bannie wrote: just noticed that all the dramas mentioned sit in the 7.XX
and the korean drama sits in the 6s.
I think that is insufficient to lure me into starting it.
>.<
Well, I don't know about the others but "I Am Sam" is a pretty good one. I was really into it and you can find eipsodes with English subs on Youtube and other free streaming sites.
btw, I am really picky about the drama I watch. I work long hours so I don't really get too much free time to watch drama, so when I do watch drama, I make sure they are really good.
Having said that, and even though I enjoyed "I Am Sam", I will tell you that I am not surprised it got a low rating. I have been following discussions related to "I Am Sam" and there are various reasons that brought down its rating.
1) The main lead was not good-looking. He just didn't have the right look. And the actor tended to mumble a lot so he's hard to understand even for native Korean speakers. So anyway, because the main lead was not good-looking and looked too old for the role, a lot of female fans got turned off. Lots of thumb-downs from them because of this.
2) Unlike the GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) series, MOST of the female actresses who played the roles of the high school students aren't good-looking. In GTO's class, almost all his female students were good-looking, even the supposedly "plain jane" who wanted to be an idol. But in "I Am Sam", only the female lead plus a few other actresses (a school teacher and secretary to the mob boss) were good-looking enough.
So, lots of thumb-downs from male fans as well.
3) A LOT, and I mean a whole LOT, of people watched the series because of TOP (a Korean rapper). TOP played a student in the female lead's class and TOP's fans wanted the two to get together. So they weren't too happy with the middle-age teacher and young student pairing. TOP's fans got really angry in some discussion threads.
So there you go. These 3 reasons contributed to a low rating. Therefore, the series itself isn't boring or not worth watching. It has a good plot and lots of comedic moments to keep one entertained. I was very entertained.
And it is a Teacher/Student romance with a happy ending. In fact, I believe it is the only male teacher/female student series in the market right now that has a happy ending. So definitely worth watching.