My KDrama Wishlist for 2016
If Santa (or the tooth fairy or ... anybody) would grant KDrama wishes, which ones would you have?
Damn, now I sound bitter and party-pooping again. This has to stop.
Here is my Wish #1, then: Kdrama, PLEASE be more original and stop reproducing same-same stuff. Take a risk! And please come up with GOOD STORIES. Please put your effort and your money into good scripts! (going for popular webtoons is a good start, but not neough) Also, please stop writing scripts while shooting, simply because you think you know what "netizens" want. It's not working for you anymore (look at the ratings).
My Wish #2 is related to actors: I want Kim Ji-hoon in a good drama, one that gives his acting skills credit (it's too much to hope for something as surprising and original as Joseon X-Files, but anything that lets him show a range of emotions will do!). I want Lee Sang-yoon in a good drama, i.e. Liar Game 2, but it can also be something in which he smiles often. I won't be picky, I promise. If Joo Sang-wook could stop acting in weird shows, I wouldn't mind either. There's that thing called TEN3, OCN? Maybe you've forgotten, but I'm kinda waiting for it. Thanks.
I also want much more Hu Ge, but not in a Kdrama, thanks.
Wish #3: I want to fall in love with somebody new.
What I don't like to watch: stories that loop back around on themselves over and over to fill episodes, spending so long on filler that they then paradoxically have no time to create a satisfying ending; stories where there is really no reason you can latch on for why anyone does what they do, especially when it's because they're behind schedule or chasing ratings, and its clear that the week's second episode is being written as the first episode is being filmed. And what I hate: a story I would love with actors I would love, but just wastes the opportunity with crap.
That being said, my wishes for 2016 are:
Wish #1: For My Beloved's drama to be decent. He can handle both comedy and tragedy, but he needs good writing. He's a solid 'B', 'B+' actor, overall, I'd say, but there are times he hits 'A' work with good writing and strong partners.
Wish #2: Something well-written, dark and twisty, like Bad Guys, or Liar Game.
SqueeCappers' 2016 Wishlist
Kakashi
2015 disillusioned me about KDramas - and now, feel like one of those awful party-poopers who hate everything and constantly need to express how much they hate everything. I am unsure whether it is me who has changed or whether the quality of KDrama has just gotten so much worse in the last two years? But my problem is that two people acting lovey-dovey and being cute together does not satisfy me anymore. For example, I watched Splash, Splash Love recently and was like ... okay, fine. It's moving, it's cute, but ... that's it. It's nothing else. It's like a candy, you like it, then it's gone and you could as well not have eaten it.Damn, now I sound bitter and party-pooping again. This has to stop.
My Wish #2 is related to actors: I want Kim Ji-hoon in a good drama, one that gives his acting skills credit (it's too much to hope for something as surprising and original as Joseon X-Files, but anything that lets him show a range of emotions will do!). I want Lee Sang-yoon in a good drama, i.e. Liar Game 2, but it can also be something in which he smiles often. I won't be picky, I promise. If Joo Sang-wook could stop acting in weird shows, I wouldn't mind either. There's that thing called TEN3, OCN? Maybe you've forgotten, but I'm kinda waiting for it. Thanks.
I also want much more Hu Ge, but not in a Kdrama, thanks.
Wish #3: I want to fall in love with somebody new.
JoAnne
There are three things I like to watch: swoony, slightly to heavily angsty, electrically charged romance; scary thrillers, supernatural or not; quirky, if done right, in any genre.T hey can be in any setting: I like both historical and contemporary. They can be any age group: I have a fondness for coming of age stories, but I also like stories about my own age group (thin on the ground though they are) and even stories set among the elderly (even more rare.)What I don't like to watch: stories that loop back around on themselves over and over to fill episodes, spending so long on filler that they then paradoxically have no time to create a satisfying ending; stories where there is really no reason you can latch on for why anyone does what they do, especially when it's because they're behind schedule or chasing ratings, and its clear that the week's second episode is being written as the first episode is being filmed. And what I hate: a story I would love with actors I would love, but just wastes the opportunity with crap.
Wish #1: For My Beloved's drama to be decent. He can handle both comedy and tragedy, but he needs good writing. He's a solid 'B', 'B+' actor, overall, I'd say, but there are times he hits 'A' work with good writing and strong partners.
