2015 SBS Drama Awards

by javabeans

Whee, there’s eye candy galore today, here in No. 2 of 3 of the broadcaster drama awards (KBS’s awards post is forthcoming), here at the 2015 SBS Drama Awards. This event had perhaps a smidge more starpower than last night’s MBC Drama Awards, which I attribute to SBS having had more hit dramas in the past year. It was also much more colorful a night in terms of fashion, which pleases me always, because on a basic level it’s just more fun looking at a page that’s full of color.

The night wasn’t without its tempests in teapots, mostly concerning certain awards omissions. Kim Rae-won lost out on the Daesang to Joo-won (more on that in a moment!) and was absent from the ceremony (he’s filming overseas), and his Punch co-star Seo Ji-hye accepted his Producer’s Award on his behalf. The confusion wasn’t that he didn’t get the Daesang—he was a strong contender, but not the only one—but that an MC had introduced the Top 10 Stars winners (which included names like Joo-won, Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hyun-joo, Ji Jin-hee, and Jo Jae-hyun) as the Daesang candidates, and Kim Rae-won wasn’t on the Top 10 list.

So viewers jumped to the natural conclusion that he had been excluded from Daesang consideration entirely. And that inspired ire, since his performance in Punch was widely acknowledge to be excellent. (Not to mention that MBC had announced in the days before the ceremony that he was a Daesang nominee and had used his image to advertise the broadcast of the awards.) There was a flurry of confusion and SBS promised it would figure out what happened. There were a lot of news reports flying around today, and a lot of cynical fan responses.

Kim Rae-won wasn’t the only conspicuous omission from the awards, either: Kim Hee-ae (Mrs. Cop) and Su Ae (Mask) were also excluded from the Top 10 and big acting awards, and also absent from the ceremony. (Some speculate that the absences are the reason for their exclusions. C’mon, SBS, who do you think you are, the Daejongs?)

My first reaction at Joo-won winning the Daesang was surprise, but ultimately I’m not too taken aback because the likeliest candidates were him, Yoo Ah-in, and Kim Rae-won (with Kim Hyun-joo in the mix as a dark horse). None of them would have been big shockers, and while Punch had the most critical acclaim, the other two dramas were more mainstream hits, with Yong-pal making the bigger splash. Purely from a commercial standpoint, Yong-pal was a runaway success, and Joo-won was the driving force of the show (well, at least for the first half, before the story kind of put him in the backseat). It’s funny that it’s really not the best of his performances, but considering the circumstances, I can understand why the broadcaster made the political choice to reward their star, even if I don’t agree with the choice.

WINNERS LIST

Daesang: Joo-won (Yong-pal)
Top Excellence Award, Miniseries, Actor: Park Yoochun (Girl Who Sees Smells)
Top Excellence Award, Miniseries, Actress: Kim Tae-hee (Yong-pal)
Top Excellence Award, Mid-length Drama, Actor: Jo Jae-hyun (Punch),
      Yoo Joon-sang (Heard It Through the Grapevine)
Top Excellence Award, Mid-length Drama, Actress: Choi Myung-gil (Punch)
Top Excellence Award, Serial Drama, Actor: Yoo Ah-in (Six Flying Dragons)
Top Excellence Award, Serial Drama, Actress: Kim Hyun-joo (I Have a Lover)
Excellence Award, Miniseries, Actor: Park Hyung-shik (High Society)
Excellence Award, Miniseries, Actress: Moon Geun-young (Village: Secret of Achiara)
Excellence Award, Mid-length Drama, Actor: Joo Ji-hoon (Mask)
Excellence Award, Mid-length Drama, Actress: Go Ah-sung (Heard It Through
      the Grapevine)
Excellence Award, Serial Drama, Actor: Byun Yo-han (Six Flying Dragons)
Excellence Award, Serial Drama, Actress: Shin Se-kyung (Six Flying Dragons)
Producer’s Award: Kim Rae-won (Punch)
Special Acting Award, Daily Series, Actor: Lee Han-wi (Mom Is My Daughter-in-Law)
Special Acting Award, Daily Series, Actress: Jeon Mi-sun (Return of Hwang Geum-bok)
Special Acting Award, Miniseries, Actor: Namgoong Min (Girl Who Sees Smells)
Special Acting Award, Miniseries, Actress: Lee Da-hee (Mrs. Cop)
Special Acting Award, Mid-length Drama, Actor: Jang Hyun-sung (Punch)
Special Acting Award, Mid-length Drama: Yoo In-young (Mask)
Special Acting Award, Serial Drama, Actor: Park Hyuk-kwon (Six Flying Dragons)
Special Acting Award, Serial Drama, Actress: Park Han-byul (I Have a Lover)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Lee Deok-hwa
Netizen Popularity Award: Kim Hyun-joo (I Have a Lover)
Chinese Netizens’ Popularity Award: Joo-won (Yong-pal)

