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Open Thread #756

Happy Friday everyone!

Here is your Open Thread, which is here for you to chat about anything you want, whether it be drama-related or not. Nothing’s off-topic here! Spoilers may be rife, so proceed accordingly.

 
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Korean network television had the unwritten rule that miniseries would be 16 episodes shown twice weekly for an 8 week run. It was easy for network executives to block out their airtime. This rule, however, is on the brink of becoming history. Some of Netflix’s biggest K-Dramas—like Kingdom, D.P., and Squid Game—achieved record-breaking viewer ratings at only six to ten episodes.

The shift in production is a direct result of the shift in viewing patterns. View-on-demand streaming platforms allow viewers to have the choice to watch whenever, wherever on a mobile device—sometimes watching the whole series in one sitting. These viewers prefer fast-paced, “bingeable” series that don’t require too much time or effort to watch from start to finish.

Netflix produced series tend to be pre-produced so it can launch the series in one bundle. Korea productions on local outlets (even if they license the show to Netflix) still tend to follow a weekly release format. Some viewers still prefer the weekly releases so they do not get spoilers.

I rarely have the time to binge watch a show. But the Netflix model is gaining traction. Its 2021 subscription sales in Korea jumped 52 percent. The 12-episode series trend is growing, but it does not guarantee the show will get a great ending.

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Thanks,as usual Welh, for your knowledge and insight into the industry. You are quite right shortening shows does nothing for the ending, which is always a problem even for most 90 minute movies. But it will interesting to see how far this goes. Obviously, if the series moves to 4 or 2 episodes, then it becomes movie-like, and the story-telling has to change dramatically. But this will also change the whole meaning of "bingeing" and while I know nothing about the average audience mindset, I do think there is a certain (masochistic?) pleasure in being drawn in for 6-12 hours at a time, although it wreaks havoc on daily home and work life!
In general, if the move is from 16 episodes to 12, I could see this improving many k-dramas by removing repetition, and tightening the narrative without oversimplifying it. After all, 12 hours still allows a lot of time to develop characters and tell a meaningful story. To take my favorite genre, the happy ending romance, two of the tropes--met in childhood, and at least one of leads suffering an earlier trauma--could be easily referenced without being dwelled upon, or, in some cases, could be eliminated entirely without harming the couple dynamic. For many k-romances, that would eliminate at least 2 episodes right there. Also, for many romantic comedies, 4 fewer episodes might shorten the irrational breakup or misunderstanding that delays the main couples happy ending. The problem will be if eliminating four hours means neglect of interesting (or funny) side characters, or more resorting to time skips, always a dissatisfying narrative device. But since many 16, 20, or 32 episode shows used these already, I can't see the shorter episode runs resulting in a more frequent turn to weak story telling, especially in the hands of good writers/directors. What I could (maybe) see is that it might lead back to a more traditional t.v. model of the multi-year series, especially if one of the shorter shows becomes enormously popular. We'll see!

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I think some shows should be 14 episodes. I felt Business Proposal needed two more episodes. The last episode was bland and too pat. It felt like this was the compromise by the writers who realized they had one episode left to wrap everything up. Because of the 12 episode format, there was less of everything - Young Seo's crazy cousin, Tae Mu's grandfather and his favorite drama, and even Ha Ri's family.

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Summer before the summer - As said last week, this time around temperature gonna break records - power outages - ouch - gonna be pretty fun. FIGHT on.

Summer time is horny teenagers time - This time around Japanese tokyo metropolitan schools have changed rules. School say don't wear colourful innerwear( for both). clothes fabric goes light in summer and because of humidity and sweat you can see much more - known to everyone. You see it often as a joke in manga to tv media.

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Human world is far too boring - same copy-paste happen every year. few skirmishes, few fights here and there, few battlegrounds made and all shout out matches then everyone goes back home.
You laugh while you can - sooner or later you gonna face the harsh winds of reality too. Justice doesn't discriminate.

You vote is action enough to make you a partner - your small needs are action enough to make you a partner and if your are enjoying the privileges then be ready to pay price for them too.

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any teachers out there watching Black Dog on netflix?

it started out so frustrating, i asked myself why i was watching it around ep 5... but i decided to keep watching, knowing that there will be much to learn about the competitive school system in korea (and also japan) and the subsequent pressures upon the students to achieve/succeed...

ergo the extremely high suicide rate in korea, which now exceeds that of japan i am told by a former elite private school teacher friend. the issues are real, he assured me.

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I'm watching BD, up to E3. I can't stay away from anything with Seo Hyun-jin in it.

The setting is interesting, and I'm learning quite a bit too.

