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Post by humblestudent2 on Jul 23, 2009 1:21:12 GMT -5
This 30-35 minute show is airing 6 days a week on KBS World, where it is currently at episode 29. It is at episode 80 in Korea now and still going.
This has a nice sort of Yellow Handkerchief kind of feel to it and might get a US following when it starts to broadcast over the air. It has a tenuous link to a real news story in which a woman took her mother-in-law, who was suffering from dementia, out into the country and dumped her somewhere. In the show this takes a few episodes to set up.
The name of the show in Korean is "Janghwa Hongryeon", which is sort of like calling it "Snow White Rose Red" since those are the names of two sisters in a traditional evil stepmother / vengeful ghost tale. However the plot of the tale has nothing to do with the show. In the show, Janghwa is the selfish wife of a rich businessman, brilliant and tender-hearted, and Hongryeon is her former BFF from high school who is now a poor single mom with a police record but is every bit the embodiment of virtue in the true Ja-yeong tradition. The interaction between the characters and the afflicted mother-in-law is an important ongoing feature of the series and part of its message.
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Post by humblestudent2 on Aug 3, 2009 12:25:18 GMT -5
We are now 10 episodes further along than in my last post, and I like the show even more now. In fact I think it is at least as good as "Yellow Handkerchief" and maybe better, and this is strong language coming from me.
I wrote above that Hong Ryeon was a heroine "in the true Ja-yeong tradition", but I now think this was faint praise. Really HR is a lot more interesting person than Ja-Yeong was. She is really a heroine for a period of economic crisis, when people are worried not only about relationship issues but also about the gritty matters of survival. She has a much more visible emotional range. She is much more scrappy and combative than Ja-Yeong, more easily flustered, but also more playful and optimistic.
"Yellow Handkerchief" sometimes bogged down a bit into one crisis at a time. "Love and Obsession" has a whole range of crises and plot lines, some of which are being played now and some of which are clearly being saved up for later dates, and, again, there is a lot of real drama in them, with really fateful possible consequences. The comic characters are played a bit more for burlesque than in YH, but not so far that it really puts me off. And I at any rate really do NOT know how the whole thing is going to turn out. My wife thinks she knows, but I think it might very well go another way. And nobody must tell me!!
I will be shocked if KOCH doesn't pick it up. It has apparently already started in Hawaii.
hs2
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Post by mikey on Aug 4, 2009 12:50:00 GMT -5
Although I’m only up to episode 13, I absolutely agree that this is shaping up to be the best daily drama since “Yellow Handkerchief.” And (just like HS2 ;D ) this is coming from a guy who’s certainly not quick to lavish praise upon a K-drama. If a show’s a turkey, I just come right out and say it. But, “Love and Obsession” - so far at least - has been astonishingly good! Too bad, though, that since it’s officially a “Morning Drama,” it won’t get the same attention as the KBS primetime daily dramas - most of which, lately, have been real stinkers. And L&O is so far superior to anything we’ve seen lately that it’s not even funny. No telling when it will appear in Chicago (on my TAN broadcast, it followed the daily drama “Splendor of Youth”) but all you Chicago fans should absolutely, positively, try to catch this one if you can! KoreanWiz’s page on the drama is here: www.koreanwiz.org/at/drama-loveandobsession.htmlHere’s a brief cast list. I don’t mean to “spoil” anything in my introductions, but if it seems like I do, note that everything I mention here is revealed to us in the first episode. Hongryeon (played by actress Yoon Hae-young) is the Good Woman. She was a high school honors student, and slated for admission to the university when, in a drunken state, she ran down and killed a man as she was driving. Now living hand-to-mouth, and filled with guilt over having killed a man, she carries on the best she can as an unwed mother. Most of us will remember actress Yoon Hae-young from drama shows like “So this is Love,” “One Million Roses,” and in a weird disappearing act in the recent “My Precious You” (where, playing Lee Tae-ran’s office co-worker, she mysteriously vanished midway through the show). She’s one of my all-time favorite actresses, and she’s been outstanding in her role here. Janghwa (played by actress Kim Sae-ah) is the Bad Woman. Spoiled and self-centered, she married a rich man, and is living a luxurious lifestyle. She’s also the only one who knows that she set up the innocent Hongryeon to take the blame for a fatal traffic accident that she herself had caused. Actress Kim Sae-ah is probably best known for her role in “Seoul 1945.” Janghwa’s husband Taeyun (played by actor Jung Hyun-sung) is a self-made millionaire who became wealthy after developing anti-virus sofware. He seems truly in love with Janghwa - as well as being truly oblivious of her selfish and amoral nature. Actor Jung Hyun-sung has appeared in a number of roles, including “Great Expectations” “Conditions of Love” and “Rosemary.” Taeyun’s mother, nicknamed “Princess” (played by actress Yeo Woon-gye) is suffering from dementia. She acts irrationally sometimes, and has trouble remembering things. But, one thing she HASN’T forgotten is what an awful woman her daughter-in-law is. It’s somewhat bittersweet to watch this remarkable performance from actress Yeo Woon-gye, as this was her very last screen appearance. Yeo was forced to withdrew midway through this drama show when she became too ill to continue, and she succumbed to lung cancer a few months later. Long time K-drama fans will remember her from shows like “Dae Jang Geum,” “Who’s My Love, “ and “On the Prairie.”
