Nightwatchmen’s Journal Premiers Tonight: OCDrama Digest 29th July – 4th Aug 2014

Greetings friends! It’s been a quiet week due to the Eid break which was bliss! I managed to catch up on some blogging which hopefully I’ll be able to post this week and the next. I haven’t been able to settle on a new marathon yet, so I my drama plate is pretty empty with Fated to Love You. I think for now, it’s a toss up between Tree With Deep Roots, or Ruler in Your Own World.  But in other news…

1. The  news that excited me most this week is Kim Do Woo is returning to dramaland! Yes, she of Kim San Soon and Me Too Flower! fame is back, just after I’d finished her gorgeous melodrama 2003 Snowman which has only deepened my love for her work. And this time, she returns to cable. Love With Illy/Valid Love will air on tvN and traces the ups and downs of a married couple, with a side of adultery and a fairly large age gap to boot. I’m all for challenging material and I’m pretty sure that she’ll tackle this with her trademark warmth, humanity, good humour and lovely dialogue. The drama premiers in October, with no confirmed cast as yet though Uhm Tae Woong has been courted.

2. I hadn’t paid any attention to this drama until I came across the teaser released today with two lovelies front and centre: Kim Young Kwang and Oh Jung Se! I’ve seen a couple of different English titles for this one but I’ll stick to Dramabeans’ Plus Nine Boys, which traces the lives of four boys/men of ages 9, 19, 29, and 39 who are cursed to face a crisis the year their age ends in 9–explains the sad sack faces in the teaser. Oh Jung Se is a 39-year old workaholic PD desperate for marriage who has to face the one that got away, played by Yoo Da In. Kim Young Kwang plays the 29-year old facing a career meltdown. Kyung Su Jin, last seen in Secret Love Affair, plays a co-worker who will presumably, help him find his way. The other 9 and 19-year-olds are Kim Young Kwang’s brothers with troubles of their own, but guess who’s the 9-year old love interest? The little munchkin from Two Weeks, Lee Chae Mi, who plays a child star competing for jobs with the 9 year-old brother! Oh Se Jung is always endearingly funny, and this omnibus-style premise sounds like it could bring something a little fresh to the table. The drama airs in late August after Marriage Not Dating on tvN. 

The Nightwatchman’s Cheap & Cheerful Teaser: OCDrama Digest 22-28th July 2014

 

Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim friends, or as we say here, Selamat Hari Raya! It’s a long weekend so I’ve been catching up on dramas and more importantly, writing. I’ve been chipping away at my backlog of reviews. How about you?

 

 

 

 

1. Jung Ill Woo vehicle The Nightwatchman dropped a teaser today ahead of it’s premier next week and it looks a lot more lighthearted than one would’ve thought. But then again, with a baddie named Psychic Sadam who looks like this…

…my guess is that the drama isn’t going to take itself too seriously.  Jung Ill Woo stars as a dandy prince who discovers he can see ghosts, and falls in with a band of ghostbusters that include sidekicks Ko Sung Hee (Miss Korea) and Yunho. This looks like it’s a cheerful, manhwa-like approach to a fantasy sageuk which would be a pleasant change from the rom-coms and more serious fare that’s currently airing. Or it could be this year’s version of the trainwreck Goddess of Fire. I guess we’ll find out when The Nightwatchman replaces Triangle on MBC’s Mon-Tues night slot starting next Monday.

Eric Mun Cusses on Discovery of Romance’s teaser: OCDrama Digest 15-21th July 2014

Folks, we have a highly anticipated debut this week which I almost forgot about. It’s Okay It’s Love starts this Wednesday, and I think I’ve never seen Gong Hyo Jin look so beautiful.  Just look at her:

Two thumbs up for the show’s hair and make-up, though I have a feeling lip gloss will be slathered all over on Jo In Sung. I doubt I’ll watch this one live since I’m hooked on Fated To Love You, but still…the pretty will be a powerful pull in this one. And not just with the actors too–I drool at all the frolicking under the Okinawa sunshine.   

Bad Guys Drops Vicious Teaser: the OCDrama Digest 7-14th July 2014

Another week and another round of reads! Dramaland has been kind to me lately what with two live-watches that are shaping up to be awesome in their own ways. Hope you’ve had similar luck 🙂

1. Upcoming OCN crime thriller Bad Boys or Bad Guys, released a teaser today featuring an appropriately menacing Kim San Joong and a gaggle of vicious dogs. Kim San Joong, fresh off a stint in A New Leaf, plays a detective who corals a bunch of “bad guys” into a crime fighting squad because presumably you have to be one to catch one.  This comes after the recent inclusion of Park Hae Jin fresh off his role in Doctor Quack Stranger into the cast playing the role of a “genius psychopath”. Joining the two are Jo Dong Hyul, Ma Dong Suk and Kang Ye Wom. This is produced by the same team behind Vampire Prosecutor, and judging by the teaser, it’s looking very very good. Or rather, bad. Bad Guys airs in October.

Nodame Cantabile Casting Bombshell & Other News: OCDrama Digest 4th – 7th July 2014

And we’re back to our regular posting schedule! I’ve realised that it’s been one year since I started this blog so I’m patting myself on the back for making it this far. I’m patting you on the back too sticking around and for joining me along on this journey :). It’s time for a facelift too (not me, the blog, although hmm….), so don’t be surprised to find some changes soon.

 

 

1. The biggest bombshell of the day (and of the week probably) is Yoona’s casting in much-beloved Nodame Cantabile opposite Joo Won which lit up the net with a huge outcries of say-it-ain’t so. It’s by Group 8, the same production company behind similar adaptations Boys Over Flowers and Pretty Man. I have no connection to either the manga or the J-dorama so I don’t really have much to say about this one, except to everyone involved in this and to those who are planning on tuning in, I wish you the very best of luck. I say that without a trace of sarcasm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. And speaking of adaptations, Fated to Love You swept me off my feet as my fangirly first-look post will tell you. I hear that Jang Hyuk‘s trademark cackle has created some buzz on the net. Not surprising since it’s HYSTERICAL.