Wish #2: Something well-written, dark and twisty, like Bad Guys, or Liar Game.
Becca
Dear 2016,
I was a really good girl in 2015, promise! (Just don't listen to my Twitter pals, okay?) I worked hard, stretched myself, and I was overall pleased with what you offered in the drama department, so that should earn me some favor with you, right? With that in mind, though, I do have a few things that I'd like to see in this new year. Please grant these simple wishes!
Wish #1: Sleep! Oh wait. Kakashi said KDrama wishes. Okay, then, wish #1, as always, is for a first-rate sageuk. I want at least one really good one every year, and Six Flying Dragons may be the one if it stays good, but honestly, I wouldn't balk at one or two more. Pretty please?
Wish #2: More ensemble dramas, please! I love a drama like Heard it Through the Grapevine that has a full cast of talented actors, all of whom get a chance to shine. Let's show some love for the supporting actors who don't get much attention in conventional dramas!
And for Wish #3, I wish for TEN 3 for our fearless leader, Kakashi Sensei. You didn't give it to me in 2015, but maybe this year? I'll just keep wishing until it happens. I'm stubborn like that.
I'm trusting you to do what's right, 2016. Please don't let me down!
Love,
Becca
P.S. Wish #4: Could we get Sooyoung back in a drama? Maybe romancing another awesome ajusshi? Just a thought.
#2 I also wish for another Producers-ish drama with the first director they used who went for a documentary-style approach that was brilliant. Such dry humour may be too much for South Korean audiences, though I loved every minute of it.
#3 And I wish for less horrible mothers-in-law and less passive daughters-in-law.
#4 Finally, I would like to see Jaehyo in another drama, tv or web, I don't care. I get he's busted his knee but he can still act! Work for Noona, Jaehyo!
Wish #1: Dear Kdrama gods... please pretty pretty please send me some dramas that make me feel the feels I felt watching OhMyVenus and MyBeautifulBride. That is all. Oh! and May the spirit of Ganji fill all dramas in 2016.
Wish #2: I want Joo Jin Mo to be in a drama but NOT in a drama that will make me dehydrate myself with my own tears and have save money for trauma therapy. (if we are allowed to talk about other dramas, too, I'd say this also about my beloved KEN and Wallace Chung) Let's add Ji Jin Hee to mix.
Wish #3: I want that show about the secretaries! That show needs to me made. I've mentioned it before; it would be about all our favorite secretary/Personal Assistant characters and put them in a show together. They could decide to set up a private detective agency together under the patronage of one of their former bosses, who left one of them some money for a start up when he died. Or maybe they train new PAs. I often love their characters the best.
Wish #4: Real love stories starring people who are older than 35. More than one and let them be the main couple and not the side couple. My favorite couple from the Reply show is Taek's dad and Sun Woo's mom. I was done with show when they got together because I completely ran out of patience with the other couples despite liking the characters individually.
Wish #1: For Descendants of the Sun to be great. Yes, great, but I'll take good, because I'm going to watch it for Song Joong Ki no matter what, but I'd like it to have an addicting storyline.
Wish #2: For compelling dialogue and complicated relationships. Relationships with depth, not ones where noble idiocy rains and annoying second leads constantly get in the way, but ones like in Heard it Through the Grapevine or Heart to Heart.
Wish #3: An OTP where I like both actors equally and they can both actually act. A perfect example for me was Oh My Ghostess. I'm pretty sure Descendants of the Sun will fill this criteria, but I want a few more. And please find someone new to pair with Ji Sung, as long as it's not some deadpan-faced idol girl.
Wish#4: Anything that makes me fall in love with Kdramas again. I know it's a tall order, but 2016 is the year of optimism for me, so I'm remaining hopeful.
My kdrama watching is at an all-time low. I wish that there were more shows that would attract me, and not cookie-cutter same old same old.
Wish # 1: I'd like police and prehospital care providers to be shown as professionals, and not just idiots in uniforms. I'd like to see any medical procedure that has even a smidgen of accuracy. Really, a teeny tiny bit would help. And an bag-valve-mask that's squeezed with the right rhythm but upside down on the patient's face does NOT count.
