sungkyunkwan thief’s little brother (Kim Dong-hyun, who has apparently switched over to a stage name in the past week, now Kim Da-yul), young Tak-gu (Oh Jae-mu), or the High Kick granny (Na Mun-hee).