A big plus - these shows, at least the ones I have watched so far, don't appear to have any hidden agendas in them to promote the leftist political agenda of the day like too many US shows I have tried to start watching only to have to just drop many of them or be disappointed like with shows like Timeless where pointless plots are inserted just to push an agenda - looks like the writers of these Korean shows just want to entertain people regardless of their beliefs (what a concept!).
Anyone else tried "KDrama" before and have any recommendations? If you want to get started and try these as well, if you are into Action / Adventure or Crime Drams I would recommend the series "Healer", "The K2" (this one can be a bit graphic in the violence in places), "Fireman", and "Moorim School".
I can't speak for other types of Korean dramas like purely romance dramas (I guess equivalent of Hallmark or Lifetime shows)...those are not my cup of tea to watch or offer an opinion on.
Two KDrama series that both my wife and I particularly enjoyed were “Signal” and “Tunnel.” They are both kind of crime drama/time travel series and I was sad to see them end they were so good.
As per your participation on 2ndDiv’s devoted kimchi threads. A Korea-related topics Ping! :)
Are these ‘dubbed’ or subtitled?
Heard lots of good comments about the Korean shows.
K-Drama is more realistic than Bollywood.
Indian movies have beautifully choreographed dance routines and songs. If you love musicals, you’ll love them. Its an art form.
I love both.
I tend to go for the comedies, and Rom-Coms more.
My favorites are:
My Love From Another Star
A Gentleman’s Dignity
The Master’s Sun
It’s Ok That’s Love
Goblin
Howdy folks - just pinging you to this as another source of shows for the genres we have discussed liking on other threads, plus a place to have the same kind of shows without having the left-wing political narratives thrown in at random to tarnish what otherwise would have been perfectly good shows like is being done with too many shows these days domestically.
You might like Pinocchio and City Hunter if you like crime dramas.
There are “societal messages” In the shows. A lot of characters had simple, small, and cheap weddings and discussed how there was no need for an extravagant wedding.
I took some Netflix bait about seven years ago and haven’t looked back.
I tried a suggestion on that platform and for the first time in my life marathoned a television show.
I like the16 to 20 episode format. I like a lot of the rom coms and that they tell a finite drama. I think too many American shows start out okay and then devolve for the sake of drama.
I’ve found on Viki a few Chinese historical dramas that seem fairly well-written, although there are occasional gaping plot holes. The King’s Woman, Flame’s Daughter and Legend of Fuyao (kind of a Harry Potter ripoff in part, but involving Chinese-style palace intrigues in a fantasy setting) were all fairly diverting. The women were gorgeous, if your taste run towards Orientals, the costumes looked expensive and the sets were pretty substantial. I have no idea how accurate the subtitles were, but they were sufficient for me to follow the story lines. If Wikipedia’s historical entries are accurate, in at least one instance, the intrigues were true to history.
If you can find it, KBS had two great cop dramas; Mrs. Cop and Mrs. Cop II. I think they were 20 episodes each. Three Days was another good show.
My wife and I have been watching K dramas for about nine years.
Cop /Action shows.
Heartless City : Cops and drug dealers.
From the same writer, My Beautiful Bride. Banker on a Revenge mission. Koreans love revenge, lol.
LIVE: Recent show. Follows rookies through training and on the streets. Really good family story .
Prison Playbook: A star baseball player goes to prison for beating a man. Stories of various prisoners and guards
Life on Mars: K version of UK show, really good.
A really good epic drama, GIANT. Follows the lives of three siblings seperated in childhood. Set in 70’s-80’s.
My wife has been watching KDramas for at least 10 years, for me probably 3. We used to get 4 Korean TV stations here, although it is now down to two. She and I have used DramaFever and Viki as ways to access dramas, especially since cable has been cutting back access to Korean stations (surprise, our cable provider is also Time Warner). We have generally stayed away from the black market sites.
I haven’t watched American TV for a very long time, because I find American TV offensive and crude. Almost all American programming seems to push homosexuality and other sexually immoral lifestyles, and I am just not interested. Any time I see something bring up homosexuality I just turn it off.
I watched both Korean and Chinese dramas on DramaFever, both of which were of much higher quality and morals. I believe Warner Bros. bought and shut down DramaFever because it represented serious competition to American media crap, and I emphasize the word crap. DramaFever had 20 million subscribers, many of whom were Americans. All those folks had turned off American media for a better alternative on DramaFever. You can’t tell me that they couldn’t figure out a way to make money with that many subscribers. Also, DramaFever had a licensing lock on many of the big KDramas (which now appear to be gone forever). So they had to be making money from people who still want to watch those dramas.
We talk about censorship in China, but it is at least as bad in the U.S. if not worse. One of my Korean friends told me he believes Korea is actually freer now in terms of ability to speak freely. He said what is now going on in the U.S. in terms of political correctness and punishing people for saying something incorrect frightens him.
A Japanese friend recently turned me on to a Japanese alternative to DramaFever (no, it’s not Viki) that has Asian dramas subtitled in both Japanese and English. I will use that as an alternative now.
bump
“For those of you unacquainted with Korean dramas... watch out... they’re very, very addictive. “ - Pravious from another thread
Recently found them and pinging you to this thread. I wasn’t sure about the whole subtitles thing with a foreign language but decided to give it a try - certainly glad I did. It has been quite nice finding new and modern shows that are actually worth watching and without leftist agendas inserted. They are very creative with their storylines and character development as well.