December Dramas: Love Cheats, Prime Ministers, Aliens, and Beauty Queens

Are you looking for the slow-burn of forbidden romance?   

Are you in the mood for a goofy romantic-comedy?

Are you looking for a feel-good story about a not-so-plain Jane?   

Are you looking for an alien-meets-human, star-crossed kind of love?

Get ready for a slew of new dramas coming to televisions (and computer screens) this December with this drama primer. Click through to read more about the dramas premiering this December! 

If you are looking for the slow-burn of forbidden romance and the sear of angst, sprinkled with lots of beautiful people for good measure, check out the SBS drama “Kind Words.” The drama promises to focus on the entanglements of various couples and families as one couple, Na Eun Jin and Kim Seong Su, struggles to recover from an unexpected crisis.  

Plot: Once happily married couple stares longingly at unhappily married couple; a triangle or square forms. Longing looks, flashbacks, manipulation, sobbing, and angst ensue.

Reason to watch: Han Hye Jin is making her comeback with this drama, and Lee Sang Woo gets a second chance in dramaland after the tragedy that was SBS drama “Goddess of Marriage.” 

Reason not to watch: “Kind Words” sounds like a redux of “Goddess of Marriage,” another drama by SBS that was full of unhappily married couples pining for others, monstrous in-laws, and a penchant for dashing the hopes of viewers.

Premiere: Monday, December 2, 2013

Airtime: Mondays and Tuesdays

 Websites: SBS official site, Soompi forum  

If you are looking for an uplifting romantic-comedy, check out KBS drama “Prime Minister and I.” In this romantic-comedy, opposites attract. Prime Minister Kwon Yool, always on point in the political world but lacking on the domestic front, falls for reporter-nanny Nam Da Jung, always a step behind when it comes to her job but with sweetness to spare in the home. 

Plot: Clumsy but warm girl meets successful but cold boy. Plus politics and cute kids.    

Reason to watch: Lee Beom Soo is an amazing character actor who can play it all—from the straight man to the comic foil, from romantic to ruthless.      

Reason not to watch: The differences in acting ability and the twenty-year age gap between Lee Beom Soo (born in 1970) and YoonA (born in 1990) might make for a romance that is awkward to watch. 

Premiere: Monday, December 9, 2013

Airtime: Mondays, Tuesdays

Websites: KBS official site, Soompi forum

If you are looking for a feel-good story about a high school beauty queen turned ordinary girl who is just waiting for a push to regain glory, then check out MBC drama “Miss Korea.” This drama, billed as a romantic comedy, is set in 1997, the year that economic crises enveloped several nations including South Korea, and features a financially-troubled cosmetics company as the impetus for turning a not-so-plain Jane, Oh Ji Young, into a Miss Korea as a means of saving the company. 

Plot: A not-so-plain Jane gets dolled up, saves a company, and finds love. 

Reason to watch: Lee Sun Gyun and Lee Ki Woo are making comebacks with this drama. A band of neighborhood ajusshis apparently help out, and there could be lots of comedic high jinks. 

Reason not to watch: Who cares about a former high school beauty queen becoming Miss Korea? The plot sounds a little contrived.    

Premiere: December 2013  

Airtime: Wednesdays, Thursdays 

Websites: Soompi forum

If you are looking for an otherworldly love story featuring aliens and the humans who love them, then check out SBS drama “My Lover From the Stars” (“You From Another Star,” “Man From Another Star”). This drama features an alien named Do Min Jun who has lived on earth for 400 years and views humans as inherently flawed compared to his physical perfection and superior mental capabilities. Do Min Jun meets “Hallyu Goddess” Cheon Song Yi, and the two are forever changed.   

Plot: Alien and woman fall in love. They discover new things about themselves and their ability to love, and might get their hearts broken in the process. 

Reason to watch: Jun Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun were noted for their sizzling chemistry on the big screen in the 2012 film “The Thieves.” Watch them heat up the small screen in 2013. 

Reason not to watch: If you have had your fill of fantasy dramas, this might not be the drama for you.   

Premiere: December 18, 2013  

Airtime: Wednesdays, Thursdays 

Websites: Soompi forum

Which drama are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!