Thanks everyone, for your many suggestions, thoughts and contributions on the Group Watch brainstorm!
Lots of worthy titles were floated, and as promised, I sifted through all of them, and shortlisted the most popular titles for this poll. I also made the executive decision to add several wild cards into the mix, which you’ll see in a bit. 😉
There are a total of TEN CHOICES to choose from! Please vote wisely! 😁
Some considerations
Before diving into the contenders who made the shortlist, here are what I think are the main considerations to keep in mind, while making your choice:
1. Availability
We want the Group Watch to be as accessible to everyone as possible, so free streaming options are always the best. If you know of other platforms where these shows are available, please do let us know in the comments!
Getting around geo-restrictions
If you’re geo-restricted, a VPN service would help you get around that. Not only does it provide online safety, it also gives you access to lots of great geo-restricted content.
I personally use NordVPN. You can find my review of NordVPN here.
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An article on why it’s not illegal to use a VPN to access legal streaming content can be found here.
2. Commitment
I’ve broken down the commitment needed for each show below, so that you can easily tell at a glance, what kind of commitment each show would entail.
Contenders
Here are the shortlisted dramas in alphabetical order. The poll itself is at the end of the post. You may select up to FOUR options! But if you just want to vote for one, you can do that too. You may also revote, if you change your mind.
Poll goes till end of Monday, 7 February 2022, my time (GMT+8).
Autumn’s Concerto [Taiwan]
In the spirit of adding some retro flavor to the mix, and also, because Ele expressed that a Taiwanese show would be nice to have, I’m adding 2009 Taiwanese drama Autumn’s Concerto to the mix.
It’s a much loved classic for Taiwanese drama fans, much like how Coffee Prince is a much loved classic among kdrama fans. I haven’t seen this one myself, but have been curious to check it out, because it’s considered so iconic.
Plus, it’s actually quite hard to find good, subbed Taiwanese dramas on our various legal streaming platforms, so this feels quite serendipitous, that it’s available on both Netflix and Viki.
Romance: Yes.
Commitment: 34 episodes of 40 minutes each. 3 eps a week = 11 weeks.
Availability: Available on Netflix and Viki.
Healer
One of my all-time favorites. This one’s got romance, action, melodrama; a bit of something for everyone. Plus, y’all know I just can’t help swooning, every time Healer casually parkours off a building. 🤩 Review is here.
Romance: Yes.
Commitment: 20 episodes. 2 eps a week = 10 weeks.
Availability: Available for free on iQIYI and on Viu. Also available on Viki with Viki Pass, or for free on Kocowa.
Heard It Through The Grapevine
This one’s a request by Eda and Beez, who both love the show, and feel it would make for a great group watch discussion.
As I understand it, it’s a bit of a social satire / black comedy sort of thing, and is an underrated gem brought to us by PD Ahn Pan Seok, who also gave us the amazing Secret Love Affair. I’m actually pretty curious to see this one; it’s been on my list for years. Plus, Lee Joon and Go Ah Sung are both excellent actors, so that’s a definite plus.
Romance: Yes? Since it’s about a young couple?
Commitment: 30 episodes. 2 eps a week = 15 weeks.
Availability: Available on Viki with Viki Pass, and for free on Kocowa.
Just Between Lovers
This is JJ‘s suggestion. I found this very solid when I watched it (review is here), but had found it a little hard-going because of how Show leans into the traumatic flashbacks afflicting our leads.
However, with my recent newfound ability to tolerate tougher watches (like Sweet Home, D.P. and Hellbound), I thought I might be able to appreciate Show better, this time around. Also, it’s an excuse to have more Junho on my screen, so I’m not at all opposed to this as a group watch pick. 😁
Romance: Yes.
Commitment: 16 episodes. 2 eps a week = 8 weeks.
Availability: Available on Viki, and Netflix.
On The Verge Of Insanity
So many of you had good things to say about this in our year-end wrap-up series, that I thought I should include this as an option.
I think it’s rather underrated, in the sense that I didn’t hear a lot of people talking about it, when it aired. But those of you who’ve seen it, say it’s highly entertaining and amusing. I have to confess to being somewhat curious about this one.
Romance: No.
Commitment: 16 episodes. 2 eps a week = 8 weeks.
Availability: Available on Viki with Viki Pass, and for free on Kocowa.
Queen In-hyun’s Man
A suggestion by Beez, who describes it as an old-school, lighthearted classic. I did love this when I watched it, back when it aired in 2012. Yoo In Na is adorable in this, and Ji Hyun Woo is our really nice, decent, intelligent male lead, who time travels from Joseon, to meet his fated lady love.