Top 10 Stars:
      Joo-won (Yong-pal)
      Joo Ji-hoon (Mask)
      Kim Hyun-joo (I Have a Lover)
      Kim Tae-hee (Yong-pal)
      Yoo Ah-in (Six Flying Dragons)
      Moon Geun-young (Village: Secret of Achiara)
      Jo Jae-hyun (Punch)
      Shin Se-kyung (Six Flying Dragons, Girl Who Sees Smells)
      Ji Jin-hee (I Have a Lover)
      Park Yoochun (Girl Who Sees Smells)

Best Couple Award:
      Yoo Ah-in and Shin Se-kyung (Six Flying Dragons)
      Joo-won and Kim Tae-hee (Yong-pal)
      Ji Jin-hee and Kim Hyun-joo (I Have a Lover)

New Star Award:
      Gong Seung-yeon (Six Flying Dragons)
      Byun Yo-han (Six Flying Dragons)
      Lee Yeol-eum (Village: Secret of Achiara)
      Yook Sung-jae (Village: Secret of Achiara)
      Lee Elijah (The Return of Hwang Geum-bok)
      Park Hyung-shik (High Society)
      Yoon Kyun-sang (The Time I’ve Loved You, Six Flying Dragons)
      Im Ji-yeon (High Society)
      Go Ah-sung (Heard It Through the Grapevine)
      Sohn Ho-joon (Mrs. Cop)

Congratulations, Joo-won (Yong-pal), on winning your first Daesang! Even though I wouldn’t have voted for you, you’re still a talented actor and super hard worker. Also you look really pretty tonight.

His co-star Kim Tae-hee (Yong-pal) is stunning—seriously, there are hi-def phots of her with close-ups a million pixels wide and her skin is flawless. I’m not sure the gown has tons of wow factor, but its understated sophistication works for her. It was easy finding photos of her to post because she’s beautiful in all of them, but hard narrowing them down to this set because they were all equally gorgeous.

Pinstripes! I love how boss Yoo Ah-in (Six Flying Dragons) looks—it’s half the dapper suit and half attitude. I love even more how happy and cheerful he is at the awards with finger-hearts for all.

I didn’t see Shin Se-kyung (Six Flying Dragons) on the red carpet, only at the show itself, which is a bummer because I would’ve loved some full-size glossy shots of her dress, which I’m pretty sure I’d like.

Byun Yo-han continues to rack up the awards, this time picking up an Excellence award for Six Flying Dragons. Rawr, sageuk scruff.

Yoon Kyun-sang had two SBS projects this year, relationship drama The Time I’ve Loved You and historical action series Six Flying Dragons. I am glad for him that he did one of them.

He of the flamboyant eyeshadow, Park Hyuk-kwon, was another award-winner for Six Flying Dragons. I didn’t see him over at the KBS awards, although he did have a recurring (and amusing) part in The Producers, playing the brown-noser PD.

Gong Seung-yeon pulled double-duty for SBS this year, first in Heard It Through the Grapevine and then Six Flying Dragons, which earned her a New Star award. In the tradition of rookie starlets everywhere, she came wearing white.

I remember when Kim Hyun-joo was the sweet leading lady type, but appreciate her so much more in this later stage of her career, being stronger and bolder. It’s also nice to hear how vocal fan support is for I Have a Lover, which is not a ratings hit but has a very fervent fanbase. She’s here with her co-star Ji Jin-hee, both of them looking very sharp. The red lace dress isn’t my favorite look on its own, but on her, she makes it command your attention.

Go Ah-sung earned an Excellence award for Heard It Through the Grapevine. Here she opts for a flowy black dress, which looks effortless and simple. I have to snort at her getting a New Star award since she’s been acting for the past decade, with some very high-profile roles (say, 2006’s The Host). But we all know how fluid these categorizations can be, at the broadcaster’s whim. They’re just award delivery systems, really!

