Lee Mi-yeon returns to television with Man-deok
by javabeans
This is news that had been floating around for a while (and denied, then floated again), but now it’s confirmed: Lee Mi-yeon is making her drama comeback — eight years after her last sageuk Empress Myung Sung — in another historical epic, Merchant Kim Man-deok.
The drama is based on a real-life woman from the Joseon era who became a great merchant, then donated everything to save the poor. Lee takes the title role, along with a solid supporting cast that includes Go Du-shim (Good Morning President), Kim Byung-ki (Iron Empress), and Kim Gab-soo in a very busy year (he’s also slated for Jejoongwon and Chuno). Go Du-shim notably played the Man-deok character thirty years ago, in MBC’s 1976 drama Jung-hwa.
Merchant Kim Man-deok will air beginning March 2010. For more background about Kim, here’s a description from The Korea Times:
Records are few on Kim Man-deok, a Joseon Kingdom female merchant, who embodied the virtue of a true, noble merchant. She was born in 1739 on Jeju Island and became a gisaeng (female entertainer) employed by the state after losing her parents at a very early age and later turned herself to a successful merchant and philanthropist.
Kim was good at selling the principal products of the island and running other businesses with woman divers, handicraftsmen and farmers. Her ability as a merchant seemed to be impossible at that time, given the fact that during the Joseon era, Jeju Island was so remote and thought of as a place of exile and Jeju inhabitants could hardly travel to the mainland. But she built up her assets from lucrative businesses there and escaped her status of a gisaeng belonging to the state.
When famine gripped the island, she donated all her assets to the residents, saving 18,000 lives.
Via Newsen
Tags: Go Du-shim, Kim Gab-soo, Lee Mi-yeon
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1 belleza
December 16, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Will this be the KBS1 weekend drama (after Reputable Fam) or a SBS drama?
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2 Vico
December 16, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Wasn't she in Crazy For You in 2007?
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3 Biscuit
December 16, 2009 at 10:35 AM
The plot doesn't excite me too much, but than again, I found myself addicted to a lot of the historical-based sageuk dramas...
I think it's 8 years after her last sageuk drama, but 2 years since her most recent drama "Crazy for You" with Lee Kye Sang.
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4 Javabeans
December 16, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Yes you're right, 8 years after her last sageuk!
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5 sayroo
December 16, 2009 at 11:11 AM
@belleza, I'm wondering what timeslot will KBS place this one... Reputable Family is a Daeha drama which has 50++ episodes.. Then the Wed-Thur timeslot is also taken for March.. Maybe the Monday-Tuesday timeslot? (After God of Study)
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6 dramalover
December 16, 2009 at 12:19 PM
what's with all the wrong names, from the article to the commenters?
@JB: it's Lee Mi Yeon not Kim Mi Yeon
@3: It's Yoon Kye Sang not Lee Kye Sang.
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7 hanjanman
December 16, 2009 at 6:28 PM
It really is Christmas! All my favourite noonas are coming out with either films or dramas for me to see. Go Hyun Jung(I had to google the name out to make sure, in case I get told off by dramalover!) just gave us the most memorable drama character this year with Mishil and she's doing that bitchfest film 'Actresses'. Then Jeon Do Yeon in the remake of the classic 'The Housemaid'. And now Lee Mi Yeon in a new drama. Can't wait for 2010!
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8 belleza
December 16, 2009 at 6:52 PM
@sayroo,
"Maybe the Monday-Tuesday timeslot?"
I guess I can't really see KBS2 running 2 long-running sageuks almost in sequence.
Then again, it might be really interesting to see Dong Xi vs. Merchant Kim Man-deok. It'll be similar to the Yi San vs. King+I throwdown, each show taking over one viewer demographic.
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9 Sharon
December 16, 2009 at 7:17 PM
seems to be another great historic drama.
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10
December 16, 2009 at 11:12 PM
sorry, am i seeing things or is that her LEFT NIPPLE popping out of her blouse?
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11 Biscuit
December 17, 2009 at 11:03 AM
@10: I'm pretty sure that what seems as a "nipple" (it really does) is part of a dress underneath the white blouse that's actually a white jacket.
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12 Rovi
December 17, 2009 at 7:28 PM
coincidentally a few nights ago I was thinking of Lee Mi-yeon and how is she right now, with never a thought of her returning to dramas...
(same with me thinking a few weeks ago of another Jang Hui-bin remake, and then JB posted Dong-yi...)
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13 1critic
February 8, 2010 at 6:36 PM
Is she trying to pull a Ko Hyun Jung? Or is that just a product of my deluded mind?
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