Bonus factoid: Ji Hyun Woo fell for Yoo In Na for real, while filming this drama, and made a public love confession after the show wrapped, just before enlisting for military service. The buzz around this was HUGE. The two did date for a season, but ended up breaking up eventually, which is too bad. The point is, though, the smitten gazes that Ji Hyun Woo wears in this show, are real.
Romance: Yes.
Commitment: 16 episodes. 2 eps a week = 8 weeks.
Availability: Available on iQIYI and Amazon Prime.
Romance is a Bonus Book
This one’s a request by Shahz and JJ, who both loved this show, and therefore hope that we could all enjoy it together as a community.
I remember enjoying this one a great deal, when I watched it. Somehow, Show manages to be earthy yet whimsical at the same time, and Lee Na Young never looked so incandescent to my eyes. Review is here.
Romance: Yes.
Commitment: 16 episodes. 2 eps a week = 8 weeks.
Availability: Available on Netflix.
Signal
I’ve heard so many good things about this one, but never managed to get past episode 4, because I’d found the serial killing rather hard to watch. But, enough time has passed now, that I think I’d be up to give this another try.
Romance: No.
Commitment: 16 episodes. 2 eps a week = 8 weeks.
Availability: Available on iQIYI, Viki, WeTV and Netflix.
Stranger 2 / Secret Forest 2
A suggestion by Jonan23, that we continue our journey with Shi Mok and Yeo Jin, after having watched them in Season 1 together. Most drama fans agree that Season 2 is as solid as Season 1, though opinions are divided on which season is better.
Romance: No.
Commitment: 16 episodes. 2 eps per week = 8 weeks.
Availability: Available on Netflix.
The Princess’s Man
This one is Trent’s suggestion. Show is a pretty epic romance sageuk that I enjoyed very well, when I watched it (review is here). Since then, it’s been hard to find, but it’s now available on Viki and Kocowa, so this might be a good time to do a group watch of it, for those who’ve been curious to see this.
As I’ve shared in my recent Dear KFG post, I do have some struggle now, in terms of having male lead Park Shi Hoo on my screen. However, Moon Chae Won is fantastic in this, and it’s a very solid show, objectively speaking, which is why I thought I’d include it.
Romance: Yes.
Commitment: 24 episodes. 2 eps per week = 12 weeks.
Availability: Available on Viki with Viki Pass, and for free on Kocowa.
Poll
You may select up to FOUR options! But if you just want to vote for one, you can do that too! You may also revote, if you change your mind.
Poll goes till end of Monday, 7 February 2022, my time (GMT+8).
- Healer 15%, 74 votes74 votes 15%74 votes - 15% of all votes
- Heard It Through The Grapevine 13%, 62 votes62 votes 13%62 votes - 13% of all votes
- Queen In-hyun's Man 12%, 56 votes56 votes 12%56 votes - 12% of all votes
- Signal 11%, 55 votes55 votes 11%55 votes - 11% of all votes
- Romance is a Bonus Book 10%, 50 votes50 votes 10%50 votes - 10% of all votes
- Just Between Lovers 10%, 47 votes47 votes 10%47 votes - 10% of all votes
- On The Verge Of Insanity 9%, 42 votes42 votes 9%42 votes - 9% of all votes
- Autumn's Concerto [Taiwan] 8%, 40 votes40 votes 8%40 votes - 8% of all votes
- Stranger 2 7%, 34 votes34 votes 7%34 votes - 7% of all votes
- The Princess's Man 5%, 22 votes22 votes 5%22 votes - 5% of all votes
Oh wow, Healer has so many votes! I’m not really ready to rewatch it, very worried that on rewatch I will see flaws haha! After reading Leslie’s guest post I kinda regret not nominating Sungkyungkwan Scandal earlier… It has been on my to-watch list for a while!
I think my votes went to Queen In Hyun’s man, Romance is a Bonus Book, Autumn Concerto and Grapevine. But they’re not showing correctly, I definitely didn’t vote for Signal or Stranger 2 haha.
Gah. I think it’s the server cache thing again, Elaine! 😝 I’ve just cleared them now, could you refresh the page to see if your votes are showing correctly now?
Haha it is still wonky. But no worries about trying to fix it, that’s why I put my choices in my comment for posterity heh!
Dang. Well, I just hope that the total votes are showing correctly then, that’s the most important thing! 😅
@Elaine Phua – after watching Healer so many times, I’ve lost count. It holds up. And everyone here can tell you that I’m Negative Nelly. I pick apart everything! Geez, I wish I could break that habit. I’d probably enjoy a lot more shows.
