Yoon Eun Hye and Lee Dong Wook for "Wild Romance?"

Nov 03, 2011

This would make my day, if the casting gets confirmed: Currently two top rom-com stars, Yoon Eun Hye and Lee Dong Wook, are reported as likely candidates for “Wild Romance” — that recently announced romantic comedy series written by Park Yeon Seon, she of “Alone in Love,” “Mixed-up Investigative Agency,” and “White Christmas” fame.

I’m fully expecting a round of “It’s only a rumor” and “S/He is considering the project, but nothing is confirmed” declarations, because that seems to be the way casting news flies these days. But with Lee Dong Wook returning to TV screens after his two-year army service and Yoon Eun Hye making some drama choices that ended badly in recent years, I would be thrilled to see them in a cute, well-written project. And I have a lot of faith in writer Park to deliver a solid script.

The plot: The hero is a baseball player, the heroine a former judo athlete and current bodyguard. Their initial meeting doesn’t go so well, characterized by “unpredictable bad luck,” but develops into a romance that unfolds over the course of a baseball season. The drama incorporates the standard rom-com storyline, but also encompasses a broader vision by expanding on the characters’ lives and dreams in a fun, touching way. Or so goes the PR-speak.

(That sounds like a vague explanation, but I can already see it. I recall that concept being a fun quirk of “Mixed-up Investigative Agency,” and in fact, one of that drama’s trademark ending skits was based on that very idea. At the end of Episode 14, we see each of the recurring minor characters going about their daily lives, as the captions tell us: “There’s no need to force yourselves to remember these people. It’s just that they’re all the main characters in their respective lives, so they’re too busy to participate in this story, that’s all.”)

Plus, these two actors are fully capable of bringing out big laughs and wringing tears. Yes, their character descriptions sound pretty standard, but I could totally see Yoon as a judo-practicing, butt-kicking bodyguard. She didn’t get that reputation for physical strength for nuthin’, as I recall from those old days of “X-Man.”

“Wild Romance” will air on KBS on Wednesdays and Thursdays. As the follow-up to “Man of Honor,” it premieres in January and will run for 16 episodes.