Post by 𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔯 on Oct 4, 2022 0:43:30 GMT -5
Seasons: 3
Broadcast Date: April 12th~October 16th, 1976
Broadcast Date: Mon~Fri (later Mon~Sat) @ 7:30 --> 6:00
The drama was supposed to be a hundred-year saga from the Shinmi Expedition in 1871 to 1971, but got cut in Season 3 to just about the end of Joseon. The three seasons were named The Torch, The Young Ones, and Sedol from Muakjae. The show was also supposed to focus on characters such as the first Korean student in Tokyo, the first patriot, the first Korean pilot An Chang Nam (1900~1930), Kim Jeong Ho (1804~1866) the first Korean to make an accurate map of the Korean peninsula, the conflict between Kim Ok Gyun, Park Young Hyo and the Reform Party of Late Joseon and the first female student in Joseon.
Season 1: The Torch (April 12~June 4th, 40 episodes)
Writer: Gwak Il Ro
Director: Na Young Se
Cast: Baek Il Seop as Prince Regent Heungseon
Additional Cast: Nam Jeong Im, Noh Ju Hyeon, Kim Dong Hun, An Ok Hee, Hwang Jeong Sun, Park Geun Hyeong, Kim Sun Cheol
Based in 1871, a romance involving Prince Regent Heungseon, his concubine Hwaseon and a Korean man in Beijing named Hong Ki. Writer Gwak says he put a "modern interpretation" of the politics and facts of the time, to keep things interesting. The show couldn't compete with MBC's Yeseong River and Yearning for a Beauty, or TBC's own Lady of the Side Chamber.
Season 2: The Young Ones (June 7th~September 18th, 89 episodes)
Writer: Lee Cheol Hyang
Cast and Director unknown for now although I do remember seeing Jang Mihee somewhere in the TV guides
Adaptation of 1955 movie The Youth, this drama portrayed "the passion of Confucian scholars during the Reform Period". On a more plot-specific note, the plot is about a scholar named Yun Gil who's inspired to action by Kim Ok Gyun. There's some politics of the time and trade involved in there somewhere and then it ends around the Gapshin Coup (1884). The show was later adapted into a weekly drama by KBS2 in 1985.
Season 3: Sedol from Muakjae (September 20~October 16th, 24 episodes)
Writer, Cast, Director unknown for now
After the Gabo Reform in 1894, three young men are released from government slavery and take up jobs as a vegetable merchant, a pickled shrimp salesman and a broom salesman respectively. Sedol is the broom salesman, and he sells in Muakjae. He and his 2 friends help around the neighborhood and even prevent a forced marriage. The show gets cut off at that point in the guides so I can only assume that's when they cancelled it, but other sources point to ending in 1977, which I can't confirm in the TV guides.
