The four of them had a complicated relationship among them since one character had a one-sided crush on another character. Does it make you curious about who will end up with who? You might also get confused about which pair you want to ship together. Well, if you’re curious about this drama and need a short but helpful review about it, you should definitely keep scrolling!
A Drama with an Initial Mockumentary Style
There are a lot of dramas that tell a story about some occupation, such as reporter, doctor, lawyer, etc. But have you watched a drama about producers of a reality show? Not just an ordinary or fictional reality show, but one of the most popular reality shows in Korean television and also worldwide, 2 Days 1 Night. And this drama was also aired on the same broadcasting TV as 2 Days 1 Night, KBS2. Long story short, The Producers revolves around the lives of 2 Days 1 Night team of producers that have a crisis with their reality show that’s getting less and less popular with each new episode. Cha Tae-hyun, who portrayed PD Joon-mo, is the producer that feels desperate about the condition of 2 Days 1 Night, that isn’t really popular, like the previous season of the show. It was due to the cast not being really entertaining that the show started becoming boring. To get a higher rating, PD Joon-mo asked for help from some of his friends to get top celebrities to be guests on the show. PD Ye-jin, the character portrayed by Gong Hyo-jin, is the producer of Music Bank, a music show for idols to promote their songs on the same broadcasting TV. PD Ye-jin and PD Joon-mo were friends when they were kids. And being the head producer of Music Bank put her in a position where she couldn’t refuse Joon-mo’s plea for help and invite popular idols to his show. Meanwhile, a character portrayed by Kim Soo-hyun, Baek Seung-chan is a new producer. He is very awkward but very ambitious when it comes to his job. He actually wanted to get into this job because of his senior in college that he likes, who is also a producer at KBS. But instead of getting into the same show as his crush, which is Entertainment Weekly, Seung-chan ends up being in a team with PD Joon-mo, the unpopular show that’s getting near to an end, 2 Days 1 Night. Although sometimes he gets scolded by the seniors PD, like Ye-jin and Joon-mo, Seung-chan still likes helping others in an awkward way. He gave Cindy, a character portrayed by IU an umbrella on a rainy day when she was about to leave the KBS building after recording for Music Bank. Cindy is a singer that already debuted almost 10 years ago. She was a member of a popular girl group in the past, and she was the one that stole the spotlight and made other members annoyed by her character that is a bit arrogant and selfish. As a senior idol, she has a stubborn personality that makes it difficult for her to follow the rules. This makes Ye-jin as the PD of Music Bank annoyed. So basically, the both of them are fussy. Not only PD Ye-jin is annoyed by Cindy, but she is also annoyed by how foolish and awkward Seung-chan, as the new producer, is. She often scolds him about being too rigid and encourages him to act like a better producer. However, even though she has a bold character, Seung-chan slowly falls in love with her as they both keep hanging out together very often. This makes the friend-zoned relationship between PD Ye-jin and PD Joon-mo shaky. Who between the two has feelings for the other? Long story short, The Producers tells you a story about how it is like to be a broadcasting team in one of the biggest broadcasting TVs in Korea. By watching this, you can understand the hardships that Producer teams go through when handling a show, and how the rating is very important to keep their show alive. The good thing about The Producers is, the plot of the drama shows how the four main characters have some kind of link and are completely interconnected. It might be because of the setting, which is the broadcasting TV building, that makes the scope somehow seem small but the show is still enjoyable to watch. If you’re interested in the broadcasting field, you can try to watch this drama for a reference. Or maybe if you’re a viewer of KBS and like to watch a lot of shows from the channel, you can also put The Producer on your watch-list of dramas. You might also love this drama if you’re a fan of 2 Days 1 Night. Even though 2 Days 1 Night in this drama is quite different (since it is described as a boring show) from the real one, but it will still make you laugh with some inside jokes. Besides, you won’t get disappointed with the four characters’ acting skills. Cha Tae-hyun is a senior actor that has already portrayed various roles in many movies and dramas, and he successfully acted as PD Joon-mo. The same goes for Gong Hyo-jin, who has a lot of experience as an actress, she perfectly portrayed PD Ye-jin as a producer that has a bold yet playful character. Although this drama only has 12 episodes, shorter than most of the Korean dramas, it doesn’t mean that The Producers has a low rating and makes them need to be stopped quickly. It was because of the story that didn’t really drag you through an unnecessary plotline. Besides, the duration of every episode of this drama is around 1 hour and 30 minutes. The romance line between the four main characters is also interesting to watch. For example, PD Joon-mo and PD Ye-jin that have been best friends for 20 years. There is also a background story about him and PD Ye-jin when they were in high school. The viewers