Original source: star naver
[TV Report=Lee Woo-in] KBS2’s drama series ‘Beautiful Man’ will premiere today (Nov 20). ‘Beautiful Man’ is a drama that shows how an extremely charming and tempting guy Dokgo Ma-te grows up into a true ‘Beautiful Man’ based on know-how he gained by dating 10 successful women from Korea’s top 1%. It is drawing attention as a drama where the Korean Wave star Jang Keun-suk appears in about a year since ‘Love Rain’.
No one knows how the drama will play out until it begins. The followings are expectations and concerns about the drama series ‘Beautiful Man’.
◇ Expectations
A drama based on an original cartoon like ‘Full House’, ‘Palace’, and ‘Boys over Flowers’
‘Beautiful Man’ is a drama based on a popular cartoon by the famous cartoonist Cheon Kye-yeong. Such dramas are strong in understanding characters and stories. In addition, viewers can have fun comparing characters played by actors from a drama with those from a cartoon.
‘Full House’, ‘Palace’, and ‘Boys over Flowers’ enjoyed an explosive popularity. All eyes are on whether ‘Beautiful Man’ will be able to continue the tradition as a one-source-multi-use product.
Jang Keun-suk’s ambitious drama
‘Beautiful Man’ is a drama that Jang Keun-suk considers as a turning point in his life as an actor. He even cancelled a Japan concert schedule to join the drama project. ‘Beautiful Man’ is drawing great attention from fans since he gave up ‘trust’, one of the requirements to be successful in the Japanese entertainment industry, to take a role in ‘Beautiful Man’.
Will Jang Keun-suk be able to repeat the success that he made inom ‘Beethoven Virus’ and ‘You Are Beautiful’? Jang Keun-suk’s transformation is drawing attention as well.
Writer and director from outside
KBS’s successful drama series aired this year such as ‘School 2013’, ‘The Queen of Office’, ‘Good Doctor’, and ‘Secret’ have in common that all of them were written by new writers. ‘Beautiful Man’ was made by a writer and a director from outside, not from KBS (KBS is well-known for its exclusiveness to directors and writers from outside unlike MBC or, SBS).
Writer Yu Yeong-a and director Jeong Jeong-hwa are famous figures in the film world. Writer Yu adapted the film ‘Miracle of Cell No.7’, which successfully drew 100 million viewers, and director Jeong directed the film ‘Sweet Lies’ and drama series ‘Flower Boy Ramen Shop’ and ‘Flower Boy Next Door’.
Will KBS not regret choosing them from a different playground?
◆ Concerns
Success of ‘Secret’, will it do good or harm?
The popular belief that success of a previous drama guarantees success of the next one is not true anymore. ‘Shark’ and ‘Marry Him If You Dare’ were aired as a replacement of the most popular dramas ‘The Queen of Office’ and ‘Good Doctor’, but were not successful. In the same vein, ‘Beautiful Man’ is a replacement of the most successful drama ‘Secret’, but on one knows whether the success of ‘Secret’ will do good or harm to ‘Beautiful Man’.
‘The Heirs’, which saw its viewership rating go up to 15.9% (nationwide, daily viewership by Nielson Korea), is expected to become a new winner following ‘Secret’. Will ‘Beautiful Man’ be able to keep the viewers of the standard melodrama ‘Secret’ and create another syndrome?
Will Jang Keun-suk work the magic?
Jang Keun-suk debuted as a child actor and proved his excellent acting ability. However, he is facing a crisis in his acting career due to the unsuccessful previous dramas ‘Mary Stayed Out All Night’ and ‘Love Rain’. ‘Beautiful Man’ is a project that he chose to get back the epithet ‘actor’, but he is receiving a response that he, in the still images and preview videos released so far, does not look different very much from in ‘You Are Beautiful’.
Jang Keun-suk, however, firmly believes that ‘Beautiful Man’ will provide him with an opportunity to cement his position as an actor. It is because Dokgo Ma-te has many characters in the drama. Jang Keun-suk said, “I am sure that I will be able to turn Jang Keun-suk’s weaknesses into strengths through Dokgo Ma-te.”
Strong competitors
‘Beautiful Man’ has strong competitors such as ‘The Heirs’ by writer Kim Eun-suk, the medical drama ‘Medical Top Team’. ‘You Came from the Stars’ to replace ‘The Heirs’ is made by star writer Park Ji-eun from ‘Queen of Housewives’ and ‘My Husband Got a Family’ and star producer Jang Tae-yu from ‘The Painter of the Wind’ and ‘ Deep-rooted Tree’. It is drawing attention as a drama where the top star Jun Ji-hyun comes back in 15 years.
MBC’s ‘Miss Korea’ in the same time slot with ‘Beautiful Man’ is a strong rival as well since writer Seo Suk-hyang and Kwon Seok-jang from ‘Pasta’ and lucky actor Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Seong-min, and Lee Yeon-hee appear on it. However, the success of ‘Secret’, which was outshone by its competitors, reminds us of the famous belief that no one knows how the drama will play out until it begins makes us have expectations for ‘Beautiful Man’.
◎ Reporter’s view
At the press briefing of ‘Beautiful Man’, Lee Kang-hyeon, the head of Drama Department of KBS said, “‘Beautiful Man’ is a growth drama, not a womanizer drama.” Producer Lee Jae-sang described ‘Beautiful Man’ as a self-help drama. Both of them emphasized that ‘Beautiful Man’ is not just a drama that seeks only fun.
Jang Keun-suk gave up wealth right in front of his eyes as the famous Korean Wave star for ‘Beautiful Man’. IU ended promotion of her song released in a long time soon. Han Chae-yeong, who has recently gave birth, put off recuperating. Lee Jang-woo, who became a successful main actor through a daily drama, chose ‘Beautiful Man’ despite a possibility to be outshone by Jang Keun-suk.
The confidence of the production crew and the choice made by actors despite some loss may be enough to recommend ‘Beautiful Man’ to viewers.
By Lee Woo-in jarrje@tvreport.co.kr / Photograph=Group Eight, TV Report DB
Copyright ⓒ tvreport.co.kr Unauthorized Reproduction and Distribution Prohibited
Beautiful man is now uploaded in gooddrama.net