This week's YesAsia newsletter announces a Korean drama on DVD with English subtitles. It sounds interesting. It's a modern update of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale THE SNOW QUEEN. But $70 for a DVD boxset of a show you've never seen is a lot to invest.
I'm sure there are many wonderful Asian dramas that I'd enjoy but it's hard to know where to begin. I get the Asian cable network, AZN, but I never catch anything from the beginning there. Their website tells you what's on and gives you a brief description of the shows, but they never offer episode numbers and I don't like jumping in late, especially for some epic saga.
Here's what's currently on AZN. All are subtitled in English unless otherwised noted.
ROMANCE OF RED DUST [Cantonese] historical drama set in the Tang Dynasty starring Shu Qi
DEAD MEN DO TELL TALES II [Cantonese] sounds like a 13th century CSI
FIRST KISS [Japanese] no description, no English subs
YAMA ONNA KABE ONNE [Japanese] no description, no English subs
DAE JO YOUNG [Korean] historical drama
HELLO MY LADY [Korean] no description but it looks like a modern romantic drama
HERE COMES AJUMNA! [Korean] a housewife remakes herself as a tv chef
SOMEDAY [Korean] the "moody imaginative" world of a Korean comic book artist
THANK YOU [Korean] drama about an HIV-positive little girl
SAARA AKAASH [Hindi] drama about air force pilots
BOOK AND SWORD, GRATITUDE AND REVENGE [Vietnamese] historical drama based on a novel by Jinyong. Subtitled in Chinese only.
So, with a tv writers strike looming, are any of these worth programming into the DVR?
I'd also be interested in thoughts on the Korean SNOW QUEEN, if anybody has seen it.
Are you sure the Korean one isn't something like DAE JANG GEUM? If it turns out to be, that's a program about the woman who rose to be Korea's first female royal physician. It was a smash hit all across Asia, and one of the main reason a new law was passed in China restricting foreign TV drama to 10 pm and later during evenings. There was a very expensive Chinese-made drama that the public totally shunned in favor of DA ZHANG JIN, as it is called here, and there was a big outcry in the TV industry about it. (BTW, the show is sometimes also called JEWEL IN THE PALACE.)
I haven't seen THE SNOW QUEEN but it is supposed to be very good--I have ordered it--I love Korean TV shows and have rarely been disappointed when getting them sight unseen. DAE JO YOUNG is an historical drama about the man who founded the kingdom of Parhae--the time period would be late 7th-early 8th century.
DAE JANG GEUM is wonderful. Other magnificent historical dramas include EMPEROR OF THE SEA, JUMONG, THE IMMORTAL YI SUNSIN, SEODONGYO, and HUR JUN.
Some very good non-historical shows are MY GIRL, PALACE, THE REVENGE, ALONE IN LOVE, HOTELIER, FULL HOUSE, and WINTER SONATA.
As I don't get these shows over the air or by cable, I'm not really up to date on the ones that are on right now. THANK YOU is a very popular and successful show, but I don't know much about it. I have seen part of THE ROMANCE OF RED DUST and it is fun but doesn't have the intensity or production values of the Korean shows.
Thanks for the feedback, you two. I'm pretty sure both JEWEL IN THE PALACE and EMPEROR OF THE SEA have been on AZN in the past. I just wish I knew when they were starting with episode 1. They never say on the website and my tv listings are pretty thin for AZN.
Update: I found a $5 off coupon in my inbox so I decided to take a chance on THE SNOW QUEEN. They have some other coupon deal going on that gets you $5 off when you spend $50, so if this purchase triggers that coupon, maybe I'll buy one of the K-drama clearance items currently on offer.