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I am, but I'm only part way through. Its okay, but as you say, I find it interesting mostly because of what it shows about the school system. For me, whats especially interesting is its the use of temporary teachers and the difficulty of getting tenure, which in the U.S. is more of an issue at the college level.

As for the high suicide rate, I'm not sure I'd blame that solely on the pressures to do well in school. Because I'm also watching Tomorrow, and have known several young people who have tragically committed or attempted suicide, I've been thinking a lot about its causes. There was a recent piece in the Atlantic magazine that's getting a lot of attention, on why American teens are so sad (and presumably more suicidal) and it points not just to the obvious pressures that economic change, the pandemic, and social media bring to bear, but also more subtle changes such as increasingly anxious and protective parents and the immediacy of the news cycle (which is an indirect effect of social media). Obviously, if kids feel doing well in school is the only way they can escape these things, and they fail, then school performance is responsible for suicide. But it seems to me the pressure on school performance has been a theme in Korea for decades, and wouldn't account for the recent surge.

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my friend had a student who committed suicide because he could no longer take the constant pressuring from his mother...

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altho i have to say this drama is not centered around suicide - that was just a side note from me. it is about the humanity of the faculty and the students and the struggles of the school being able to address the needs of ALL the students, not just the top tier.

it is not makjang, it is a good portrayal of the issues of all levels of the students to succeed and become productive, contributing adults.

i think the moral of the story will be about the school administration and faculty learning to focus also on the lower tiers of the student body, to help them feel their needs are just as important to the school.

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I did get sucked in to Black Dog because I am curious about the flip side of high school K-dramas. Having taught at a private liberal arts college and a very high-standard public middle school, I'm intrigued by BD.
However I decided to balance the equation by watching Abbott Elementary in tandem.
Trust me, the writing team for Abbott has perfectly captured the daily crazy with a laser sharp comic lens. At least in that educational setting one CAN say they are concerned about the students (not so much in college).

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Being home means sharing with your mom distorted memories about your brother's love life while washing the dishes. According to my mom like three girls were in love with him when he was on high school, I only remember one bring in love with him, one being in love with his friend and one liking him like a friend. Who's right? We'll never know.

I tried to convince my mom to watch a drama together but she was like "I don't have time for that" so I only got her to watch Singles Inferno (because she thought it was only three episodes). It was so much fun.

We were only like two minutes into the show and there was a scene of a dude taking his shirt off and at that moment my mom moved the laptop screen because she couldn't see so I've been telling everybody (my bestie and my sister) about my mom being thirsty over some random dude's biceps. That's what she gets for not wanting to watch a drama with me. LOL

It also was hilarious to see my sister's face when she heard all the nicknames we made for the participants, and how my mom fell in love for one of the participants (Se Hoon aka. delantal -apron-). She didn't care about anything else, she just wanted him to be happy.

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Ddabong!!

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why are there so many BL dramas out there but no GL dramas? I mean it would be great too to see two women falling in love instead of two men. Does anyone know why?

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Because females are the prime demographic for dramas and BL appeals to female fantasies. GL appeals to male fantasies.

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Happy Easter weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!
My schedule ceased to be as busy as my mind this week and I am already bored.😅All my airing shows have ended, all the planned activity dates have passed, and there is nothing interesting happening in the near future. Well, there are some triggers I have to face soon, preferably without any distractions. However, no distractions also means that there is nothing to keep my mind from overthinking about the triggers. I guess I should make sleeping my new hobby.🤔

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Happy Easter back to you @turtuallysarcastic. A bunch of new dramas will be starting soon and the availability gods have been somewhat generous. I am watching Lee Joon-gi’s new drama on Viki US and there are a couple of more that I am interested (mystery, crime) that will be made available.

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In that case I will try to be patient for the new batch! :)

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Happy Easter! I’m also struggling to find something new to watch with only one airing show on the go now.

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Glad I am not the only one! :)

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Well my bean chums. As usual I spoke to soon. I was so excited about my training daycare but this week I started my regular daycare and it was HORRIBLE. One teacher told a little 3 year old friend that her 3 year old friend was a nasty little bitch and to stop talking to her. This is how EVERYONE talks to the kids and to each other. The kids are really mean to each other. My friend said I should report them. I'm not sure. Probably? Certainly because I've seen each and every teacher I've interacted with get right in a kids face and scream at them.
I get that they are frustrated. I'm frustrated too. But these are little kids. They don't deserve this. 9ve cried literally every single day this week. And it doesn't help that even though I was told I'd be in a preschool/prek class all week long I was yanked out and sent to toddlers. Toddlers are by far and away my least favorite age group to work with. And finally those little young'uns have made me sick! And to top it off! I was so mad yesterday that I still haven't heard back from any libraries that I smashed my phone. I didn't wqnt to no call no show on my 5th day of work so I went to the center to say I was too sick to stay, was told I had to stay and sent to the same class that made me on sick in the first place! So I get to spend this weekend sick as a dog, my house is a complete and utter mess as I've been too tired to clean, I've been too angry to clean and also I just hate cleaning! But I saw a bug the other day so I hope I'm feeling well enough tomorrow to get things done. Like finally finally finally picking up Business Proposal again. I heard it's cute!

