I did not see Penthouse, melodramatic shows about the world of the fabulously rich not ordinarily my cuppa, so I cannot comment on Kim So Yeon’s performance, but I have a seriously hard time believing it was as extraordinarily terrific as Shin Ye Sun in Mr. Queen, a role for which she will probably be remembered long past that of most actress/roles in K Drama, even with its great raft of fine female actors, or to a lesser degree, So Ye Ji in It’s Okay…. Does make one wonder if controversies over these roles diminished their chances for an award.
I was surprised that Joong Ki did not win, but given the overwhelming positive ink for Beyond Evil, perhaps that is not as great a surprise.

Hi Fangirl,

Thank you for the post that explains all these awards shows. I follow your index and ratings as a guide to which KDRAMA to watch next. I’m a new viewer of KDRAMAS and it can be overwhelming and have decided, also, that I’ll use the Baeksang nominees list as well.

Great breakdown of the Korean award shows. I just follow them casually, but I always like seeing everyone’s hard work getting recognition 🙂

Ooh, very timely question, Shree! I literally looked up the other day all this year’s nominations for the Baeksang awards as I do very superficially follow them. They seem like the Baftas here in the UK so often a reliable indicator of excellence. I do find it interesting what and who gets recognised and get a kick when I agree with the winners and really annoyed when I don’t – even in hindsight as I am pretty new to even old-ish dramas. For instance, I’m wretched that Jang Hyuk didn’t win for Chuno way back in 2010… Anyho, I agree with lots of Trent’s thoughts, but just wanted to comment on Song Joongki being up for best actor for Vincenzo. I am only persisting watching the show because of him. He’s incredible in it. I mean, jaw-droppingly good. I am totally smitten 😍 That is all. xx

Just started Beyond Evil because of raves it seems to be getting, especially the lead actor. Serial killers not really my cuppa, but the seeming reveals about the two leads in the opening episodes are quite shocking, and it is interesting to see the King of Slimy Characters, Choi Jin Ho sporting what seems like yet another hairpiece as the dad from hell with something to hide once again.
I do not exactly get the calendar year for these awards, which has me a bit confused.

I am more familiar with Korean shows and actors than I am with US ones, and that’s saying something. Just like KFG, I check the Baeksang awards in drama category and the nominees have rarely disappointed me so far.

I am curious if the original music scores in dramas (not pop songs) receive any awards? I am very impressed with the quality of instrumental music in dramas.

Ooh, it’s an interesting topic! Even though I’m still a relative noob as a drama fan, my impression basically tracks yours: the three public broadcasting award shows are much more “in house,” insular awards, and so I kind of automatically give them less credence. Nice to have, surely, but not super impressive. I did not realize that they tended to go to the ratings winners for each channel, which tends to further cheapen them, unless you see ratings as a rough proxy for quality (I’m skeptical, myself).

(When I first started watching dramas, just about a year ago now, I somehow had the impression that Korean drama roughly tracked US patterns, in the sense that the cable dramas were more prestige and also likely to be higher quality. I still think there may be a glimmer of truth there, or at least a discernible distinction between the public network productions and the cable productions, but I’ve been disabused of the notion that it’s a sure-fire quality demarcation, as there are clearly all sorts of high quality dramas hailing from the public broadcast side).

The Daesang Arts awards are the ones I really keep my eye on, since they’re clearly the big fish for dramas (I don’t really watch much film, or track what’s going on in the film arena; if I did, it would expand the awards field to the Grand Bell and Blue Dragon awards. Doesn’t seem quite fair that film has three big awards, while drama is stuck with the Baeksang Arts…oh well…). When I open up a new (to me) drama or actor’s Wikipedia page (as I always do when I’m starting or thinking of starting a drama), I always check its list of awards, and give it a definite tick in the pro column if it’s received one or more Baeksang Arts nominations, much less wins.

This year, well, I might as well admit to being a bit chuffed that I am familiar with (have seen, even) the majority of dramas nominated in each of the major drama categories. That gives me a rooting interest! And I’m even motivated to see at least a couple of the ones I haven’t seen so far–I started Beyond Evil at least in part because it picked up (I believe) the second-most nominations (behind IOTNBO) of all dramas nominated.

