KBS lines up Wed-Thurs slot with historical and political fare
by javabeans
KBS has announced a couple more projects in the pipeline for later this year, and while details are still a bit sparse, the basic descriptions should be enough to give us a preliminary idea. Both shows sound rather ambitious, for different reasons, with one a sprawling historical drama and the other set in the world of contemporary politics.
First is a drama based on a hefty literary saga, The Innkeeper, originally a ten-volume novel by Kim Joo-young that tells the story of tradesmen in the late years of the Joseon era. Published in Seoul Shinmun in serialized form from 1979 to 1983, the novel was lauded for its portrayal of commoners and merchants and was also turned into a drama that aired from March 1983 to June 1984. That series was also on KBS, and while I’d joke that they must be running out of ideas to steal from themselves, I’ll admit that this sounds like it could be worth the remake. If they succeed in capturing what made those previous iterations special, of course.
Then there’s Assembly, which is a modern-day political drama that comes from the writer of last year’s well-received historical series Jung Do-jeon. The title refers to Korea’s National Assembly, and the drama is centered around a rookie assemblyman with lowly roots as a former welder, and the skilled staff surrounding him. Interestingly, writer Jung Hyun-min (who also wrote the 2010 drama President) has plenty of experience to back up his writing, having worked for ten years as a political aide in the National Assembly.
Neither drama has secured a timeslot yet, but if their tentative plans solidify, we’re looking at KBS’s Wednesday-Thursday lineup through autumn. We’ve got Unkind Women currently on the air, with Kim Sun-ah and Joo Sang-wook’s Masked Prosecutor set to take over in May; Assembly is looking at the slot after that, while The Innkeeper would potentially follow that in September. Reps with KBS’s drama department were quick to state that scheduling plans are still undecided, which is pretty much par for the course in dramaland these days — tons of maybes and probablys and don’t count on its, and then last-minute announcements. It drives me nuts, but whatchoo gonna do when everybody’s so afraid to commit.
Via My Daily, Newsen, Sports DongA
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1 petirrojo
April 29, 2015 at 4:00 PM
initial reaction...? it's up to them to prove me wrong!
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2 Rick
April 29, 2015 at 4:16 PM
Mehhhhhhhhh, If it looks like shit, and it sounds like shit, than it must be shit
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Rovi
May 7, 2015 at 8:34 PM
Never underestimate historical dramas; they're not shit in Korea, unlike someone else...
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3 Dakchigo
April 29, 2015 at 4:20 PM
At least KBS is making an effort to go against the tide of KDramas' generally deteriorating output (you know things are bad when even JTBC looks worrying these days)?
what confuses me though is what this means for "Descendants of the Sun"? Assuming these are 20 episodes long, that would push it to November at the earliest? Weirdly enough, I haven't heard about anything that would follow "I Remember You" on the Monday-Tuesday slot come August (even "Bluebird's House" has its follow-up, "The Three Siblings of Ms. San-ok's Family," announced already).
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girl
April 29, 2015 at 10:56 PM
DotS is on KBS2, not KBS. I assume these are 2 different channels. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
But still, KBS in general has pretty ambitious projects: Producer, which is about the world of variety shows, DotS that will be filmed in the style of a movie from what I've heard and these 2 ones that, as boring as they may seem on paper, offer something fresh considering every drama these says is either about multiple personalities or vampires or the usual cheesy - memory loss - separated when we were young dramas. I'm honestly looking forward to KBS' lineup.
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jamesgil
April 30, 2015 at 4:54 AM
These dramas will air on the Wed-Thurs timeslot. So, DotS will air on other days.
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4 Iris
April 29, 2015 at 4:35 PM
They both sound very exciting.. Would love to hear more details.
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5 Altari
April 29, 2015 at 6:11 PM
I don't like historical dramas that much but these 2 sound interesting. The problem with sageuks which center around politics is that you already know how history turns out so you are spoiled from the beginning. I want Kdramas to tell more stories from the commoners perspective.
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bd5
April 30, 2015 at 1:34 AM
And with sageuks centered around the King and the royal court, there is only so much that can be done within the confines of the palaces.
Some of the best sageuks were of commoners (Sea God) or had commoners as a large element (usually when princes were away from the palace on adventure or in war - usually the pre-Joseon sageuks where princes weren't so sheltered and confined largely to the palace).
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fab
May 1, 2015 at 5:13 AM
That's why Sea God is my favourite saeguk. I kind of gave up asking for historical surrounding commoners, when chaebols are the modern equivalent of Kings in the old days.
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6 museofmanymasks
April 29, 2015 at 6:15 PM
Uncertainty aside, I will start campaigning now. Cho Jae Hyun for assemblyman! Vote for Cho Jae Hyun as lead!
(Lee Tae-joon approves this message.)
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KDramaNewbie
April 29, 2015 at 6:49 PM
ROFL!!
