STORY TO BE TOLD

Novel version of My Princess published
by javabeans

With the success of the drama My Princess these days, MBC Productions has hastened to adapt the story for another format with a novelization.

The novel features a plot that, like the drama, focuses on the development of love amidst the quarreling and clashes of its two leads. However, it purports to differ substantially in its more detailed exploration of the characters’ inner thoughts and struggles.

Still, the book’s probably not too far from the tone of the drama, as scriptwriter Jang Young-shil worked with the novel writer Sohn Hyun-kyung in the adaptation process. The two had also worked together in novelizing Jang’s previous drama, Lovers In Prague. The book also comes with color photos of the leads, for fans out there who love collectibles.

They’ve worked pretty fast to put this out, given that the novel was published before the drama was even half over. They must have been pinning their hopes on the show to be a hit, since I doubt it was written in the three weeks since its premiere. And I suppose novel format gives the characters more time to develop than we see onscreen — though really, at this point, no amount of humanization could make me like Yoon-ju or her ugly lopsided bowl cut. Even if she doesn’t have one in the book. It’s in her soul.

Queen of Reversals surpasses Athena, another extension?
by girlfriday | January 11, 2011

The battle of the Monday-Tuesday dramas is heating up, as MBC’s Queen of Reversals noses ahead in the ratings. Monday’s broadcast pulled in 15.7% (AGB Nielson), beating SBS’s Athena: Goddess of War for the first time. Athena began its run with explosive 22.8% ratings, but has steadily declined over the last five weeks, landing at 15.2% on Monday.

The growing ratings might be a factor in MBC’s decision to offer Queen yet ANOTHER extension. It’s just by one episode, due to a scheduled preemption on January 31 for the 2011 Asia Cup. Because most Monday-Tuesday dramas end on a Tuesday, MBC wants the show to go out with an additional episode, bringing the total count to 33. The production has yet to agree, mostly due to the fact that the entire cast and staff have already been exhausting themselves with the current extension, although I’m not sure what one episode either way will do. If the drama decides against the offer, MBC plans to air the last two episodes on a Tuesday night, one week earlier. Perhaps the extension is yet another move to give The Duo an extra week before premiering. Couldn’t hurt.

As far as the current ratings battle, they seem to be leveling out, which is about where they fare with me on the to-watch scale: that is, some Mondays I start with Athena, and others I start with Queen. Strangely, I like them equally too, but for wholly different reasons, as they inhabit two completely different ends of the drama spectrum. I like the dark spy world of Athena peppered with funny antics, and well, Queen is boring one minute, and then coffee laced with crack the next minute.

It’s taken the extended episodes (twelve more added to the original twenty) to flesh out Park Shi-hoo‘s character, and now he’s totally taking over in leading man territory. It’s just enough to take me from skeptical, to hopeful….to downright delusional. I don’t think I’m alone, though, as the drama is pushing the Kim Tae-hee/Gu Yong-shik pairing in a way that it wasn’t before the extension. All the romantic moments are reserved for them, which is either a really good sign (*crosses fingers, throws salt, does chant*) or a totally evil move to fake me out. I’m preparing an effigy in case it’s the latter.

Via Star News, Nocut News

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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).

Believe in Love airs on KBS on Saturdays and Sundays.

Via Yonhap News, Asiae

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Ten additional episodes confirmed for Queen of Reversals
by javabeans

This isn’t a surprise, but more of a relief: MBC has finally come to a decision regarding the fate of Queen of Reversals: The series will now end with Episode 30 instead of Episode 20. Extension negotiations had bandied about numbers ranging anywhere from two extra installments to twelve, before settling on a final number of ten.

The drama had been hanging in limbo for weeks while broadcast execs tried to decide what to do with it. MBC had already dropped Birdie Buddy and found themselves without a suitable drama to slot in until their next (The Duo) would be ready to air next year.

Even so, MBC was tentative about Queen of Reversals being stretched to fill the time, probably because its ratings (10%-11%) have not been high enough that they would spur extension talk in normal circumstances. But these aren’t normal circumstances. (One senior executive had stated last week that the extension would be granted if the latest two episodes hit 17%. They didn’t, but the jump to 14% was apparently enough to sway them.)

This means Queen of Reversals will air through January, leaving The Duo — starring Chun Jung-myung, Han Ji-hye, and Lee Sang-yoon — to take over in early February.

What say you — will the five extra weeks endanger plot and slow the momentum, or will it allow more fun romance developments and time to build its viewership?

Via Joy News

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Nearing its finish, Giant hits ratings high
by javabeans

SBS’s Giant continues to perform extremely well in the ratings on Mondays and Tuesdays, particularly as it heads to its finish next week. The Tuesday (November 30) episode recorded its highest numbers yet with a 32.7% rating.

Giant has performed solidly through its entire run, although for most of the time it had to contend with another strong competitor in the form of MBC’s historical series Dong Yi, with KBS struggling to claim some ground with series like My Country Calls, Gumiho: Tale of the Fox’s Child, and Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Once Dong Yi moved out of the way, Giant has been able to increase upon its low-twenties ratings and surpass 30%.

Giant, which stars Lee Beom-soo, Park Jin-hee, Joo Sang-wook, and Hwang Jung-eum, will wrap up with its last two episodes next week.

Meanwhile, MBC’s Queen of Reversals pulled up a bit to double digits with a 10.8%. KBS’s Mary Stayed Out All Night, on the other hand, has been dropping viewers and recorded a 6.7% — and although I’m watching for the cute romantic bits, I’m not surprised, since the plot is seriously lacking. It’s a bummer, when you consider its potential-to-performance ratio.

We haven’t talked a whole lot about Giant on this site, but not because it’s a bad drama; from what I hear, it’s a pretty solid show, but at 60 episodes, eek!, I just don’t have the time for that kind of commitment. But here, have a few pretty pics:

Via Star News, Asiae

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