Are You Human too? brings out kindness from AI robots

KBS2 releases its latest pre-production drama Are You Human Too? with the story of human kind and Artificial Intelligence. 

Oh Ro Ra (Kim Sung Ryung) is a brainy scientist who has the intelligence and fame from creating android robots. Her husband committed suicide and her one and only son Nam Shin (Seo Kang Joon) has been abducted by his wealthy grandfather since small due to inheritance to the global PK Group. For years Oh Ro Ra lived in loneliness creating Nam Shin 1 and Nam Shin II robots resembling her kid-teenage son. She missed Shin terribly and after many years she developed Nam Shin III who is her current adult son and heir to the 
conglomerate company.

       

The real Nam Shin pretends to be a jerk and arrogant in every way. He doesn't talk to Grandpa Nam (Park Yeong Gyu) and annoys his aunt while disrespecting Director Seo Young Gil (Yu Oh Seong) who is eyeing his position in the co. His only close ally and friend is Secretary Ji Young Hoon (Lee Jun Hyuk) who often helps him and bears all the insults from the top management. 

Shin leaves to Czech Republic in search of his mother. However Seo sends some men to finish off Shin at the scene. However real Shin meets up with Shin III at the street. After a mishap, human Shin falls into coma while Ro Ra scatters around trying to save her son. Ro Ra instructs her robot son to return to Seoul to protect Shin's position in PK Group while real Shin recuperates. Young Hoon trains robot Shin to be the arrogant human Shin, face recognition and dissed those whom he was instructed to. Bodyguard Kang So Bong (Gong Seung Yeon) is money faced so she pretended to act along with real Shin only to be discovered snapping illegal photos and selling them to press. She was slapped in public and fired only to later realise that it was trap set by Shin for the public to see. 

           

Robot Shin returns to Korea with Young Hoon, played along well as real Shin as a Vice President of PK Group, doing presentations and even saving So Bong from various incidents. She is flustered to find out the real heir is in coma while Ro Ra begged her not to inform Seo about this matter otherwise Shin's position will be coveted. So Bong realises Shin III is doing what he is told as an AI robot and protecting those he loved. 

Robot Shin somehow has to fend off Ye Na- his current fiancee and cunning father Seo. Grandpa Nam's health is slowly deteriorating due to slight Alzheimer. Robot Shin still requires So Bong's protection from the baddies though he can see many things that humans can't do so.

                 

A very interesting drama with how Shin III will overcome all difficulties, finding his 'love' (though he's a robot) and protecting those he cherishes dearly. 

I am liking this drama as Shin III is lovable and kind to start with. We know that real Shin is also a nice guy but been raised in a terrible environment without parents' love.
So Bong is proven to be a super pest at the start but she will slowly change her attitude to protect Shin III from harm.

Swordswoman in Mask King finally reveals her identity.

After winning 8 streaks in a row in MBC's The Masked King, female vocalist Son Seong Yeon is the person behind the mask of Swordswoman. She has a powerful voice where she sat on the throne for 18 weeks- near to breaking the record of Music Commander- Ha Hyun Woo who was the King for 9 times. However Swordsdwoman lost to a low margin of only 3 votes to the new mask king Bob Ross. Hah!

            

Audience were quite surprised to see Wanna One's vocalists have mostly appeared in the program. First was Hwang Min Hyun (Terris) , followed by Kim Jae Hwan (Royal Guardsman) who challenged Swordswoman in final and this time was Ha Sung Woon who wore a cute Lesser Panda mask.

Also featured Block B's Park Hyung who was Operation Z (similar to David Hassleholf) in Knight Rider. Notable female Queens on the show were Gummy, Cha Ji Yeon, So Hyang and now it's Son Seung Yeon. 

JTBC Hidden Singer kicks off at 6.5% ratings.

JTBC music show Hidden Singer: Season 5 has kicked off with a good start of 5% viewers ratings for first episode.

According to TNMS media data on the 18th June, "Hidden Singer 5", which was broadcast on the 17th June has recorded 6.4% of ratings on the first episode, which was the first place in both the main viewing rate and the non-terrestrial viewing rate.

This is also the result of the first audience rating (3.6%) of 'Hidden Singer 4' on Oct. 3, 2015 and the 16th 'Hidden Singer 4' broadcast on Jan. 16, (Audience rating 5.0%) and 2.8% points and 1.4% points respectively.


On this day H.O.T members Tony Ahn, Lee Jae Won along with Sechs Kies' Eun Ji Won and Kang Sung Hoon were part of the main guests trying to figure out the real and hidden singer of H.O.T main vocalist Kang Ta (Ahn Chil Hyun). MC was Jeon Hyun Moo. 

           

Kang Ta is the first generation idol group member of H.O.T formed by SM Entertainment.
Being a vocalist and solo singer, their group hit songs include Candy, Light, Hope and Happiness.

Member Tony Ahn was rather surprised to hear the similar voices of the contestants as the original singer. It's the first time after 22 years he has heard many voices of Kang Ta in one room! 

Kang Ta agreed stating he was shocked to hear the voices of the other contestants similar to his. The contestants were so talented and no one would know if that's the real singer or doppelganger.  He felt as if he was listening to a CD from their real voices.

Produce 48 spins off 95 contestants from Korea and Japan.

The talk and hype of the town is Produce 48 which has the collaboration of mNet Produce 101 and Japan's largest girl group AKB48. mNet TV has successfully held and produced two great project bands- I.O.I and Wanna One from Season 1 and Season 2. This time they collaborate with Japan TV with the theme song It's Mine (Pick Me).
I.O.I girl group has their song Pick Me and Wanna One's biggest hit song was 나야나 (Pick Me).

