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Odds and Ends: Year-end drama sickness

javabeans: Oh my god tomorrow is December.

girlfriday: Nooooooooo. It can’t be! I’m not ready for December. There are too many things to do before the end of the year, and I haven’t done any of them.

javabeans: Or finished watching all of them. Every year I make a list of all the dramas I mean to watch and try to keep apace throughout the year so I don’t wind up in November with a bunch of half-finished shows. But every November I always feel like I failed as a drama fan because of all the shows I meant to watch and didn’t get around to.

girlfriday: You’re crazy.

javabeans: YOU HAVE A LIST TOO. Don’t deny it!

girlfriday: I only have one because YOU have one!

javabeans: Well it’s your fault for making this a competition.

girlfriday: I would never make it a competition, because I know that you watch more shows than anyone I know. It would be a useless game that I would lose every year.

javabeans: But don’t you feel like you have to watch everything in order to have an opinion on anything? (Which is not true and not necessary. Just inevitable.)

girlfriday: God no. I have lots of opinions and I haven’t the time to watch everything.

javabeans: But if I DID watch everything, I’d have so many more things to have opinions about!

girlfriday: Yes, because you suffer from such a severe lack of opinions.

javabeans: I’m just saying that the year-end reviews fed the beast and made me crazy. I think they made us all crazy, and blind with eyestrain, and probably hunchbacked. That’s why, in an effort to make this December less of a stressball of constant reviewing, we’re changing up the Year End Review series this time.

girlfriday: We’ll be doing shorter reviews, but MORE reviews, and we’re generally forcing ourselves to be choosier about what we write about.

javabeans: I’ll for sure miss some aspects of our old review style, and we’re keeping some of the key posts like Polls and Editors’ Picks, but I also think our plans for this year are a lot of fun too. (Side note: We’re aware that past years’ polls are no longer accessible. We’re super bummed about them, but the poll provider basically ceased operating and all the old ones are now gone.)

girlfriday: For one, we’ll be getting more input from all our other recappers, which will offer lots of varying opinions and cover a broader range of shows.

javabeans: I think it’ll make us look at the year in a more focused way — rather than writing ten thousand words about all the things we felt about all of the things we saw, we’ll be narrowing the focus and being a little more critical about our choices.

girlfriday: Hopefully, it leads to less blindness. No blindness for anyone is a goal this year.

javabeans: Although now we’ll have to contend with a new pain of deciding what to write about and what to let someone else write about. It’s like Sophie’s Choice: If I choose this drama, will I have to abandon that drama? (Not to be too dramatic or anything.) What if someone else writes about it less effusively than I would? But if I’m the only one who saw that drama, don’t I have a responsibility to write about it so it won’t be neglected like some poor Dickensian Christmas urchin?

girlfriday: Yes, it’s actually causing a lot of angst among the DB staff right now. There’s a lot of begging and pleading and bargaining going on, because nobody wants to abandon their 76th favorite drama of the year. BUT YOU HAVE TO. Them’s the rules.

javabeans: I do think the results will be fun though (after all the initial emotional angsting). We hope you guys will like the changes, although we know change is hard! Still, we thought it was worth adjusting the format and reducing redundancy.

girlfriday: I think we just needed the change of pace because we’ve been doing it the exact same way for a very long time, and I think a creative jolt was necessary, for sanity and such.

javabeans: Yes. I vote for sanity!

girlfriday: Says the person who CREATED the problem for one and all.

javabeans: Hey, I made it my problem. You didn’t have to make it your problem too.

girlfriday: It’s not my fault. Drama craziness is a contagion. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

javabeans: Never cure me!

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Awwww. Sucks that the old polls aren't there anymore. When I watch an old drama for the first time, I love reading the polls to see what people thought relative to other dramas. And your poll options were always super cool.

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+1

Totally agree! You had the best polls ever!

Now and again I think back to the 'Mane of Glory' poll (2014?) and at first was confused as to why Choi Jin Hyuk was the only one listed that year and then it dawned on me...who could beat out Wol Ryung?! (Gu Family Book for those who are not familiar). I think I laughed for days!

