displacedmoon

ugh...i couldn't get past the first season of bates motel bc of highmore. that, and it just got boring. but i've liked him in some of his movies, so i'll have to see with the good doctor remake. jonghyun is still a shock for me as well -- makes me apprehensive that other idol's with depression might also follow this path.

lol. i'm sure MDL is doing it's best and will continue to work out the kinks in the next poll. i really liked mad dog and guardians, but i dropped reunited worlds. duel took a while to grow on me bc of the shaking camera and the lead male's "screaming/over exaggerated" rampages in the beginning, but in the end i really enjoyed it. chief kim and stranger were probably my top favorite dramas....goblin and strong woman...definitely not as much. i didn't even realize good doctor had been remade into a US show. i'll have to give it a whirl -- but i'm hesitant to watch a "westernized," adaptation -- it's just never the same feel.

i don't remember goblin being a nominee for last year's poll...but i could be wrong since it was so long ago. i agree that duel, guardian and other under-the-radar drama's were under-represented in the poll (which are MDL user driven via nominations), but it wasn't because they were overlooked, but because most MDL user's didn't watch them and/or they considered other drama's to be better within their categories. it seems that MDL only lists the top 7 voted nominees per category. i think this is fair and more than enough. personally, guardian and duel were among my favorites for 2017, but as with every year, the more popular drama's typically win and get more attention. MDL's poll isn't an award's show -- it's just for fun. yes, it's a little disappointing to not see the gems win and/or get more consideration, but there doesn't seem to be a way around it. :(

goblin finished airing the end of January 2017, so it counts for this year on MDL. only dramas that finished in 2016 were voted for in last year's MDL poll (so goblin didn't get a vote). which makes sense -- how can you nominate in December, a drama that doesn't finish until the following year? as we all know, drama's can drastically change (for the better or the worse) in the last half dozen episodes.

however that said, MDL moving forward, should consider posting a reminder and/or cursory list of dramas that fall between years, when asking for nominations. it would be helpful for users that may not know of, understand, or even remember, which "gap year" drama's are eligible for nomination/votes.

Fantastic recap of the year! I knew of, or was at least somewhat aware of alot of these, but didn't realize Kim Joo Hyuk had passed away! What a shock. I must have been living inside of a hole when this happened. He will be missed.

So far, so good. The first episode was a bit confusing and chaotic, but you can see the story coming together in the second episode. The cast is superb and the action scenes are incredible. I almost wish they hadn't named this Bad Guys, since it will automatically be compared to the parent story -- even though it's a spin-off. In order to fully enjoy this drama, you need to treat it as a completely new one -- otherwise you might feel disappointed when you don't see the old gang at it again.

Best Screenwriter:
-- Jin So Wan (Chicago Typewriter)
-- Choi Ran (Black)
-- Baek Mi Kyeong (Woman of Dignity)

Best Director:
-- Ahn Gil Ho (Stranger)
-- Kim Cheol Kyu (Chicago Typewriter)
-- Min Jin Ki (Circle)

Best Korean Drama of 2017:
-- Stranger
-- Circle
-- Chicago Typewriter

Best Korean Movie of 2017:
-- The Merciless
-- A Taxi Driver
-- Okja

Best Mini Series/Web Drama:
-- Star of the Universe
-- The Boy Next Door
-- Wednesday 3:30 p.m.

Best Romance Drama:
-- Because This is My First Life
-- The Package
-- Tomorrow with You

Best Comedy Drama:
-- Chief Kim
-- Queen of Mystery
-- Avenger's Social Club

Best Romantic/Comedy Drama:
-- Father is Strange
-- Live Up to Your Name
-- Hit the Top

Best Family Drama:
-- Father is Strange

Best Action/Thriller/Suspense Drama:
-- Stranger
-- Duel
-- Circle

Best Melodrama:
-- Tomorrow with You
-- Whisper

Best Actor:
-- Jo Seung Woo (Stranger)
-- Nam Goong Min (Chief Kim)
-- Lee Joon (Father is Strange)

Best Actress:
-- Kim Sun Ah (Woman of Dignity)
-- Jung Ryeo Won (Witch's Court)
-- Park Eun Bin (Age of Youth 2)

Best Supporting Actor:
-- Park Byung Eun (Because This is My First Life)
-- Lee Joon Hyuk (Stranger)
-- Choi Won Young (Mad Dog)

Best Supporting Actress:
-- Lee Som (Because This is My First Life)
-- Park Ji Young (Save Me)
-- Lee El (Black)

Best Up and Coming Actor of 2017:
-- Woo Do Hwan (Save Me & Mad Dog)
-- Kim Sun Ho (Chief Kim, Strongest Deliveryman & Two Cops)
-- Yang Se Jong (Temperature of Love, Duel & Saimdang Light's Diary)

Best Up and Coming Actress of 2017:
-- Gong Seung Yeon (Circle, My Only Love Song & Introverted Boss)
-- Seo Eun Soo (My Golden Life & Duel)
-- Seo Ye Ji (Save Me)