will get a twist when they find out in the last episode that it was PD Joon-mo who fell in love with PD Ye-jin at the beginning, even when he didn’t recognize it at first. He then realizes that he has followed her, always came whenever she needed him, and it was him that always took care of her after all this time, and all because he loves her. Seung-chan’s storyline with PD Ye-jin is also interesting to watch. At first, he didn’t really like PD ye-jin who always scolded him, but their feelings started growing every time they would spend time together. Besides, Seung-chan also got surprised when he found out that he had met Ye-jin back when he was a child and PD Ye-jin was in high school. In the end, Seung-chan gets rejected because PD Ye-jin realizes that the one she loves is PD Joon-mo, and for her, Seung-chan is like a little brother. You’ll also get interested in Cindy’s character development. She was a fussy and problematic idol at the beginning of the drama, but then she starts managing her personality little by little. It all starts after she meets Seung-chan, the producer of 2 Days 1 Night when she got a role as one of the main cast there. The purity of Seung-chan and how he is so innocent made her realize her shortcomings and she started falling for him. Later on, viewers will get to see the development of 2 Days 1 Night show, especially after Cindy and other artists enter the show as part of the main cast. There seem to be a lot of struggle to keep the show running and get a high enough rating. The producer team went through a hard time to maintain the show to not get canceled and replaced by another show. Especially after Cindy was associated with a scandal involving her parents. The media said that Cindy is a liar for releasing false statements about her parents. It turns out, that the one at fault was a representative from her agency, Byun CEO, who made up a story about Cindy’s parents living in the US, while actually, they had already passed away in a car accident. In my opinion, even though all the main characters have a romance line, The Producers is not a kind of drama that is only about romance. This drama will also show you how to overcome the hard times as a producer, especially producer of a show that is not successful. You will also learn some terms from the broadcasting field, and also gain knowledge about what’s behind a tv show.
The Cast: 2 Senior Actors with 2 Junior Actors in One Frame
Cha Tae-hyun as Ra Joon-mo
The senior actor Cha Tae-hyun who got popular after he starred in the movie My Sassy Girl with Jun Ji-hyun now plays the head producer of 2 Days 1 Night. For your information, he is also a regular cast of 2 Days 1 Night season 3. In this drama, the show 2 Days 1 Night becomes less popular compared to the previous season. Not only it fails to follow the success of the first season of the show, but PD Joon-mo is also popular for being the producer who always makes every show fail. He is a long time friend of Tak Ye-jin. The two of them have been friends ever since elementary school. PD Joon-mo is also close to PD Ye-jin’s brother, Ye-joon, who loves to sleep at his place sometimes.
Gong Hyo-jin as Tak Ye-jin
Who doesn’t know Music Bank? The popular music show in Korea where many idols promote their songs is one of the biggest shows from KBS. Being the head producer of Music Bank makes PD Ye-jin highly respected by all the producers. She is a person with a bold character and sometimes loves to nag around. She became friends with PD Joon-mo because they were neighbors when they were younger. Since then, PD Joon-mo and her became best friends and have always stuck together until they became adults. PD Ye-jin is the type of best friend who always shares her story with PD Joon-mo, even when she has a crush on a guy, and she also asks PD Joon-mo for help if she finds any trouble.
Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Seung-chan
Baek Seung-chan is a rookie producer that has been placed in the 2 Days 1 Night show, and he works in PD Joon-mo’s team. In the first episode, his car gets dented because of PD Ye-jin who opened her car’s door too harshly and hit the parked beside her car. After that, he starts getting close to PD Ye-jin and always follows her around like a piece of gum. He starts developing feelings for her, and gets jealous of PD Joon-mo whenever the two of them are together. He also asks Cindy to become a regular member of 2 Days 1 Night, directly through Cindy’s agency’s CEO. Later on, Seung-chan is always there to help Cindy in the show and makes her start to fall for him because of that. At first, Seung-chan’s reason to become a producer was because he followed his senior in college who he likes, which is why he doesn’t act like a real producer in the beginning. But then he starts learning to become a ‘pro’ producer.
IU as Cindy
Cindy is a popular singer nationwide who debuted when she was only 13 years old. She debuted as a member of a girl group called Pinky4, the group from Byun Entertainment that later on disbanded. However, Cindy continues to pursue an idol career and she becomes a solo artist after that. She also becomes more and more successful after debuting as a solo artist and turns into one of the most popular divas nationwide. But, even though she is a public figure that has already starred a lot of dramas, movies, and CFs, her personality and attitude are bad. Even her own manager dislikes her for being stubborn and easily upsets. However, as the story unfolds, Cindy’s character starts to develop.
