Asian Film Foundation - 02/24/05 - South Korean dramas rule airwaves

Maybe the domestic networks should just subcontract the whole summer drama season out to South Korean TV producers and save themselves some effort.

[Daily Yomiuri]
by Wm. Penn/Special to The Daily Yomiuri

Maybe the domestic networks should just subcontract the whole summer drama season out to South Korean TV producers and save themselves some effort. Japanese actors would still be in demand to do the voiceovers but the local drama producers could take a quarter off to reenergize and try to familiarize themselves with what viewers really want.

Don't laugh. This is not as far out as it sounds. We are moving slowly in that direction this spring with the addition of three South Korean dramas to the lineup including Paris no Koibito, which will air four mornings a week starting Wednesday (NTV network, Monday-Thursday, 10:25-11:20 a.m.) Two more South Korean dramas are scheduled for NHK beginning with Hatsukoi (First Love, starring Bae Yong Jun, March 31, 11 p.m., NHK BS-2). TV Guide reports this series got ratings of 65.8 percent when it was first aired in South Korea in 1996-97.

All In, starring Lee Byung Hun and Song Hye Kyo, will take over NHK's Saturday night 11:10 p.m. slot starting April 16 and run for 24 weeks. Lee is also the star of the current South Korean drama in that slot, Beautiful Days, the only program on Japanese TV that can keep me awake past midnight anymore.

All In is a 2003 love story set in the gambling casinos of Las Vegas and South Korea. Love and poker should be a winning combination that will do even better than Beautiful Days.

And what other overseas programming does NHK have in store for us this spring? Well, they will be dealing us a Full House again starting April 5 at 7 p.m. Not exactly big-time gamblers at NHK, are they? Can't think of a less risky offering than this lovable but definitely dated show.

Not much else on terrestrial TV but ER X starts March 28 on NHK BS-2 while WOWOW has The Sopranos Season 5 at midnight starting April 1. Joey, former Friends star Matt LeBlanc's new series, begins April 2, midnight to 12:30 a.m. on WOWOW.

The South Korean drama boom shows no signs of abating because it gives the public what it wants--serious romance with a bit of action thrown in. This is the game viewers want in on.

Yukie Nakama is very charming but when Gokusen (NTV network, Saturdays, 9 p.m.) is the only private network drama over 20 percent in the ratings and a series by scriptwriting superstar So Kuramoto cannot even get into the top 10, the domestic drama industry is in definite trouble.

It is a sad day when Katsunori Takahashi's Tokumei Kakari-cho Tadano Hitoshi (TV Asahi network, Fridays,11:15 p.m.) can oust a Kuramoto drama from the top 10. The explicit weekly sex scenes and the silly double identity of the creepy hero must be the reason.

Quality certainly does not seem to be selling this quarter. Admittedly, Kuramoto's latest offering Yasashii Jikan (Thursdays, Fuji network, 10 p.m.), starring Akira Terao, is slow-moving.

The emphasis on dialogue rather than action makes it seem more like a play than a television series. Still, it displays all the famed Kuramoto touches--sophisticated, thoughtful dialogue, beautiful photography, fine actors and a deep understanding of nature--that used to keep viewers tuning in.

The series is especially good when Shinobu Otake gets screen time. She plays Yukichi's (Terao) late wife who appears to him every evening after closing hours to help him digest the day's doings, listen to his doubts and regrets and gently urge him on with his life.

This is a drama for the past-fortysomethings who don't need their stories cluttered with cell phones and high-tech gadgets. It's for people who want to contemplate their lives while grinding their own coffee beans in an idyllic coffee shop where time moves very slowly, a mellow generation that has become a minority audience.

Terao is having a better year on the film scene. He won the Japan Academy Award for best actor for the film Han-ochi on Feb. 18. He seemed genuinely surprised.

Question of the Week: Is it possible to air a special without inviting a representative of the kingdom of SMAP to be present?

On Feb. 19, TV Asahi presented Saturday Ad Hoc: The Disclosure--George W. Bush a rather amazing exploration of his past, his presidency, the war and electronic voting. From Halliburton to the Carlyle Group, from Bush critics Greg Pallast to Wayne Madsen, the show covered all the topics that have been fascinating Internet bloggers for the past five years. No matter what one's point of view, it was a rare chance to see some viewpoints that get little TV time in the United States.

Knowing they were handling some touchy topics, the producers offered no definite conclusions of their own and chose their language carefully. So why did they endanger all their hard work by letting Goro Inagaki host the show?

After each segment, out pops Goro to play with a collection of bobblehead dolls representing the major players in the Bush government. He held them up and engaged them in make-believe conversations. Then, he'd do a quick about-face and announce, "Of course, we don't know if they ever said anything like this but..."

In one segment featuring Papa Bush and George W., Goro gave the definite impression neither of them had fought in a war, but it's well known George H.W. fought in World War II--against the Japanese.

Goro needs to get back to his history books and leave the commentary to the program's fearless staff who even tried to walk right into the Skull & Bones headquarters at Yale.

Founded in 1832, three generations of the Bush family and John Kerry have all belonged to the secret and very exclusive student society, which is housed in a windowless building on campus. The program's reporters went right up and knocked on the door. No one responded but they did discover the padlocks on the door are just decorations. Members apparently gain access by keying their passwords into an electronic system.

Source: www.yomiuri.co.jp


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