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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, February 25, 2007

Inquiring K-drama fans want to know

By Jeff Chung

"Surgeon Bong," a medical drama, begins tomorrow on KBFD.

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Every week, I receive many e-mails about K-dramas. Here are answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Q. Why do characters always eat fruit after dinner in the living room?

A. There are traditional Korean desserts, but the dessert of choice is fruit. Instead of having dessert at the dinner table, many Koreans prefer to move to the living room for a more casual, relaxed atmosphere. The fruits of choice are apples, oranges and bananas, along with either coffee or tea. It is very unusual to find cakes, ice cream, or pies as dessert after dinner in Korean dramas.

Q. Why are products blurred out in dramas?

A. Many fans have noticed that logo items or designer names in dramas are all blurred out. Product placement, common in American shows, is against broadcast policies in Korea. (However, product placement is OK in Korean films). So if a drama has scenes filmed in places such as Starbucks, all the logos will be blurred in post production. Huge designer logos on T-shirts are also blurred.

A few years ago, when the KBS network sent a crew to film Lee Byung Hun at the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival, the station blurred out the Louis Vuitton sign in the background.

Q. Why do they go to bed in work clothes?

A. Although this is a gross misrepresentation of real life in Korea, many dramas portray characters collapsing on their bed in their work clothes at the end of a long day. Some dramas nowadays finally show characters taking a shower and getting into their pajamas before jumping in to bed. Directors are simply trying to show that the character was just too tired to even undress before hitting the hay. Interestingly, if you have noticed, women in dramas do not take their makeup off before going to bed. I don't know if this is to maintain a certain image of the character, but it is quite obvious.

Q. Why can't the dramas start on the hour at 8 p.m.?

A. Korean dramas run two episodes per week, while series in the U.S. run one episode per week. The running times are not consistent week to week and episode to episode. In some cases, a new drama may run their first two episodes about 70 minutes then trail back to anywhere from 50 to 60 minutes.

We start the drama time at 7:50 p.m. to give the episode 70 minutes, which gives us time to insert commercials. We promptly start the evening news at 9 p.m. If you see a lot of promo spots and commercials, it's probably because we are trying to fill the 70 minutes. In some cases, we are short on time and may end up starting the 9 p.m. news a minute or two into the hour.


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THIS WEEK’S K-DRAMA SYNOPSES

'INFAMOUS CHILL SISTERS'

Episodes 61 and 62

Tonight at 7: Jong-chill finally goes into surgery when Chan-soon shows up to sign the consent form. But a hospital glitch puts her life in danger again.

Tonight at 8: Il-han asks Mi-chill on a date but is held up by a work emergency. Mi-chill is not happy.

'SURGEON BONG'

Episodes 1 and 2

Tomorrow at 7:50 p.m.: In this new drama, Bong Dal-hee is a first-year surgical resident at Hangook University Hospital. A victim of a heart disease, she dreams of becoming a pediatric cardiac surgeon someday. Despite her worrisome mother, Bong Dal-hee runs off to Seoul to start her residency. But even before she starts, she has an unpleasant run-in with Dr. Ahn Joong-geun, a renown thoracic surgeon who'll soon be Dal-hee's teacher.

Tuesday at 7:50 p.m.: Dal-hee pulls through her nightmarish first few days at the hospital. She gets along with her fellow first residents Ara, Jae-bum and Min-woo, and is developing a crush on hunky Dr. Lee. While making hospital rounds, she comes across Ara's patient, and challenges Ara's "flesh-eating bacteria" diagnosis.

'QUEEN OF THE GAME'

Episodes 11 and 12

Wednesday at 7:50 p.m.: Eun-seol and Sin-jeon have a small wedding of their own. Ju-won tracks them down then verbally attacks Eun-seol. Kang Jae-ho and Sin-jeon are arrested. Kang Jae-ho decides to frame Sin-jeon.

Thursday at 7:50 p.m.: Released from jail, Sin-jeon goes to see Eun-seol. But Eun-seol turns him away. A few days later, Eun-seol decides to raise her baby alone, and pretends that she has had an abortion. Sin-jeon gets into an accident.

'SNOW FLOWER'

Episodes 7 and 8

Friday at 7:50 p.m.: Dami fights her senior actors' orders to entertain at a private party. In-chan storms in to her rescue. Relieved, Dami collapses. Kang-ae tries to talk Dami out of acting.

Saturday at 7:50 p.m.: Dami is upset when she hears about her mother's marriage plans from Jung-sun. She confronts Kang-ae, but she's even more shocked by news about her boyfriend.