The Imjin War (KBS 1972)

[𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔯]

Broadcast Date: May 5th, 1972~March 30th, 1973

Broadcast Time: Fridays @ 8:50 --> 7:30

Episodes: 41

Cast:

• Ju Hyeon as Lee Sun Shin

A relatively large scale portrayal of events, starting from Jeong Yeo Rip's rebellion in 1589 until the end of the Imjin War in 1598. I found various synopses but nothing to string together a plot beyond the historical events themselves. The show itself, like most 70s shows, is totally lost, but the newspapers documented a lot of shots from the show!

[sageuk]

So dis KBS just dispose of stufffrom their archives to make room and save money from having to pay for maintenance of the film reels just like the BBC did for early Doctor Who?

Another one starting with Jeong Yeorip

[𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔯]

All TV networks in KR at the time did this to some extent until the 80s. With dailies, usually only the first and last episodes were preserved until the 90s. The earliest complete historical in existence right now is A Great Korean (1979). As for the earliest known-to-be-complete daily sageuk, that would be SBS' Yushimcho (1991).

[MTR]

All networks in most countries used to reuse their tapes . Because of that countless dramas are lost . In Japan of the first 20 Taiga Drama’s only 4 are in existence . Even in the UK, countless classic Tv shows are missing because they were recorded over . Dr Who fans remain poised to burn down the BBC because of this practice .

[ajk]

Great find! Got that one into the timeline immediately. Thanks for sharing the pics.

We lost some terrific stuff here in the USA too because of reusing tapes. Nearly all of the Tonight Show episodes with Jack Paar and nearly all of Johnny Carson's first ten years are gone. That show back then was such a huge cultural touchstone--a terrible tragedy we lost those. I think even some of the early Super Bowls were wiped too, at least the full network broadcasts.