Wish # 2: I'd like to see stronger female leads with ankles that don't automatically cause them to trip and sprain. Can we get a man to do the same thing, so a woman can massage that pretty leg? I haven't seen that since The Greatest Love, and it's still one of my favorite moments of all time.
Wish # 3: Speaking of Cha Seung-won. Not that he isn't great in dramatic roles, but I'd like to see him in something a bit sillier. I know it doesn't stretch him as an actor, but, as we all know, there is a place for a shower scene.
Jaehyus
#1 Since Byun Yo Han is probably going to be everywhere, my wish is that his hair stay off his face like in Six Flying Dragons or the first part of Misaeng. Hair down, I want to punch him, and then wash my hands three times with disinfectant. Hair up, I find him handsome, I can get into his character and appreciate his acting. In fact, on SFD, he and YeonHee are my OTP, and it's all because his hair is up. So, Bun Byun, Hair Up! Fighting!#2 I also wish for another Producers-ish drama with the first director they used who went for a documentary-style approach that was brilliant. Such dry humour may be too much for South Korean audiences, though I loved every minute of it.
#4 Finally, I would like to see Jaehyo in another drama, tv or web, I don't care. I get he's busted his knee but he can still act! Work for Noona, Jaehyo!
bcook
I look back on my drama watching of 2015 with disappointmemt. So few watched and enjoyed and so for 2016 I only have 1 wish.Wish #1: Dear Kdrama gods... please pretty pretty please send me some dramas that make me feel the feels I felt watching OhMyVenus and MyBeautifulBride. That is all. Oh! and May the spirit of Ganji fill all dramas in 2016.
trotwood
Wish #1: I want a drama in which the OTP fall in love as they work through a problem together (preferably a mystery of some sort or righting some wrong), and that there aren't any misunderstandings or noble idiocy that keeps them apart but instead other people do this-- good villains, for example (it's what they are supposed to do people! You waste good villains when the OTP are busy hurting themselves)--or other kinds of situations. I'd even take a kidnapping.Wish #2: I want Joo Jin Mo to be in a drama but NOT in a drama that will make me dehydrate myself with my own tears and have save money for trauma therapy. (if we are allowed to talk about other dramas, too, I'd say this also about my beloved KEN and Wallace Chung) Let's add Ji Jin Hee to mix.
Wish #4: Real love stories starring people who are older than 35. More than one and let them be the main couple and not the side couple. My favorite couple from the Reply show is Taek's dad and Sun Woo's mom. I was done with show when they got together because I completely ran out of patience with the other couples despite liking the characters individually.
lafer
I am echoing the sentiments of a few others here when I say that 2015 was a disappointment and a bit of a yawn fest. Or is it me? I so long for the early days when Winter Sonata depressed me for days and Full House made me feel all warm and cozy inside. I think the inevitable has happened--too much of a good thing makes it commonplace, and with over 110 dramas completed and probably 70 dropped, it's hard to feel excited about anything.Wish #1: For Descendants of the Sun to be great. Yes, great, but I'll take good, because I'm going to watch it for Song Joong Ki no matter what, but I'd like it to have an addicting storyline.
Wish #2: For compelling dialogue and complicated relationships. Relationships with depth, not ones where noble idiocy rains and annoying second leads constantly get in the way, but ones like in Heard it Through the Grapevine or Heart to Heart.
Wish#4: Anything that makes me fall in love with Kdramas again. I know it's a tall order, but 2016 is the year of optimism for me, so I'm remaining hopeful.
Shukmeister
Wish # 1: I'd like police and prehospital care providers to be shown as professionals, and not just idiots in uniforms. I'd like to see any medical procedure that has even a smidgen of accuracy. Really, a teeny tiny bit would help. And an bag-valve-mask that's squeezed with the right rhythm but upside down on the patient's face does NOT count.
Wish # 2: I'd like to see stronger female leads with ankles that don't automatically cause them to trip and sprain. Can we get a man to do the same thing, so a woman can massage that pretty leg? I haven't seen that since The Greatest Love, and it's still one of my favorite moments of all time.
Wish # 3: Speaking of Cha Seung-won. Not that he isn't great in dramatic roles, but I'd like to see him in something a bit sillier. I know it doesn't stretch him as an actor, but, as we all know, there is a place for a shower scene.