So how will the awards shake out? I don’t dare predict, since I’ve got no clue who’s voting, much less what they’re likely to favor (just looking over the slates in recent years, there’s some odd choices to my admittedly biased eyes–nominees that should have won over inferior actual winners and so forth), but I’m perfectly happy to speculate, so. It seems to me the most obvious wild card is how Seo Ye-ji’s big scandal will impact her chances in the Best Actress category, and to a lesser extent, the chances of IOTNBO in the Best Drama category? (were I to bet, I’d say I think it sinks her shot at best actress, and maybe hurts the drama, although that one I’m less sure about).

Best Drama: I’ve seen three of the five, and am currently watching a fourth. Should I give My Unfamiliar Family a try? More likely if it wins. I liked Extracurricular well enough, although I’m surprised it made the short list. I listed IOTNBO as my favorite drama from last year, and Flower of Evil as my second favorite (just of dramas that came out last year). I would be happy to see either win. (I’m particularly happy that Flower of Evil got so much love in the nominations, although I am outraged on Moon Chae-won’s behalf. If Lee Joon-gi got a nomination, she should have as well, because she was the other half of the partnership that really made that drama work so well).

Best Actor: I’m unlikely to watch The Penthouse, but any of the other four would be an acceptable choice. I’d probably go Song Joong-ki, Lee Joon-gi, Shin Ha-kyun, Kim Soo-hyun, in that order if I were forced to rank them. (I’m disappointed Vincenzo didn’t get more love–I would have swapped it in for Extracurricular in the best drama category, for instance).

Best Actress: I’m also unlikely to see Birthcare Center, although its truncated length (only 8 episodes) makes it slightly more likely. I like Kim So-hyun well enough, but I don’t think she really belongs on this list for this role, which was not terribly memorable or exciting in my opinion. I feel like this might be a reward for being a trooper and holding that production together through the whole Ji-soo nightmare? I dunno. Like I said, her private issues aside, I loved Seo Ye-ji in IOTNBO, but I suspect she’s sunk her chances. I’d choose Shin Hye-sun to win in this category (I would also swap Jeon Yeo-bin from Vincenzo into Kim So-hyun’s nomination spot, were it up to me…)

Best Supporting Actor: I may actually get around to watching Mouse, since it seems to be doing well and sounds kind of interesting. Like everyone else, it seems, I really liked Kim Seon-ho in Start-up, but I suspect this will go to Oh Jung-se, who was so good in IOTNBO. I’d rank them Oh Jung-se, Kim Seon-ho, Kim Ji-hoon (good, but not amazing in Flower of Evil), Choi Dae-hoon (fine so far in Beyond Evil, but thus far at least nothing transcendent).

Best Supporting Actress: Hmmm. Of the three I’ve seen, these are all fine actresses, but not truly memorable roles. I don’t really have a strong rooting interest? Probably go with Yeom Hye-ran as the motherly Mrs. Chu in Uncanny Counters, I guess.

Best New Actor: I’ve only seen three of these, although 18 Again is on my list. I disliked Nam Yoon-su’s character in Extracurricular, and am not sure what he’s doing on the list (I guess that means he played the role well? But it wasn’t that impressive, IMO). Na In-woo definitely gets props for stepping into the Ji-soo mess and essentially salvaging that show, although again, I don’t think the actual role is all that memorable. That leaves Song Kang in Sweet Home of the ones I’ve seen, which I would be fine with. For this category, I’d be willing to give my proxy to KFG for Lee Do-hyun in 18 Again, since she liked him in that so much…

Best New Actress: This is actually a tough one for me, since I like both of the Parks a lot. I though Park Ju-hyun was excellent in Extracurricular, and I liked Park Gyu-young in both IOTNBO as well as in the one she’s actually nominated for, Sweet Home. I’d toss a coin and be fine with either one. Haven’t seen enough of Choi Sung-eun after only three episodes of Beyond Evil to really have much impression.

Wow, so there we go. Will definitely be curious to see how it shakes out in a couple weeks…

Hi Fangurl – Interesting post and I love the many My Love From Another Star photos! 💖✨ I usually do not watch drama award shows from the tri-powers. I just catch the latest buzz on the complaints 🤣 when netizens’ faves get bypassed. I have a few actors and dramas that I feel really deserve recognition his year so I may watch a few in December. I feel so bad for the actors who have to walk that carpet in the freezing cold though.