Television director Kim Tae-ho is producing a Netflix original entertainment series titled “The Hungry and the Hairy,” starring the artist Rain and comedian Ro Hong-chul, Netflix said in a press release Monday. According to the global streaming giant, while the release date has yet to be decided the program will be another variety show. Kim previously produced two of South Korea’s longest-runnin...

Prosecutors on Tuesday demanded a 10 million-won ($8,700) fine for actor Ha Jung-woo, who admitted to illegal use of propofol in 2019. The 43-year-old screen star has been indicted on charges of taking shots of the anesthesia-inducing medication for non-medical purposes between January and September in 2019. The prosecution requested the Seoul Central District Court impose a monetary penalty as...

Terrestrial network MBC plans to retrieve the viewer’s trust by installing a new committee, the company said in a press release on Monday. According to the public broadcaster, MBC seeks to make sure all of its content respects universal values, which the company lacked in its coverage of Tokyo Olympics. “The broadcasting fiasco was from all members’ callousness and insensitivity. We will recove...

Former US President Barack Obama will make his first appearance as a guest of a South Korean television program on Friday to share his personal life story, a local cable channel said. According to tvN, a cable channel specialized in entertainment, Obama will connect to the channel's late night "Monthly Connect" show as a guest later in the day. The monthly show invites world-class leaders of va...

The state broadcaster plans to organize more interviews with Olympic athletes on its main news program, ”KBS News 9,“ a company official said. “The men’s sabre fencing team will appear in the variety show ‘Boss in the Mirror’ and a special program related to the Olympic Games is being produced as well,” the official said. The gold medal-winning men’s sabre fencing team, who earned the nickname ”...

Women’s sport-variety shows are trending because they are fresh, quenching viewers‘ thirst for something new, culture critic Jung Duk-hyun said. “Many sports programs are male-dominated. Though the producers launched programs with different sports, the viewers became tired of similar faces, similar formats and similar stories. Introducing female stars easily solved that problem,” Jung told The K...

Public broadcaster KBS has been the most-watched network in Korea so far for the Tokyo Olympics, beating the two other terrestrial network broadcasters, SBS and MBC, in the ratings. KBS1’s coverage of the Tokyo Games on Sunday recorded 17.2 percent viewership, according to Nielsen Korea. It was the highest rated Tokyo Olympics broadcast, while SBS and MBC followed with 5.4 percent and 5 percent...

Less than a week after MBC President Park Sung-jae publicly apologized for inappropriate coverage of the Tokyo Games, the broadcaster came under fire again Sunday for misleading captions on an interview with South Korean volleyball captain Kim Yeon-koung. After South Korea beat Japan in Tokyo Olympic women‘s volleyball Saturday, the broadcaster’s YouTube channel posted an interview with Kim. In...

“2021 K-Format Virtual Screenings in the US” will showcase 27 programs, including SBS International’s drama “Taxi Driver,” MBC’s TV show “Hangout With Yoo: Refund Sisters” and KBS Media’s variety show “All About My Boss.” By Lee Si-jin ( sj_lee@heraldcorp.com )

While the nation hunkers down for its worst wave of the pandemic, a flare-up in COVID-19 infections among actors and film crew members have forced major drama and movie productions to cancel their schedules. “The Sound of Magic,” an original Netflix drama series based on the popular webtoon “Annarasumanara,” immediately halted operations after starring actor Ji Chang-wook and one of the staff me...

Public broadcaster MBC apologized once again after it became mired in yet another controversy, this time concerning a caption that was used during its broadcast of the Tokyo Olympic men’s soccer game on Sunday. After admitting the broadcaster‘s callousness, MBC President Park Sung-jae made a public apology during a press conference held at MBC headquarters in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, Monday a...

An online petition posted Friday on the Cheong Wa Dae website demanded strict investigation into identifying the person in charge of the fiasco at MBC. In 2008, MBC was penalized by the Korea Communications Commission for disparaging countries participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics with its captions. In the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sudan was described as an unstable co...

Actor Namkoong is returning to MBC drama in eight years after the historical drama “Hur Jun, the Original Story.” “The Veil” begins airing after MBC’s current Wednesday-Thursday drama “On the Verge of Insanity” comes to an end sometime in September. By Lee Si-jin ( sj_lee@heraldcorp.com )

Actor Song Joong-ki is to star in the new JTBC drama “Youngest Son of Sunyang Family” (working title), the local cable channel JTBC said Tuesday. The drama is an adaptation of a web novel of the same title, and is a thriller and fantasy tale. Song will first appear as the top conglomerate Sunyang family’s personal secretary, who is put in charge of managing the family‘s financial risks and prob...

The South Korean entertainment scene is suffering a setback in the production of TV shows as the fourth wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic sweeps nearly every sector of the country. Last week, global media giant Netflix suspended the production of its original series "The Bride Of Black" for two weeks as actress Cha Ji-yeon tested positive for the virus. Her case also affected the stage mus...