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The King and I (TV series)

The King and I (Korean: 왕과 나) is a South Korean historical series that aired on SBS from August 27, 2007 to April 1, 2008 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55.[1][2] Starring Oh Man-seok, Koo Hye-sun, and Go Joo-won, the series was moderately successful, with its ratings peak at 25%.

Plot

The King and I revolves around the life of Kim Cheo-sun, considered the best eunuch attendant who lived during the Joseon Dynasty.[3]

Cheo-sun secretly loves his childhood friend So-hwa, but he cannot confess his love because of their difference in social class. Eventually, when So-hwa becomes betrothed to King Seongjong, he castrates himself and enters the palace as an eunuch, determined to watch over and protect her.

Initially the King's concubine, So-hwa is later elevated to the rank of Queen. But she becomes a pawn of the intense strife among warring political factions, and is stripped of her title and cast out of the palace in disgrace. Despite Cheo-sun's attempts to help her, she is sentenced to death. Cheo-sun carries out his orders by handing her the bowl of poison and he watches as the woman he loved all his life dies before his eyes.[4] After her death, he looks after her son, Prince Yeonsan.

Cast

Main characters

Supporting characters

Extended cast

Production

Park Sang-min was originally cast as King Seongjong, but had to back out. He was replaced by Go Joo-won.

Yeo Woon-kye was supposed to portray So-gwi but had to quit for health reasons, even though she had already filmed a few episodes. Her replacement was Kim Soo-mi.

Reportedly enraged because the scripts were routinely turned in late, resulting in exhaustion for the actors in the cast, Jeon In-hwa's husband Yoo Dong-geun assaulted two producers on set on December 29, 2007. He later apologized for the incident.[6][7]

Episode ratings

The King and I performed moderately well, getting ratings in the 20%–25% range and ranking in the top 10. However, in late January 2008, due to competition from MBC's Yi San, ratings fell to the mid-tens, barely cracking the Top 20 in Korea.[8]

SBS first extended the episodes from the originally planned 50 to 67, then back to 61 because of bad ratings, and finally to 63.[9]

Ratings

Awards

2007 SBS Drama Awards[10]

References

  1. ^ Lee, Hyo-won (September 18, 2007). "TV Falls in Love with Epic Dramas". The Korea Times. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  2. ^ Chun, Su-jin (September 19, 2007). "Eunuchs make me long to get my hands on father's remote". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  3. ^ "About The King and I". Arirang TV. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  4. ^ "Ingredients of poison used during the Joseon Dynasty to kill traitors". KBS World. February 23, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  5. ^ "Park Ji Hoon, the wink guy in Produce 101 was in drama 'King and I'". Kpople. April 16, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  6. ^ Lee, Eun-joo (January 2, 2008). "Real life punch-up upstages SBS drama". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ Chung, Sung-hee (December 31, 2007). "Page Scripts Symbolize Darker Side of Korean Drama Industry". The Dong-a Ilbo. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  8. ^ "TV Ratings for January" Archived February 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Soompi. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  9. ^ "2008 K-DRAMA: First Half Wrapup". Twitch Film. July 18, 2008. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  10. ^ "2007 Year-end Korean drama awards round-up". Hancinema. January 7, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2013.

External links