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ahjummabunny
April 29, 2015 at 7:27 PM
joins line for place on the floor-
But, Jo Tae Hyun is still 3rd in line for me.
1-Han Suk Kyu
2.Kim Myung Min
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annie
April 29, 2015 at 11:11 PM
LOL +1
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Oh No
May 1, 2015 at 5:03 AM
Omg yes :D
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7 Winke
April 29, 2015 at 6:16 PM
Maybe not many people knows that despite less popular and less ratings achievement compare to SBS and MBC, KBS actually produced pretty high quality dramas based on professional/ expertise. In 48th Houston International Film Festival, from three historical dramas (as representatvie of Korea) that got high appreciation, Jong De Jeon (got grand prize/platinum) and Joseon Gunman got gold remi in that event while another one was Empress Ki. And Discovery of Romance was the only modern drama from South Korea that got gold remi. Discovery of Romance also got nomiantion in Banff World Media Festival in Canada along with 5 other dramas from China, Japan, US, UK and Canada. Healer was very popular overseas despite the average ratings. And What's Up with the Family was the highest ratings and could compete with Jang Bori's ratings. I guess, this time, they wanna make sure they could reach higher ratings as well as win in movie festivals again.
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ahjummabunny
April 29, 2015 at 7:37 PM
When I first started watching drams from looking at the channels on the videos I liked KBS and SBS over MBC. MBC I considered makjang central and KBS won over SBS eventually when it comes to content and quality. This was without actually being aware of the actual programming schedule.
When I actually had cable it was KBS world that got my week night attention win, win and yu hee yol's sketchbook being some of my favorites.
I really enjoy watching saguks. Someone earlier mentioned that they don't like that how the story's ending is already known, but I actually like that. I think even if they take licenses for dramatic effect, it's rare that our hero/anti hero will not get the outcome that he's supposed to get. Ho Jun doesn't get the first string promotion when he first starts but he does still make it Tae Gam.
The journey there is the art in saguks. That's the real story.
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Sean
April 29, 2015 at 8:23 PM
KBS is lack of publicity, so their achievements only few people would realize. I already expected Jeong Do Jeon, since they involved doctorate students in the team productions. And it had high ratings too. Joseon Gunman maybe less popular but it had awesome ratings from the beginning till the end of the series. I thought Discovery of Romance was pretty popular in korea. It had the highest IPTV ratings in air time slots. Arirang channel even claimed Discovery of Romance and Gentleman Dignity were two well made dramas. KBS always be my favorite public broadcast whether in dramas or variety shows. And for cable channel, I prefer JTBC. This two TV channels seem not only focus on ratings or profits.
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dee
April 30, 2015 at 7:08 AM
gentleman dignity? it was on sbs, wasn't it?
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Rovi
May 7, 2015 at 8:36 PM
Of course KBS would lack publicity or whatever, it's the government's channel. That's why last year they received so much flak for downplaying the Sewol tragedy...
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nate
April 29, 2015 at 9:29 PM
you forgot princess man,it was also nominated in banff and won bronze in New York Tv festival and also Good Doctor won Best Serial Drama in Banff also..
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Winke
April 29, 2015 at 11:15 PM
I mean to say for the 2014 dramas.
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Ananta
April 30, 2015 at 10:33 AM
I actually understand why historical dramas, they are my favorite ones, I would always choose one historical instead of modern if I had to. Because they let us in in a world far away from us, they are so fascinating.
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8 pogo - sailing HMS Queen of Tears and HMS Sailboat Lovely Runner🍉
April 29, 2015 at 7:47 PM
Interesting, especially the Innkeeper - sageuks normally centre so much around kings and aristocrats that it'll be great to have another perspective. Let's see how it actually shakes down.
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9 kanz
April 29, 2015 at 9:51 PM
I nominate Ji Chang Wook as rookie assemblyman for Assembly!
Or the lead in Innkeeper.. basically I would nominate him in any drama.. lol
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10 reza
April 30, 2015 at 12:37 AM
Lee minho please.make it happen kbs....
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11 KHS
April 30, 2015 at 2:26 AM
Ku Hye Sun :)
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12 Ananta
April 30, 2015 at 10:30 AM
Merchant story sounds good to me. Merchant Kim Man Duk was good. I like these stories more than political royal ones, they are all too similar.
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13 Oh No
May 1, 2015 at 4:59 AM
FINALLY MORE SAGEUK
Oh am I being too obvious about my preferences? And seriously, I like politics and with the screenwriter of Jeong Do Jeon?
MY BODY IS READY FOR THIS, Best news I have heard in a long time
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14 ryanlee
May 20, 2015 at 4:53 AM
i love watching drama on sbs network because sbs has a lot of good drama such as i hear your voice, the heirs, secret garden, pinocchio... and kbs i only know their family drama is good.
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