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Premiere Watch: Oh! Young-shim

Time slot: Monday-Tuesday
Broadcaster: ENA
Genre: Rom-com
Episode count: 10

Reasons to watch: I’m so ready for this old school rom-com! From the premise to the direction to the promotional materials, Oh! Young-shim screams I’m-a-rom-com-from-a-decade-ago — and that’s a good thing. Sometimes, revisiting the classic structures and archetypes is comforting and just what you need. What do I mean by that? Song Ha-yoon plays our eponymous heroine who’s messy, super emotional, and not very successful at her PD job. Then she unknowingly casts her childhood friend as one of the eligible bachelors on her new dating show. Her old friend shows up with a new name, financial and professional success as a hotshot CEO, and in the form of Super Junior’s Donghae. Though as kids he was sweet on her, now the tables are very much turned/flipped/rotated, and we get to see what happens when these two meet again under strange circumstances.

ENA dramas have been getting very little play after they broke dramaland with Extraordinary Attorney Woo, but I’m just waiting for their next hit drama to take over the airwaves. Since Oh! Young-shim is a retelling of a classic 90s animated series, it will definitely pull in viewers of a certain demographic and mix nostalgia with more nostalgia. Hopefully creating a giant layer cake of classic dramaland goodness.

TL;DR: Potential to become the drama Love is For Suckers thought about becoming before it changed its mind

 
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Finally, so looking forward to this now Finland Papa, which was my highlight of the week has ended.

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Yeah, it looks like a fun and light drama, perfect for the season!

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I most definitely agree with the TL;DR.

Damn! I'll be watching four-fifth of Mondays shows this week.

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What’s the rest of your weekly watch looking like? Maybe you can spread it out. I often watch both episodes on the second day if the cliff hangers are too much or you could move some watches to a quieter day as long as you have watched before the weecap you can still join in the discussions. Some discussions last a couple of days so you can still get responses to comments if you join the discussion late.

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Bora! Deborah and Doctor Cha.

It's not exactly about joining in the discussions. It's about almost all my watches colliding into one day slot. With my semester exams starting this week and spanning 5 weeks I see myself trimming down my watchlist and sticking to just the best ones I can't do without - My Perfect Stranger and Doctor Cha.

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Good plan they will be waiting for you when it’s all done. A nice binge will be a worthy treat for yourself when its all over. All the best with the exams💪🏾 Hwaiting!

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This might be fun. But a messy emotional FL? I hope they don’t write an unprofessional PD.
At 10 episodes it should be an easy watch.
Also, glad that Viki US will be airing this.

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I’ve been looking forward to this for ages! Both for the premise (which hopefully goes better than Love is for Suckers’ wasted potential) and for Donghae 🙊

It’s on Viki here too, I’m guessing it is most places.

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It's on Viki!

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And that's the frosting on this cake for me!

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Got my fork in my hand ready to indulge! Bring it on!

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➕ Old-fashioned rom-com
➖ Dating show (my personal bugaboo)
➕ Judo throws
➖ Hotshot tech CEO 🙄
➕ Lee Min-jae in a bigger role
➖ "messy, super emotional, and not very successful at her PD job"

Not sure what that adds up to. If this could treat my hangover from Love Is for Suckers, deliver some lighthearted fun, and make Mondays a better place to be, that would be more than enough.

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Episode one is live, I think it will need the two episodes to show which way it’s going to go.

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Just watched the first episode, hopefully I'll like the second one better. At the moment I'm not a fan of FL, she gets on my nerves a bit. She's suuuuper emotional and behaves more like a teenager.

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That was my biggest worry. Just give us a normal female lead who acts her age???

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Maybe she'll settle down, as most kdrama leads do? Exaggerated character-establishing behavior from the leads in the first episode or three is well-trodden path. The FL is a young high-school kid in the 1990 source material, so there's not much of a clue to her adult development or basis for hope there.

I'll wait until at least tomorrow to gauge reactions and maybe dip into episode 1.

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I agree that the FL is a bit goofy and often seems more like a teenager than a woman in her 30s, but it's not a dealbreaker for me (yet). The show definitely seems low budget, low stakes, and a bit retro, but it's also cute and has a laidback, very watchable style that I enjoyed.

It also has a totally different feel than "Love is for Suckers," and doesn't really invite comparisons to it, despite the similar main premises. Oh! Youngshim definitely feels like a drama based on a webtoon, and we'll see whether that's a blessing or curse.

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I think it would have been very clever if they had somehow incorporated Chef John and Ji wan (from Love is for Suckers) into the show in a 'poke fun at' dating show vibe.  A smart way to increase ratings/viewers for this show as that couple literally stole the show from the leads in LIFS.
Also lovely to see Lee Min Jae from Crash Course in Romance, there is something about him that is very charismatic. 

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Omg, yes. I really want those two to have their own drama, but I would take a cameo appearance

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Wow, I actually really liked the first ep! It's cute, fun, and so far better executed than Love is for Suckers. Better pacing too

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Did Siwon just pass on the dating show reality mantle to Donghae ? Since I'm more of a Donghae bias in Super Junior, I'll definitely give this a go.

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I watched the first episode yesterday and haven't been able to figure out how I feel about it. I liked the story. I liked the characters. I liked the cartoon. I liked all of the dramas parts. But I wasn't able to connect with anything, and I don't know exactly why. I'm not sure if the pacing just felt off or the presentation didn't quite work or what. I'm gonna keep watching though, and hopefully, the story will come into its own.

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I watched 2 eps today, and the first episode is better than the 2nd, where the show went downhillllllll. I think the biggest problem is with the writing, pacing, and editing. The scenes cut around weirdly, or else drags on too long for no reason. The story doesn't flow. They were supposedly filming a pilot for an ep, but then suddenly it's already edited and airing, and suddenly her family is watching it on tv?? What?

They give us some childhood story, but nothing on how the adults are thinking now, so their actions make zero sense. The actress for the FL is good, but the character does suck (messy, emotional, childish, temperamental brat like). She's supposed to be a professional PD, looking for a successful variety show to bring her career back to life, but she throws herself into it, and messes it up epically? The ML shows up suddenly with no character buildup and falls flat.

I hope they do better from now on; I'll give it 2 more eps to try but it isn't looking good.

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