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Post by humblestudent2 on Aug 5, 2009 0:33:37 GMT -5
Mikey, thanks for posting all that, it'll be a real service for people. Also, the first ten episodes are up and subtitled at mysoju.com , so people can see what we're talking about right away. One teensy correction: Kang Taeyun is a software engineer and retail sales magnate, but it would be too much if he were a medical doctor on top of that. I was thrown off myself when I heard that he had invented a "vaccine", but eventually it dawned on me that baekssin is also the word for "antivirus software".
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Post by mikey on Aug 5, 2009 9:06:54 GMT -5
My thanks for the clarification, and I’ve I revised my intro. Actually, I was a little unsure about that even when I wrote it, but they were very clear about him developing a “vaccine,” so that’s what I went with. I now get the difficulties of translating phrases like “anti-virus software” back and forth between Korean and English. ;D
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Post by CaptainVideo on Aug 5, 2009 9:07:11 GMT -5
Well, after the much anticipated, long drawn out finale to "Windy City", which ended yesterday, today we got 7080 Concert. We'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. Then again, there's still a chance that this will premiere in the afternoon slot where the rerun of the morning's episode runs, or not....
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Post by gpaul on Aug 5, 2009 12:36:18 GMT -5
Yesterday at the end of "Windy City" it said that "Love and Obsession" would start next week. I will still check tomorrow and Friday just in case it changes. By the way, I loved the ending of "Windy City".
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Post by TheBo on Aug 5, 2009 15:25:46 GMT -5
And what time of day would it be playing?
Bo
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sueq
New Addict
Posts: 25
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Post by sueq on Aug 5, 2009 17:15:10 GMT -5
It would be on at 8:30 ish in the mornings and 3ish in the afternoon
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Post by teacher on Aug 5, 2009 21:45:08 GMT -5
It generally started by 8:20 in the AM.
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Post by TheBo on Aug 6, 2009 16:00:15 GMT -5
Ah. Thanks so much.
Bo
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Post by CaptainVideo on Aug 10, 2009 8:52:16 GMT -5
Monday, August 10th, Screening Humanity. I'm beginning to tire of this shell game scheduling.
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sueq
New Addict
Posts: 25
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Post by sueq on Aug 10, 2009 15:20:01 GMT -5
You are not the only one who is tired of the games at Woch, well in General forum Mr. Donald Bae KBCTV may be able to help how can he market hit or miss programming , at the very least He may be able to have the game players give us an evplanation for the the way proframs are changed or replaced
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Post by CaptainVideo on Aug 11, 2009 9:06:54 GMT -5
Tuesday, Screening Humanity continues; the good thing is that this show has returned to a more convenient time slot. One less drama to steal precious time can, also, only lead to a more productive life. Now that I think of it, since Splendor of Youth should be ending soon, perhaps this one will take its afternoon time slot in a couple of weeks, or not.
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Post by teacher on Aug 11, 2009 9:45:18 GMT -5
"or not" CV ------ this seems to sum things up quite well.
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