Best Villain:
-- Kim Jae Wook as Mo Tae Goo (Voice)
-- Yang Se Jong as Lee Sung Hoon (Duel)
-- Jo Jae Yun as Jo Wan Tae (Save Me)

Best Idol Actor(or Actress):
-- Lee Jun Ho (Chief Kim)
-- Jun (Avenger's Social Club)
-- Lee Gi Kwang (Circle)

Best Couple:
-- Kim Min Joon/Jang Ha Ri (Mad Dog)
-- Yoon Ji Ho/Nam Se Hee (Because This is My First Life)
-- Ahn Jung Hee/Byun Mi Yeong (Father is Strange)

Best Bromance:
-- Kim Sung Ryong/Seo Yook (Chief Kim)
-- Han Se Joo/Yoo Jin Oh (Chicago Typewriter)
-- Park Kwang Ho/Kim Sun Jae (Tunnel)

Best OST:
-- Before the Sunset - Eric Nam (Mad Dog)
-- AMEN - Damiano ft. Jenyer (The Guardians)

wish he could have hung in there longer, but hopefully he's resting in peace now. he will be missed.

I agree with pretty much all of the dramas on the list. Exception -- Mad Dog I really liked, but that had alot to do with the power of Woo Do Hwan....lol.

Jung Hye Sung's role could be better written -- but I've watched much worse. It's unfortunate that K-drama is notorious for having poorly written female leads. They're often too pushy (or weak), intrusive, annoying, or just plain stupid, among other things. It makes it difficult for viewers to identify with the character and thus like them. A highly skilled actress can sometimes pull off and salvage a crap character and make them likeable, but it's an uphill battle. What eventually happens is that the actress is blamed for not being able to act (which is sometimes true), but folks forget to include the script and directing as the source of the problem.

I'm on the bench with this one. Initially I really liked it, but they've spent most of the drama so far just running after that money, with Kim Jon Sam getting chased, beat up or caught in pretty much each episode. It's become exhausting and kind of boring. I hope the writer is planning on developing other subplots to make the drama more interesting and complex. Otherwise this will be another cliche and straightforward "bring down the bad guy" type of drama. Not sure if that will be enough to keep me invested until the end.

those slippers..... lol :)

plot twist...they have telepathy...that's how they're able to communicate things that would be impossible in real life. LOL. yeah...badly written and confusing. hope they don't do any more of these abrupt inter-episode time jumps (without explanation) moving forward.

yeah...the time jump transition wasn't the best -- they should have noted "1 month later" or something to that effect. but i guess they expected us to connect the dots and infer that KJH had been moved from the detention center to a penitentiary, because he now had to serve his full sentence. the guy that attacked him is probably in solitary, with possible assault charges added to his sentence. he likely attacked him "on orders" from the other inmate who was in solitary because of KJH. at the end of episode 2 it shows him finding out because the stupid meal delivery guy blabbed to his two friends that KJH helped him.

this drama is just getting better and better. that scene at the end of episode 4 was just heart-wrenching.

i absolutely loved chicago typewriter, but it took 6 or 7 episodes before i finally warmed up to the drama. i also enjoyed romantic teacher doctor kim -- but i agree with you about seo hyun jin... her style isn't always my cup of tea. the rest of the other dramas i dropped...pretty much for the same reasons you listed. temperature of love probably pisses me off the most, because i wasted the most time on it hoping something, anything would happen -- but it and the characters just never seemed to progress. i also managed to stick through hwarang, but it was torture. thankfully the eye candy made it somewhat bearable. that, and i started fast forwarding any scenes involving the female lead to keep my sanity! great article, by the way!

Out-of-the-box dramas are hard to come by, but when we do get them, they're always a pleasant surprise and a joy to watch. Seriously...more people need to watch this one!

another drama that lost steam midway and never regained it's momentum. only kept watching because of ma yi deum's character and curiosity whether the ship would sail. :) still an okay watch -- just not as good as the beginning promised it to be.

i absolutely loved the chemistry the mad dog team had with each other -- especially between min joon and ha ri. their scenes always brought a goofy grin to my face. this drama will be sorely missed.

@BlackHalo no one ever said it was ji ho's fault for the way things were between them. it obviously takes two to tango. there's no doubt that both characters had insecurities that needed to be addressed, if they wanted their relationship to flourish.

the issue is the manner in how ji ho tried to address said problems. rather than leave, she could have told him how she felt, but she never even tried. that she abandoned him, even though "she never planned to leave him in the first place", just struck me as manipulative and petty.

sure, se hee could have stopped ji ho from leaving, but why should he? she ended their relationship by making it seem like it meant nothing to her. but even more reason, is that se hee always listened to and respected ji ho's wishes. and he did just that. rather than make her uncomfortable by asking her to stay, he respected her wish and let her go.