Stuffed Cat

Ah, Ok. Have to admit, I find it hard to think how a Rom-Com COULDN'T be just shallow entertainment nowadays. I'd have to cast my mind back to my youth to try to think of one that wasn't, and that's a VERY long time ago!

I wouldn't describe shows like "The Killing Vote" and "Vigilante" (2023) as shallow entertainment. Many viewers would surely question, even if only subconsciously, whether the majority of SKs would really vote for the death of someone for a crime they believed hadn't been adequately punished. If people did vote that way, would it be morally right? Is it just that people who have avoided a fitting punishment for their crimes because of corruption or an inadequate legal system be punished by people taking the law into their own hands?

Nor would I consider shows like "The Glory" and "Revenge of Others" (2022) to be 'shallow entertainment'. I'm sure they made many people think about the effects of school bullying, in both the short and the long term.

I can't, yet, come up with examples from this year because I still have a lot to get through.

Yes, there are a lot of shows out there that are, purely, shallow entertainment, but I don't think those that make you think a bit whilst you enjoy them have become particularly rare. You just need to be a little selective in what you watch.

This show had me talking to the computer screen I was watching it on. "This is excellent!", I said, with a huge grin on my face.

Hold on ... you mean it wasn't?

You're right, but unfortunately the evidence here often suggests that many voters can't read, can't understand what they've read, or just don't care what is actually being asked. They just see the picture of the pretty face they like most, and click on it.

I'm guessing that she does. Do you even know what "shallow entertainment" means?

Could I just remind readers that this poll asks the voter's "all time favourite" drama, not "best" or similar. There's no right or wrong answer, and for anyone asking "why isn't [insert what you watched last week] here", it's because whilst it might be YOUR all time favourite drama for the next few weeks, that doesn't mean it has to be other people's!

I don't think "long term memory", or watching fantastic dramas more than a few years old, is a thing for many of the voters here.

The actor which led me to find and watch this is listed as playing a "Support" role. He actually had about twenty seconds of screen time. Curious what would be defined as a 'Bit Part'. A two second glimpse of the back of someone's head, perhaps? I may start disregarding MDL's role classifications.

LOVED that the bad guys so helpfully left all the good guys' guns on the theatre stage for them!

Thoroughly enjoyable and well worth watching.

You've pretty much summed up my thoughts. Found the first hour hard going. It has actually taken me a couple of days to watch, 'cos I kept getting a bit bored and finding other things to do instead. Hate leaving movies half watched though, so I came back to give it another try. Glued to my seat for the later part, and realised that the first part of the movie , whilst slow, really helped me get the most out of the second!

I believe on shampoo bottles, they're called 'child proof caps'.

You're not supposed to return to fireworks after you've lit them. :-)

No, I'm not Korean, though I'm not entirely sure that's relevant to my point. No, I don't get to decide what a "K-drama" is, just as you don't, nor any individual does.

It's a term used by people to describe a particular type of drama. From comments I've seen on this site, I've interpretted it to be a drama that fits certain 'rules' - a single season show, historically of around sixteen to twenty episodes, though in more recent times this is often more like eight to ten. slightly more than what most people in the UK would define as a 'mini-series'. That seems to fit many people's definition, when they talk about changing what has historically been considered the norm. It's a definition which informs me upfront what I'm committing to, so I've found it useful.

Others apparently define a 'K-drama' as anything that is a Korean drama. If that's the case then, personally, I don't find it a very useful term. The phrase "Korean drama" may require two more syllables to be said, or four more characters to write, but contracting it to 'K-drama' seems a little unnecessary, perhaps even pretentious. No-one I'm aware of felt the need to refer to 'Dark' as a' G-drama', or 'Les Revenants' as an 'F-drama'.

I rather like shallow entertainment now and then. It's good to turn the brain off for a while. :-)

Much as I loved most of the K-dramas I've watched, can't say I'd disagree with you.

PS: LOVED your PS :-)

So, simply put, you take the view that "K-drama" simply means "Korean drama". Personally I don't, and going by some of the other comments on this and other articles I don't think I'm alone in my view. We'll just have to agree to differ.

"Netflix dramas clearly are K-dramas"? It depends whether you think of "K-drama" as being simply an abbreviated way of saying "Korean drama", or as a specific form of drama.

The example you use - Squid Game (which I loved btw) - is obviously a Korean drama, so if you take the view that "K-drama" just means "Korean drama" then yes it is. If you take the view that a "K-Drama" fits certain criteria, then no it isn't. It is right up to the final moments, where it strongly implies a second season. Of course, a lot of K-dramas end with scenes that imply the story continues, but there's a definite "use your imagination" vibe rather than "please come back for season two ... if we decide to make it".

To me, a K-drama is a specific format of Korean drama, just as a limerick is a specific form of poetry. Can it develope, evolve, devolve, change? Possibly, in very limited ways, otherwise it ceases to be a limerick and becomes a haiku, or a sonnet, or an ode, or some other form of metered verse. I have no issue with people writing any form of poetry they like, and do occassionally enjoy reading things other than limericks, but I'd be a little annoyed if I'd agreed I had time to read a limerick, then was presented with four pages of metered verse.

Similarly, I have an expectation when watching something promoted as a "K-drama". That expectation is, primarily, that what I'm committing to watch is a finite and complete piece of work which, once I've seen it, I can move on from without worrying about when will the next season come out, if it ever does.

Wrote a reply to a commenter saying they couldn't understand the Netflix bashing, then found their comment had disappeared when I tried to save. Thought I might as well add it here instead!

My Netflix bashing is driven by what they're doing to the K-drama "formula".

For me, K-dramas are wrapped up in a single series. No end-of-series cliffhanger, no second (...third, etc.) season, no "Will they? Won't they?" wait, while they decide whether it's financially worthwhile commissioning the second season they've implied by the show's ending. I don't have an issue with a series run being only eight-ten episodes instead of the traditional sixteen-twenty or so. Surely one of the advantages of streaming instead of airing on a traditional TV channel is that there's no need to worry about having a schedule to fill. Shows can be as long or as short as they need to be to tell their story, no more, no less. Likewise, individual episodes can (should!) be however long is needed. If an episode of a "one hour" show happens to under- or overrun by a few minutes, so what? There's no need to miss out important (or just interesting) plot points nor to pad it out with unnecessary material so that it fits neatly into an airtime slot that needs to be filled.

I suggest that we simply stop saying the shows Netflix offer are "K-dramas". They produce (mostly good!) dramas set in Korea, with Korean dialogue, just as they do for many Western countries. That doesn't make them K-dramas!