‘Cinderella And Four Knights’ Attempts To Recreate The Magic Lee Min Ho’s K-Drama ‘Boys Over Flowers’ Had Back In 2009

https://youtu.be/f6Ys6hLHutE

Back in 2009, the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) brought to K-drama fans all over the world Boys Over Flowers. The series is recognized as the number one K-drama of that year, winning multiple awards. Boys Over Flowers is also known for furthering the acting careers of three of its stars, Ku Hye Sun, Lee Min Ho, and Kim Hyun Joong. To understand just how important Boys Over Flowers was to the three actors, after it concluded, Hye Sun went on to star in Angel Eyes and Blood, Min Ho went on to star in City Hunter and Heirs, and Hyun Joong went on to star in Playful Kiss and Dream High.

Boys Over Flowers — in which the K-drama adaption is technically the fifth television adaptation based off the popular Japanese shõjo manga — is the series in K-drama’s history to convert more fans of the Hallyu. Everything about it including the plot, direction, and acting were television magic. Now it seems that Total Variety Network (tvN) is attempting to recreate that magic from Boys Over Flowers, six years later, with Cinderella and Four Princes.

For those who do not remember what Boys Over Flowers was about, in a nutshell, it is a modernized spin of the Cinderella story in which a poor, spunky schoolgirl at an exclusive academy, Geum Jan Di (Ku Hye Sun), who attracts the interest of the four richest and handsomest boys, labeled as princes, who together are known as the F4. They are Gu Jun Pyo (Lee Min Ho), Yoon Ji Hoo (Kim Hyun Joong), So Yi Jung (Kim Bum), and Song Woo Bin (Kim Joon).

Cinderella And Four Knights utilizes the core of Boys Over Flowers‘ plot to drive its own. Eun Ha Won (Park So Dam), is a smart, athletic high school student who wants to go to college and works multiple part-time jobs to pay for tuition. She takes on an offer given to her by Chairman Kang (Kim Yong Gun). Ha Won will live at the Sky House and “train” his three grandsons, Kang Ji Woon (Jung Il Woo), Kang Hyun Min (Ahn Jae Hyun), and Kang Seo Woo (Lee Jung Shin). Also in Sky House is Lee Yoon Sung (Choi Min), Chairman Kang’s secretary and bodyguard to the three Kang grandsons.

So far, two episodes have already aired. According to the viewership ratings provided by TNS Media Korea and Nielsen Korea, Cinderella And Four Knights debuted with a strong viewership. Nielsen Korea recorded 4.548 percent for the Seoul National Capital Area and 3.549 percent for the nation. TNmS Ratings only concentrates on nationwide ratings for premium, or pay television channels, and recorded a 3.7 percent viewership rating for such. The numbers are very good for a debuting series, especially on pay television, but the second episode saw a drop in viewership.

Though the initial viewership ratings show a strong start that lost a lot of muster in the second episode, it is still way too early to discern. Only the cast and production crew at tvN know how Cinderella And Four Knights will be because the entire K-drama was fully pre-produced before its premier.

Cinderella And Four Knights airs on tvN on Friday and Saturday at 11:30 p.m. For those who do not have access to Korean channels, the entire series can be viewed for free, with ads, on DramaFever pending region.

[Image via tvN]