Her Grapevine co-star Yoo Joon-sang won a Top Excellence award for the drama, and arrived at the red carpet with MC Lee Hwi-jae and High Society’s Im Ji-yeon.

Speaking of High Society, here’s Park Hyung-shik wearing a hunter-green tux jacket and looking smiley. He had reason to smile, picking up an Excellence award as well as a New Star award for that drama.

Jo Jae-hyun won a Top Excellence award for Punch, and while I’m surprised that SBS split the award for this category (they didn’t split anywhere else), I can see how they didn’t want to exclude either Jo Jae-hyun or Yoo Joon-sang and just decided to give them both the award. I can’t argue against either one.

Okay, this color. It’s probably really pretty in real life, right? I’m sure Seo Ji-hye (Punch) isn’t color-blind or sartorially challenged, and that this greenish-poopy-brown just photographs badly, yes? Let’s go with that.

I like this choice on Choi Myung-gil, award-winner for Punch—it’s got just enough color to be interesting, but not garish, and the fit is great.

Aw, Ohn Joo-wan is adorable. He has that kind of face that can be stony and cold when he’s being stern, but turns into boyish giddiness once he smiles. He had two SBS projects this year, both of them well-received: first Punch, then Village: Secret of Achiara.

With that, let’s hop over to the Village crew…

Moon Geun-young! I don’t even care about what she’s wearing, I barely even register it—it’s vaguely long and black, I think—because I am in the throes of debilitating hair envy. I love everything about this edgy angled bob, and am super jealous that the hair is on her head and not mine. Let’s pretend that didn’t come out as creepy as it did.

Her Village co-star, Yook Sung-jae, had to put in appearances at two ceremonies this night, since he also had a successful run in a KBS show (Who Are You—School 2015). At least actors can get away with a quick jacket swap! Yook Sung-jae has this really endearingly offbeat energy about him, which makes him such a cute dork that you forget he has idol roots. He did a whole New Year’s bow on the red carpet, which is why he’s doubled over in that picture.

Jang So-yeon was also in Heard It Through the Grapevine, but she was particularly memorable in Village, where she was super creepy, suspicious, sly, and compelling as that smirky pharmacist.

Cute. Lee Yeol-eum’s Village role was relatively small compared to the others, but that show had a way of making every character significant. I love this choice of dress, which is flirty and youthful in a different way.

Okay, Joo Ji-hoon (Mask) you win. You’re wearing a two-colored polka-dotted tuxedo and it’s super awesome, despite how that sounds on paper, and I love it love it love it. There’s just something so quirky and unexpected about it, combined with the sharp lines and sleek fit, and I’m all about it. I would even give him the edge over Yoo Ah-in’s snazzy pinstripes, but really, why choose when you can put them together onstage and in the same frame?

I am trying to decide whether this dress is the right length on Yoo In-young (Mask), or if it is a few inches too short, because it flares out and just stops at her ankles. If I ignore the feet, I think she’s perfectly styled, all sleek and fresh-looking. I know the blunt bangs were for her character in Oh My Venus, but she looks so much better with them out of her face.

Yeon Jung-hoon (Mask) should never play nice guys again. He should only play bad guys and villains and morally corrupt characters—and if he must flirt with the good side, he has to at least have a tortured soul or dark past or drink your blood or something. He was delicious in Mask, and gave that show a large part of its guilty-pleasure-esque tawdry appeal.

I am guessing the memo tonight for the Mask cast was all-black. Here’s Kim Ji-min, who had a smallish role playing one of the employees of the house who served Su Ae’s character, though she’s more of a gag comedian in her other projects.

I would love this if only for the bright canary yellow color, but as it happens, it’s also a flattering, dramatic, and fresh gown that really makes Chae Jung-won (Witch’s Castle) pop on the red carpet. Probably my favorite dress of the night.

And here’s her Witch’s Castle co-star Seo Ji-seok, who is wearing a white tie that completely fades against that white shirt.

There was, of course, an obligatory abundance of white dresses, though. Jin Kyung (The Time I’ve Loved You) adds a fuzzy (furry?) jacket to her look, which seems smart to me since I’m pretty sure it’s freezing.