Too bad the information was not stored in some other way as a backup because you put so much work into it. Our part was easy...read, squeal, laugh, and click the button to select our choice. It was fun to see the trends.

Anything JB, GF and crew do is fine with me. If it needs to change, we'll roll with it and still have lots and lots to enjoy. :D

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You comment about Wol Ryung made me go back and re-read the recaps of the episodes that had him. I think I want a show with them- not with the same ending but with the characters..

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slfowie,

I agree! I would love a little drama special based on the first few episodes. I have rewritten Gu Family Book in my own mind to how I would have liked it (have an actual book and erase the time jump, for example!!).

Thanks for the reply kindred spirit! :)

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Yes! it would end all the heartache it had created..

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I ABSOLUTELY have to agree with this. I look forward to the Dramabeans polls every year. It is always so funny and ridiculously entertaining. Please, Dramabeans, keep this as a tradition.

Seriously.

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I can't believe it's December either! But I'm looking forward to the new format, especially because you'll be covering more dramas. And of course the blindness of the DB writers.

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The blindness of the DB writers will be avoided, I meant to say.

Sidenote: Thanks for making the website lighter and faster to load!

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No blindness for my dear DB staff please.

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Thank you for the care you take in your reviews. Your comments and witticism add another layer of enjoyment to kdrama. Just read your book, Why Do Dramas Do That?, and found it to be as much fun as your recaps. Looking forward to more ebooks!

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As long as you get all the dramas I liked and forget all the ones I disliked I'll be happy.

(Joking of course. I love the diversity of tastes and opinions on dramabeans! It's what makes our conversations interesting and thought-provoking)

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I'm looking forward to end-of-year polls (RIP, old polls T_T) but please, PLEASE can we get the multiple choice (at least two choices) tick box on a few categories besides Drama of the Year?

I REALLY don't want to have to choose between Ryu Joon-yeol and Ji-soo for Breakout Performance, that would really be Sophie's Choice :(

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(I already sent in a request for multiple choice polls via the contact form but I'm not 100 percent sure it went through, I didn't get the green tick saying it was received/sent)

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Sorry you had to go through all this but we all love the pain, don't we? I'm excited to see the changes! Thank you for sharing your love of dramas with us. :)

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DB Daesang award goes to....Kim Soo-hyun.

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God I hope not. He's cute and it was really good but in no way close to being the performance of the year. I'd give it to Kim Hee-sun (Angry Mom), Yoo Joon-sang/Yoo Ho-jung (Grapevine) or Park Bo-young ahead of that.

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I'm just joking pogo. He seems to be winning every daesang awards out there that it's becoming a joke.

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yeah, I get winning awards for Producer but a Daesang?

oh, well, KBS will probably give him yet another Daesang at their end of year awards since Producer did decently. But I'll be annoyed if IU gets nothing.

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I like KSH and think he's a good actor but I'm tired of seeing him win all the Daesang and Popularity awards. There are many other actors and actresses who are just as good or, dare I say, better then him and it's just old to always see him win.

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There are plenty of actors who are better and more talented imo.

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Honestly, the award shows are a joke althogether. I don't know what they base their winners on.

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I will never forgive him for stealing Han Seok-kyu's Daesang lol.

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The little respect I had left for the Baeksang Arts Awards went out the window that year.

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Lol.. december snucked on us while we're glued to the screen. Im not that excited abt year end polls anymore..

But for the review you must have Santa!

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I don't even want to know how many dramas I watched this year.... so of course let's count.... I might have a problem. I really enjoy the year end reviews and am looking forward to them bust wasn't yesterday September? Good Luck :)

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~Sigh~ another year has gone by and all I've been (and ever been) doing is watching dramas! Ha, I'm not even mad/sad. Welp, here's to another deliciously addicting Korean drama-filled year!

Looking forward to the year-end goodies, ladies! I'm sure it'll be fun.

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Another year gone by and my watching list just keeps growing. So many good dramas this year and I haven't even watched half of them. Though I did watch some of the year's highlights, Kill Me Heal Me, Producer, Twenty Again, Oh My Ghost, etc.

