*Puts on bifocals* Back in my day, we had to find all sorts of way to watch our favorite Asian dramas. The best places to watch are Netflix and Viki. I feel like when we watch shows in our native language, we can do ten other things simultaneously and still know what’s happening, but unless you speak fluent Korean, this will not ring true.Īnd you know how I said many dramas suffer from the second part curse? Yeah, imagine having to sit through minutes of just staring without playing Candy Crush on your phone. With a K-drama, you need to focus 100% because otherwise you won’t understand a thing going on. This kind of a “duh” tip, but I do think it’s important to note. Remember, K-dramas take more concentration than regular TV. It drives me NUTS.įor example, one drama I kind of liked but am not recommending below is “The Producers.” Initially it was like a mockumentary-type show and I thought the premise was so fun! Sadly, Koreans apparently did not find the style interesting, so PDs scrapped the whole thing before it got going and it became paint-by-numbers drama that not even the charm of the main cast could make unique.Ĥ. This also means drama teams get realtime feedback on their plots and couples and it can really affect how the plot goes towards the end. Movies half that long take months to film and edit, so imagine how hectic and crazy drama sets are. With 30-minute episodes, you’re looking at a minimum of an hour/week but most dramas wind up being 90 minutes, which means it’s more like three. That’s minimum an hour a week but usually it’s closer to three with the big dramas. Which means after those six, everyone is on set trying to pump out at least two episodes a week. Why does this happen, you ask? Well, the problem is when a show goes live in Korea, it’s actually only been pre-filmed for the first six or so episodes. After two back-to-back betrayals, I actually stopped watching them for a year and a half! If you’ve ever experienced this, I’m sorry. Without fail, the second half of most dramas do two things: 1) dragggggg and 2) begin to make no sense and go off the walls. There’s this curse most dramas face because of how they produce them. Every other time I’ve wanted to throw my laptop at a wall. Of all the times I’ve watched a drama lives, I’ve been satisfied once. I’m sure regular network dramas still get higher numbers, but you don’t hear people talking bout them nearly as much as you do about tvN or JTBC dramas. Keep in mind this is still Korea, so add about ten more layers of conservative restrictions.Īnyway, I’m not super sure when tvN and JTBC became the phenomenons they are today, but they far outperform KBS, SBS, and MBC in terms of cultural relativity. You know how HBO and Netflix can get away with all sorts of tawdry things ABC, NBC, and CBS in the US can’t? Same with TvN and JTBC. The best stations these days are tvN and JTBC. It’s also probably why kiss scenes back in the day were so, so, SO bad. This means the restrictions for dramas are crazy high, and why if you get a love scene, it’s like the most PG love scene known to man. The fact that “Itaewon Class” had a trans character is like the most risk-taking I’ve ever seen. Trust me, it’s progressed a lot in the last decade, but it’s still got a ways to go. Socially, Korea is like… the US in the 1950s and 1960s.
Korea is much more conservative than you might be used to. It’s easy TV, why the heck do I need tips for watching? Trust me, friend, as any K-drama watcher knows, there’s a certain art to enjoying them, especially if you don’t speak Korean.
I probably average a few a year and walk away loving even less.īefore I tell you my favorites, here are some quick tips for viewing! recognize this place from “Hotel del Luna”? My Best Korean Drama Tips Now, ten years later and I feel like a seasoned pro! Keep in mind, I’ve watched significantly less dramas than a hardcore fan. Considering “Boys over Flowers” helped launched the second Hallyu, you can see how quickly I was sucked in! I went from “Playful Kiss” to “Boys Over Flowers” since it was based off my favorite manga.
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