I feel like the split outer layer on this dress worn by Lee Elijah, a New Star award recipient for The Return of Hwang Geum-bok), wastes the effect by making everything the same color. I want to like the design more than I do, I think, but overall it’s an inoffensive look.

You may not recognize the name Bae Hae-sun, but I bet if I said “that batshit crazy nurse in Yong-pal” you’d remember her right away. She had a way of being simultaneously hateful and obsessively-in-love with Kim Tae-hee in that show that was really interesting, and certainly memorable. It turns out that Yong-pal is actually her first drama, but she’s no newbie, doing most of her work on the musical theater stage.

Jeon Mi-sun is always in a bunch of dramas, and she also had a project over at KBS (Who Are You—School 2015), but she’s here for her daily drama The Return of Hwang Geum-bok, which netted her an acting award.

Okay, I have to know what the designer of this tux was thinking, because Jung Eun-woo (The Return of Hwang Geum-bok) looks like he’s wearing a bathrobe masquerading as a jacket, right? Or a smoking jacket befitting of the Hef?

I’m going to date myself with this reference, but Lee Da-hee totally reminds me of that time Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake wore matching denim formalwear to the VMAs. Not specifically in the design or anything, but just in the overall effect—I don’t really know if I love the dress itself, but it fits like a glove and she stands out in that cornflower blue, so let’s call it a win. (She got an award for Mrs. Cop, which I won’t begrudge her for, but does make me look askance at the omission of Kim Hee-ae, since she was the one who carried that show.)

Sohn Ho-joon was given a New Star award for Mrs. Cop, and I like that it seems he’s ever so gradually getting more comfortable at formal events. Though he’ll always be an adorable country bumpkin to me. *squeeze*

Hee! The first thought I had upon seeing one of my favorite veteran ajusshis, Ahn Gil-kang (Shine or Go Crazy), was that his outfit totally looks like the one Ji-soo wore yesterday. Do you suppose they shopped at the same tux emporium? Go ahead, find Ji-soo, I’ll wait for you to compare.

Lee Seung-joon is one of those actors who’s usually cast as best friends, secretaries, sidekicks and the like—and he usually does an awesome job so that he’s more than just that friend/secretary/sidekick. He was an endearing secretary to Hyun Bin earlier this year in SBS’s Hyde, Jekyll, Me, but I particularly enjoyed him as Lee Dong-wook’s BFF in tvN’s Bubblegum.

This is a total 180 from the head-to-toe black look worn by Kim Yoo-jung (Angry Mom, also SBS’s Inki Gayo) last night. I didn’t hate the black, but I do think she looks much brighter and fresher here in this dusty rose. It must be fun to have multiple back-to-back events to attend, giving a young star opportunity to play with dramatic contrasts.

Lee Kyu-han (I Have a Lover) keeps it traditional with his classic tux and black bowtie.

Choi Jung-yoon’s last SBS drama just barely had a presence in 2015—Cheongdam-dong Scandal wrapped on January 2. She opts for a flared black gown with statement red lip.

Can you hear Jang Hyun-sung (Heard It Through the Grapevine) plotting to backstab you, or sell you up the river, or throw you under the bus from all the way over there? ‘Cause he will, you know.

Speaking of perpetual villains, Namgoong Min should really become one. He revitalized his career and reinvented his image with one SBS drama this year (Girl Who Sees Smells), then went and one-upped himself with yet another (Remember—Son’s War, in which he’s even more villainous and scary). I don’t even care if he ends up typecast as a villain, if being a villain means he gets to keep plumbing his inner darkness and going all twisty and intense on us. Never be nice again, Namgoong Min!

Yoon Jin-seo was his co-star in Girl Who Sees Smells, and I don’t suppose I have too much to say about this off-the-shoulder gown on her. I like her more than I like it, let’s just say.

I am trying very hard to decide what to feel about this dress on Park Han-byul (I Have a Lover, though she also had a guest part in Girl Who Sees Smells). Do I like it because it’s interesting, or do I dislike it because it’s nutballs? Do I like it because she looks great in it, or does she look great in it because she’s pretty and it’s in no way related to the dress, whose crazy she manages to overcome? Scroll up. Scroll down. Up. Down. Can’t decide. Thoughts?

Via Newsen

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