Dear kfangurl: What do you think of idol actors?

Bubblebathdaisies writes:

Dear kfangurl,

(This is a long intro, so skip it if you wish) Hello! I’ve been a silent reader of your blog for a really long time, since I was thirteen and I just made this account to comment!

I’m sixteen now, and I feel like I’ve grown up with your blog- you introduced me to dramas and k-pop, and I still read your older articles when I feel down, it’s like comfort food for me. So thank you for that!

The question I have is: What do you think of idol actors? I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels like a lot more idols are starring in dramas nowadays, and they may not always be good at acting. The general consensus among some of my other drama-watching friends is that idol actors take away jobs from better-trained rookie actors, and some think it’s unfair that they get to use a drama as an acting class.

Personally, I think it’s a bit of a gray area, since there’s plenty of perfectly well-trained and decently popular actors who can’t reeeallly act that well, but also it kind of ruins the drama for me if the lead cannot act well (fourteen year old me wasn’t that bothered about acting skills so much as ~swoon~ factor and watched The Great Seducer on repeat, but I watched it last week and had to skip a big big chunk of the scenes because the acting was…not the greatest) What do you think?

(But I think we all know idols are going to keep getting casted anyways, lol. They’re far too popular to miss out on for profit-related purposes, and some of them are really really good!)

Annie writes:

Would be interesting to read your thoughts on idols turned actors/actresses.

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Flash Review: My Husband Oh Jak Doo [My Husband, Mr. Oh]

Every so often, I like to pop a weekend drama on my drama plate, because the weekenders tend to lean simpler (though that’s not always the case), and those simpler dramas tend to make good drama nightcaps.

Usually, they’re easy on the brain, aren’t so intense that they’d keep me up, but just interesting enough to make me want to keep on watching. The only downside is, most weekenders clock in at 50 episodes on average – a major deterrent if you’ve got limited drama hours to spend.

So when My Husband Oh Jak Doo showed up, I thought this fit the drama nightcap bill perfectly.

Not only did it seem to fit the weekend drama simple sort of type, it also starred a pair of leads I liked individually, and it clocked in at only 24 episodes instead of 50. Pretty much a no-brainer win, yes?

..well, no, not really. This one ended up being better in concept than in execution, unfortunately, and I found myself dragging my feet to the finish line. Darn my completist streak for rearing its untimely head.

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Review: Marriage Contract

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A fairly typical contract-marriage-meets-terminal-illness sort of melodrama that doesn’t pack many narrative surprises.

The surprises mostly come in the form of the fantastic deliveries by the main cast. Namely, UEE is flat-out fantastic in this. So is Lee Seo Jin, and so is little munchkin Shin Rin Ah. The chemistry between these three, any which way you slice it, is golden, and alone is worth the watch.

Heartfelt, heartwarming, and solidly engaging.

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Flash Review: High Society

Let’s put it this way. High Society is pretty much The Drama Who Cried Wolf. Except instead of Wolf, Show was crying stuff like, “I’m interesting! And dramatic! My leads have sparky chemistry! And! I bring hawt kisses!”

Insistently and repeatedly, Show sang its siren song. BUT. Consistently and repeatedly, episode after episode, despite managing to coast by on the faint promise of things to come, ultimately, Show failed to deliver.

Can someone point me to the Time Refund counter in dramaland, please? Coz I’d really like to have my 16 hours back.

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Dropped: Ho Goo’s Love

…And another one on my drama plate bites the dust.

I’m not in a dropping mood or anything, I swears. I promise that there are dramas that I’ve finished and liked, even. I just haven’t finished writing the reviews (they’ll come, honest!).

I really wanted to like Ho Goo’s love, and even stuck with it for 10 whole episodes, hoping that it would hook me properly at some point. 10 episodes into Show’s total of 16, though, I realized that this show simply wasn’t working for me.

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Going Barefoot With My Friends [Updated: Good-bye Drama Club]

Guess what, y’all?!?

Starting this week, I’m going barefoot with my friends Stephanie and Cherry Cordial for a bit, over at the DramaFever Blog!

What does that even mean, you ask?

Essentially, we’re gonna be writing a series of joint posts on Barefoot Friends, one of the new k-variety kids on the block. And we’ve been invited to do it on the DramaFever Blog.

Uh-huh. We now have something of an actual blogging gig other than our own blogs.

Surreal. But kinda cool.

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Review: Ojakgyo Brothers

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A family drama that is equal parts comic, sweet, heartwarming and romantic.

Yes, that’s right. Romantic.

Ojakgyo Brothers is kind of like an omnibus. It feels like multiple short romance dramas packed into a large, generous, value-for-money family package.

For the 58 hours you spend on this drama, you get a whole lot of entertainment value. This drama had me in stitches and in tears, as I laughed, cried and melted into a puddle of goo by turn.

With a little something for everyone, it’s a lovely drama to unwind to at the end of a long day.

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