Jang Geun Suk and BoA hosted the first two seasons. Singer/actor Lee Seung Gi is the new presenter for Produce 48. With special hosts of past winners of Produce 101 S1 and S2-  Jeon So Mi with Kang Daniel are assisting Lee in the show. Their new mentors for Produce 48 are FT Island's Lee Hong Ki, SISTAR's So You, rapper Cheetah, choreographers Bae Yoon Jung, Choi Young Jun and May J Lee training the contestants for performance. 

  

Trainees from various agencies including YG K-Plus, FNC, Cube, MMO, YeHua Ent, HOW Ent, RBW Ent, MND17 Ent, Pledis, Stone Music, Woolim Ent, Music Works, CNC Ent, individual trainees and Japan's AKB48, HKT48, NMB48, SKE48 participated in this show. 

There are many notable performances and acts from the trainees to segregate them to Team A to Team F. Some were very tall like models, some have pretty faces, great vocals, superb dancing skills but many were quite disastrous too.

Surprisingly most of the Japanese trainees received harsh critics from trainer Bae Yoon Jung. 
The Japanese and Korean culture have a big difference in terms of culture, dancing and skills.
Korean trainees gave it all- perfect angles, synchronised choreography and great voices.
However the Japanese trainees somehow lack of coordination, stumbling in dancing moves, some sang off tune (due to nervousness) and a handful of them managed to deliver energy and lovely vibes on stage. Choreographer Young Jun noted Noe Yamada from NGT48 reminded him of Momoland's Joo Yi who is very vibrant and comical. 

A trainee danced well in Sunmi's Gashina in freestyle event. She even looked like the younger version of Sunmi! The Japanese trainees were in awe seeing how well Korean trainees have worked hard to show what they've got to the mentors. Pledis Ent. send out two girls who were very tall. So You remembered seeing Lee Ga Eun as ex-member of After School. Kahi who was also sitting as one of the mentors smiled at her. After School hasn't actually disband but they were on hiatus for many years. Trainer Bae praised Ga Eun for her dancing which hasn't diminish at all after 5 years. Ga Eun gained her courage after seeing NU'EST members worked so hard in Season 2 to get their feet back on stage. 

  

Only 2 notable Japanese trainees made it to the top ranks- Miyawaki Sakura and Matsui Jurina. Indeed the two are prettier in looks and somehow impressed the judges. Regarding the voting- I am not too sure how the citizens have voted. If it's inclusive Japan, it's obvious their viewers would be rooting for them after those lashing on their poor performances. 
Ahn Yu Jin, Jang Won Young, Lee Ga Eun, Jang Gyuri, Choi Yena, Lee Si An, Jo Yuri, Wang Yi Ren, Miru Shiroma and Mako Kojima were so far in the top 12 by the online votes.

Japanese trainees bawled their eyes out after harsh critics from mentors for their poor performances (non-synchronised dancing)- their culture emphasises on acting cute, lovely and making fans happy. Oh dear...these trainees have a long way to go in terms of dancing and singing. 

What kept me watching on for the first episode- reminded me so much of the chit-chatting event from MMO trainees, great dances in Season 2- and what's more?- Eye candy from Daniel...

Good luck to the rest of the trainees. Only 12 will make it to the top to form a girl group.

What's With Secretary Kim scores highest ratings.

tvN's newest drama What's With Secretary Kim? has scored the audience highest ratings.

According to TNMS media data on the 14th June 2018, "What's with Secretary Kim?" was aired  from 9:30 pm on the 13th June has so far recorded the ratings of 8.3% nationwide and 10.9%. 

It is 3.1 percentage points higher than the nationwide ratings of 6.3% recorded on the first broadcast on June 6 and 2.8% points higher than the metropolitan audience rating of 7.8%


This was followed by KBS2TV 'Suits' with the second highest audience rating in the entire time zone. The 15th episode of "Suits" broadcast at 10 pm on June 13th has recorded 9.1% of the nationwide and metropolitan audience ratings. When the 'Suit' goes for its finale on June 14th, it is predicted that What's with Secretary Kim will take over.

          

It is a light comedy refreshing drama where the dashing, rich Vice President Lee Young Joon panics when his long time PA Kim Mi So decided to resign. He gets flustered when his friend throws a question to him whether he really requires Secretary Kim to do his daily duties or does he really like her as a woman? It's obvious Young Joon thinks he's too good for any women out there. Over the time he feels jealous seeing male colleagues getting close to Mi So. Sometimes he gets icy cold telling Mi So off in training his new PA but the next thing he gets very sweet by showering her gifts and attention. 

     

To make things worse, Young Joon's elder brother returns from overseas as a famous novelist immediately gains Mi So's attention. Having a mysterious secret, Young Joon is determined not to lose Secretary Kim over to his brother. 

Oh-well, we are thrown into another situation whereby two male leads are almost charming and dashing with a pretty female lead. Who are we to choose? It's obvious that Park Seo Joon being the main lead will eventually ends up with the heroine of the drama. But I do hope Lee Tae Hwan gets his own girl as well. 

There are various scenes where Young Joon is rather tacky and does embarrassing things. His over possessiveness on Mi So is somehow making her uneasy but at the same time she does her best as a PA. She is slowly feeling her boss is acting strange and comes in another nice mannered brother into the picture. I really can't tell who to choose... mmm...