[KD] Official poster revealed for Best Love

It’s not often that that happens — and it almost never happens in a Hong sisters drama, since they’re so fantastic with lead couples that they seem to forget that there are other characters who need developing as well. As much as I love their adorable leads, you never feel that tension or suspense for their future, because it’s plain as day they’re meant to be. A little competition never hurt, especially when we’re supposed to be creating love triangles galore.
Here’s the teaser again, below. Brief plot rundown: Gong plays a washed-up former idol star, while Cha Seung-won is the present-day hot property. Based on the fact that his character’s first lines in the teaser below are “I…will…kill…you…”, I’m going to hazard a guess that his much-loved, sparkling reputation isn’t completely earned. Yoo Inna looks amusingly snooty as Gong’s former idol groupmate — can’t wait to see what little comic twists she incorporates into her portrayal — while Yoon Kye-sang plays the sole non-celebrity, a warm and friendly Oriental medicine doctor.

Best Love premieres May 4. Bring it on!

But apparently one title is not enough, since the production company has decided to hold a second title contest, for a separate English title. And YOU get to do it! I know there are some very talented people ’round these parts, from the myriad of hilarious titles some of you threw out when Maids was being renamed.

You’ve Fallen For Me / Festival / Whatchoo Wanna Callit stars Jung Yong Hwa as a bad boy rocker with his band The Stupid, and Park Shin-hye as a classical musician training in traditional Korean instruments (think gayageum, the stringed instrument people play sitting down, wearing hanboks). One day, the girl who knows nothing of contemporary music gets dragged to a concert where she sees The Stupid rockin’ out, and the rest, as they say, is history. Song Chang-eui (yay!) will co-star as the broadway-producer-turned-director who will ignite their dreams.

You can throw down your title ideas here at DramaFever, and vote.

Okay…now I have to come up with one. How ’bout… Love me Stupid? For Whom the Gayageum Tolls? Yeah…I suck at this game. [I vote Stupid In Love. Or I'm With the Band. Okay, I suck at it too. –javabeans]

The drama, whatever its title, premieres Wednesday June 29 on MBC, following Best Love, and will be available simultaneously over at DramaFever.

Let the games begin!

All of this is in fact promo for YET ANOTHER variety show, which is the basis of the drama’s main meta: fictional dating show Couple Making Season 3, where they throw celebrities into fake relationships for the cameras, a la MBC’s real variety program, We Got Married. The major difference is that this show mixes celebrities and non-celebrities, which is how Yoon Kye-sang‘s character ends up as a contestant on the show. The concept is a mat-seon program, essentially setting up people on blind dates for the purposes of finding a marriage partner. So it might actually be somewhat competition-based too, if the intention is to partner off by the end of the season, for instance, and not be left alone.
It introduces Dokko Jin (Cha Seung-won) as a nationally beloved star, who’s got a different face behind the scenes, and Gu Ae-jung (Gong Hyo-jin) as the revival star, as in, girl determined to revive her public image, despite having zero popularity. She’s a former idol star who was in a 90s pop group with Yoo Inna‘s character, who seems like quite the bitch herself, from her quick introduction.

In the end Ae-jung calls out to Jin: “YOU! King 싸가지!” Which means anything from rude-o, jerk, bastard, or asshole. Take your pick. I love that she’s gonna be a sassafrass, and that everyone’s going to be the opposite of what their public images are, when the cameras aren’t rolling. I mean their fictional public images in the show, not their real ones. Oh man, the meta is already hurting my brain!

What I love about Hong Sisters dramas is the way they do their meta, like a russian doll: show within a show within a show. I’m really excited to see what they’ll be doing with the k-variety landscape, especially in the era of pop culture where stars’ images are shaped by reality television and this sense that we get to peek behind the curtain at their true selves, all the while having been pre-packaged most of the time.

The mix of the main characters’ mis-matched personalities with the necessity to maintain (or recoup in Ae-jung’s case) public sentiment is going to make for great hijinks and drama, not to mention an interesting social commentary on the entertainment industry and the star-making and -breaking power of variety shows. Can’t wait.

Best Love premieres Wednesday May 4 on MBC.