I’ve been meaning to post Korean TV (K-drama) recommendations for a while, but I haven’t quite gotten around to it. Recently, my new-ish Korean friends here in New York moved upstate and made some new friends who were looking for k-drama recommendations. My friends don’t watch much TV themselves, so I had the chance to finally make a list of some of my favorites, which of course makes a great seed for a blog post!
But I’m going to do something different. Instead of making yet another list with links, I’m going to make a Pinterest board, so I can keep adding to it when I find a new show to recommend. I’ve also started collecting some of my booklists tag into Pinterest lists, in case it’s easier for you to follow those there. Here’s my main Pinterest profile, and from there you can follow what interests you.
I watch K-dramas at both hulu.com and dramafever.com. I prefer to give you links to DramaFever, because it’s free there (some can only be seen on Hulu if you pay for Hulu Plus; I do because then I can watch them on my phone and Xbox). But Hulu is easier to pin—there is no easy image to grab on the show’s main page on DramaFever, for some reason. So, the dilemma is: pin DramaFever without an easy-t0-grab image, pin Hulu with the image but a link that not everyone can watch at, or both? I think both, for now.
The premium membership at DramaFever can be a good deal, by the way, because they are commercial-free—which Hulu isn’t, which makes no sense; if you’re paying for it, you ought to be able to watch commercial-free. Though DramaFever did just raise their rates, which means that it’s not quite such a good deal. (Last year it was only something like $49 a year, which breaks down to less than $5 per month. I think it doubled this year, but still, if you watch a lot of K-dramas, it’s worth it to be able to watch commercial free.)
At any rate, follow the links over on Pinterest for more K-dramas! And if Pinterest is not your thing, don’t worry–you don’t have to be a member to use the lists as a resource.
From your rec board, I have seen City Hunter, Secret Garden, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Coffee Prince, and Flower Boy Ramen Shop. My roommate and I are currently working our way through The Princess’s Man (so much heartache that we can only take it an episode or two at a time) and Dream High (I’ve seen it already, but I’m watching it again with her, and it is just as adorable the second time around). We’re not following any currently airing dramas, but we’re looking forward to Rooftop Prince and (I think it’s called) The King. (We may give Peninsula a try, but we’ve heard mixed things so far.)
I bought my roommate a Drama Fever premium account for Christmas and then caved and bought one for myself before the sale ended. It was a great use of $40 both times.
Most of my co-workers are on pinterest, and your board is tempting me to get my own account…
I’ve been meaning to watch The Princess’s Man, but if it’s sad I’m not sure I can! I can’t always deal with the sad ones. Dream High is in my queue–just haven’t gotten to it yet. Haven’t really looked at new ones coming out in the last few months other than Flower Boy Ramen Shop. Just so much to keep up on (in life, as well as TV). I think I’ll have to go through periods of intense K-drama fandom, and periods of less intense attention. I haven’t read Dramabeans in months, for example (I love her recaps, as they help me know which ones are worth spending time on all the way through).
To be fair, we waited until The Princess’s Man was over so we knew what the ending was (in vague outline) and could be prepared for it going in. We haven’t finished it yet–my roommate can only stand to watch an episode or two at the time because it’s such an emotional roller coaster. (If you want me to give you a yes/no on if it’s a happy/bittersweet/sad ending, I’m more than happy to.)
Dream High is worth it. Much lighter than The Princess’s Man, but there’s still a lot of solid character drama. Gwynne, my roommate, and I watch eleven episodes of it over LTUE weekend.
You know what my favorite K-drama is? The Global Starcraft League! gomtv.net
Didn’t realize that there was actually an audience for K-dramas in the states. How are they different/better than western tv?
Great storytelling, new-to-me stories. Sure, they have their own tropes, but it’s a window into another culture (for which I’m learning the language) and they’re hilarious most of the time too. And the Korean Wave (the Hallyu) is helping. It’s popular enough to be on Hulu, so… there you go.