Great to know, thanks beez!
My vote goes to signal, stranger 2,
On the verge of insanity & Heard It Through The Grapevine. I already watch the first 2 kdrama but i would like to read your opinion about these two. The other 2 dramas i never watch it but i heard a lot of good review about them.
Thank u for hosting the group watch session. These session give me excuse to rewatch old time fav. It also motivates me to watch certain drama that never caught my interest before this.
Looks like I voted for the wrong ones! 🙂 I was pretty meh on Healer and the few eps of Bonus Book I watched didn’t greatly grab me either. Maybe Grapevine will get a spot 🙂
Rooting for Healer and Romance is a bonus book since I know you enjoyed both KFG. But equally looking forward to exploring the others in case the above doesn’t get chosen.
Queen Inhyun’s Man and Signal can also be found on YouTube btw.
i hate watching youtube – the quality is the worst, some times.
These two are on a channel called Cereal that also has several other dramas (inc. Marriage Not Dating, Shut Up Flower Boy Band, Reply 1994, and many more) and the quality’s actually pretty good!
Here’s a link to the channel: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCsJ_a9JujtcZUaeGlo3x4eg
thank you, medea. yes, got cereal through youtube, but do not see here a “search” button. does it exist? how can i look up a drama that i am interested to watch, let’s say? do you know?
If you look to the lower left of the subscribe button (which is on the right side of the page) there should be a search button that you can use to search through the channel’s catalog of dramas.
kfangirl, something weird is already happening. i did not vote yet, but when i opened it appeared like i already voted. so i tried to revote, (to be able to actually vote for the first time) and it allowed me, by it did not change the number of votes that was there before. i wonder if anybody else is experiencing something like this?
Hi eda, it’s likely a cache issue. I’ve got the server caches clearing automatically every 30 minutes, so sometimes, when there are changes made to the site, the changes may not show accurately, until the server caches clear.
I’ve just cleared the caches manually, I hope the poll is showing correctly for you now! 😅
thanks kfangurl, i looked it up again. i voted for healer, which seems to add one vote, but do not know whether it’s mine or somebody else voted. and grapevine did not change, although i did vote for it, it should have been changed.
Hmm.. that’s odd. I’ve just re-cleared the caches (again 😅), including specifically for this post. Could you try a hard-refresh of the page in your browser, and see if works now?
You could also try clearing your browser cache. Sometimes a bad browser cache can prevent web pages from loading correctly.
i checked all votes now, and it appeared that i did not vote yet, since all drama choices were open. so i entered my choices, and after voting it said that healer and queen was closed. why? so i tried to revote, and that seemed to allow me to do it. i have no idea what’s going on.
How perplexing! how about now? I’ve JUST cleared the server caches after your comment, does it help? Could you refresh the page to check please?
now it looks ok. but with my “zero minus” knowledge of computers and stuff, i can not give you a definitive answer. it just looks ok, and my choices are highlighted correctly. whether it registered, i have no way to know. unless you want me to try to revote.
thank you for taking care of this issue, you are the best, always.
Ok, sounds like it’s all good, YAY! Thanks for confirming, Eda! ❤️
Fangurl – All of the above are good choices. I am so glad that you added Queen In Hyun’s Man to the list. What a classic! A fabulous story – thanks to Beez for her suggestion! Healer is also up there amongst the classics. I also voted for Grapevine as that has been sitting in my Viki Watch List forever.
I am certainly curious to see how the polling will turn out on this one. What a list to choose from 😊
Ooh, good choices. many I’ve seen. Funnily enough, I just watched the first episode of Romance is a Bonus Book and LOVED it. I will halt my viewing in case it gets chosen. I’ll watch Autumn Concerto if it doesn’t get picked anyway so thank you for recommending it! xx
I think Healer would be a great one.
I’ve only watched Healer and Signal, and both are good. However, although I find it difficult to follow group watches (so far I only managed to do NIF and I am still watching My Mister…), this time around I voted for In the Verge of Insanity, based on the the friends’ here warm recommendations and for the Queen’s Man because I just love Yoo In Na.
@KFG – I really would love for a Group Watch of Healer since its is your favorite Show or One of your Favorite Shows. I think its only right 🙂
YAY! Thank you for putting in both Just Between Lovers AND Romance is a Bonus Book for me and Shahz!!!!
Gosh, I sure want On The Verge of Insanity to get so much more love!!! Shahz sang this one’s praises as did Sean 🙂
JJ – Healer would get a lot of comments as it is so good.