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Looking forward to year end reviews from everyone.
Probably wont join the polls tho. I must admit I watched & finished only few dramas this year. I actually surprise about it myself tbh.

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I feel your pain. I read more recaps than I watched. I will probably base most of my votes on what I read versus what I watched lol

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I do the same! I read more than what I watch. Also because I kinda tricked myself into it while studying. All like "well, the episode takes 1 hour to watch.. BUT it's won't take 1 hour to read a recap.. sooo, I can totally take a little break an read a quick recape before going back to studying!" xD

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That is exactly my logic! My friends think I'm insane by reading spoilers of the drama, but at least I can get my k-drama fix while in school without feeling guilty "wasting" an hour actually watching it! lol

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How you previewed old dramas is really cool. I used to just look at Dramabeans and Girlfriday's rating list see if I would watch old shows... now I'm bummed about missing this idea I never had because the polls are gone.

Ha ha ?
But I look forward to the change.

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waaah!! December!!
Fighting, everybody!
Also, I never cease to wonder how the hell do you find those pictures (screencaps) from that enormous stack of pictures you seem to have..?? They're awesome, by the way.

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Yes, December is unbelievably here already. The other 11 months apparently zipped by while we were all drama-watching! Heh.

Thanking Dramabeans and the entire DB staff in advance for the upcoming year-end reviews. Looking forward to reading them!

Thank you also for all you've done throughout the year. Drama-watching just wouldn't be the same without you guys.

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I thought you guys gonna send a dramabeans daesang awards to jisung for his kill me heal me drama.

Tho i think he is happy enough for a baby girl is million times better than a bunch of trophies

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Wow, it's the time of the year already? It really felt just like yesterday that I had fun (and a hard time) with the year-end poll (RIP old polls :-( )

Looking forward to the new style!

Here's to no blindness, no back pain or other kinds of pains!

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It's december already? But so much to do! Feel like I'm at least 6 months behind on dramas atm. Good luck with the year end reviews. Will be exciting to see the new format!

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A little birdie (er... recapper) told me changes were coming. I think I'm going to miss the old style of year end reviews but I'm looking forward to seeing the new style. I'm glad the polls and the editors' picks are sticking around though.

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Looking forward to the new format. I'm less excited about the polls though because for the past couple of years it became less fun than usual to put in my vote.

Hope my favorites this year would get some reviews (in no particular order): Ex-Girlfriend Club, She Was Pretty, I Remember You, Warm & Cozy (yes, I did like this ;) ), Oh My Ghostess, Cheoyong 2, Kill Me Heal Me, The Producers, Hogu's Love, and some currently airing ones.

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So who gets to review Healer, KMHM, and Reply 1988 and how much minion blood was spilled in the assignment process...?

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Looking forward to your year-end reviews DB gals! Your reviews are always a joy to read. You can't imagine how happy I am when I watch some obscure shows or shows not recapped here to be reviewed at year-end reviews.
Pray everything is going well with the assignment and whatsnot!

I love your site and year-end reviews and polls are just amazing! Other site may only recap or may only have polls, but you covered it all.. You go ladies!

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"Sophie's Choice"? How can you use that phrase for such a trivial matter as picking a drama.
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the book.)

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lol, if you think picking a drama is trivial, you're on the wrong website!

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LOL. Agreed. This is serious business!

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hear, hear!

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Wow!!! to your pious comment. I know I should not comment but your comment is so self-righteous. I also apologize for commenting self-righteously. Shake my head as I go back to work.

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@Auntie Em

I did read the synopsis of the book, so I do know what you're talking about. Sophie's Choice IS heartrending.

But over here, things are fun and light and 'tongue-in-cheek', so bear with us. :-)

We don't mean to offend.

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Oh i totally can understand the dilemma since i've been feeling the same way every Fri n Sat when i can't decide whether i should let taekie be happy or junghwan be happy...my heart can't stand further...y we need to make a choice? Can't she married both n can't we just choose all in the polls...sobs

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