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I hope you’ll feel better, that sounds like one really bad week.
I like to clean when angry, I get a lot done and feel better mentally afterwards (after all, it’s just like exercise!). Crank up the favorite music (Broadway Musicals for me) and start in, pretty soon you’ll have way more done than you expected 👍🏼
By then I’m tired and hurting and fall onto the bed and watch kdramas with no guilt.

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That really does sound like a horrible negative place to work. I hope it gets better/you can get out of there. Toddlers en masse (especially when you’ve been told you’re getting preschoolers) are hard work, let alone adding in all the baggage of teachers screaming at kids 😢

I am also a clean-when-angry person but it does occasionally result in broken things so cannot wholeheartedly recommend this 😅 I’m a big fan of setting a timer and just doing ten minutes (for example), you can do more than you think in that time. After that I feel less guilty about ignoring the mess that is left. If you’re sick though, get better first - overdoing while sick is a good way to stay sick longer 😢

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I’ve been so spoiled by instant subtitles whenever a show is released - I’m currently watching We Married As A Job/The Full Time Wife Escapist on Viki and episodes are being released once a week on (I think) Tuesdays. It’s now Saturday and only at 50% subtitled 😭 I know it’s volunteers and I am not really complaining, good things take time and I appreciate the subtitles….I just need to convince myself the episodes come out later in the week - or I guess upgrade my barely remembered junior high school Japanese 😅

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oh the pain of waiting subtitled episode of drama, I feel you, and subtitled jdrama is even more rare to be available for int' audience through streaming services compare to its korean counterpart.
as for jdrama We Married as a Job, you can watch it for free on WeTV, it's available there with English subs (with no ads at all).
and btw, I envy that you're watching that drama for the first time, I sort of watching it live back in 2016 and until now it remains my all time fave. I adore the main couple in it (funfact: they got married in real life last year), but the second couple is also precious to me :)

oh fyi, it has New Year SP (2hour special episode), so if you watch the regular eps on viki then hopefully the SP will be available on VIKI too.

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It’s really good so far! WeTV doesn’t seem to have it available in my region 🙁 so I am still patiently waiting (we’re up to 76% now!) . Will keep an eye out for the special too!

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Hello all:

Currently watching:

Again My Life -- Hoping our hero won't become a monster. Big Bad believes the ends justify the means. Am hoping our hero won't end up losing his soul and future happiness in order to destroy our villain. Our hero has four different women around him...and one of them is a grim reaper! How neat is that! He's got so many good friends now. He was a loner in his previous incarnation. I hoped he wouldn't join that stupid elitist club. I know we must keep our enemies close and all but i get so nervous that he will lose his way. So far, he hasn't made a wrong move but i'm getting nervous. I'm glad he has all these good friends. I just hope they all remain faithful to him and that none of them betray him. I suspect the funny annoying friend has been placed back in time somehow. That guy just knows too much and doesn't quite fit into the (old college) times. The Lady in red might have died and been returned. Or not. Maybe this is her first time around. Or maybe she knows that she has returned from the past/from death. If she doesn't know, she'll take a lot of convincing...unless she realizes that she's betrayed our Big Bad and he wants to kill her. I wonder if she's Big Bad's lover. Yeah, i know...far fetched. If our hero falls in love with her, would this be a weird triangle? Sitting here waiting for episode four to be subbed on viki.

Tomorrow: This has the best and the worst of kdramaland. The preachiness is heartfelt and manipulative. Sometimes i just roll my eyes at how much they are manipulating sentimentality. And then, episode six, I'm bawling like a baby. I swing back and forth watching this drama.

Military Doberman -- why do i not fear our villainess? She's ruthless and cold but i don't feel anything when she arrives on the scene. Somehow she elicits no real emotion in me.

Life is a long quiet river cdrama -- loved, loved, loved this. So far, this year, I've loved RESET and this drama.

Kotaro Lives Alone jdrama -- so much fun. Very touching.

The Lady in Butcher Shop cdrama -- So funny, although she can be so abusive to her hubby. Mercifully, she tones it down after a while.

Outer Range USdrama -- Oh my! Am on the first episode and am wondering if there's some weird family guilt going on.

Ozark. -- yep, the last season and i'm here for it.
Happy weekend, all

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