The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

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The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince
Format romance, comedy
Written by Lee Jung Ah
Starring Yoon Eun Hye
Gong Yoo
Lee Sun Gyun
Chae Jung Ahn
Kim Chang Wan
Kim Dong Wook
Kim Jae Wook
Lee Uhn
Kim Young Oak
Kim Ja Wook
Choi Il Hwa
Park Won Sook
Han Ye In
Lee Han Wie
Opening theme 랄랄라, It's Love! lalala, It's Love!- 더 멜로디(The Melody)
Ending theme Go Go Chan!![고고찬!!] - 티어라이너(Tearliner)(Feat.(YoCho))
Country of origin South Korea
Language(s) Korean
No. of episodes 17+ special
Production
Running time Mondays & Tuesdays 21:55 (9:55 Korean time)
Broadcast
Original channel South Korea MBC
Original run July 2, 2007 – August 28, 2007
External links
Official website

The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (커피프린스 1호점, or Coffee Prince) is a South Korean drama that aired on July 2, 2007 in South Korea. It aired every Monday and Tuesday. It stars popular actress Yoon Eun Hye from Goong or Princess Hours, Gong Yoo from One Fine Day, Lee Sun Gyun from White Tower and Chae Jung Ahn. The drama contains vaguely homosexual elements, although these are disputable given the theme of the plot.

Due to the show's popularity, MBC had announced extension of the show by one episode. MBC also aired a special on August 28, 2007. Gong Yoo watched the special with 1000 fans from all over Asia.

Contents

[edit] Main Cast

  • Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun Chan (Andie Go in the Philippine dub)
  • Gong Yoo as Choi Han Kyul (Arthur Choi in the Philippine dub)
  • Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Han Seong (Errol Choi in the Philippine dub)
  • Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Joo (Arlene Han in the Philippine dub)

[edit] Supporting Cast

Coffee Shop Members

  • Kim Chang Wan as Mr. Hong
  • Kim Dong Wook as Jin Ha Rim
  • Kim Jae Wook as Noh Sun Ki
  • Lee Uhn as Hwang Min Yeop

Han Kyul's Family

  • Kim Young Oak as Han Kyul's Grandmother
  • Kim Ja Wook as Han Kyul's Mother
  • Choi Il Hwa as Han Kyul's Father

Eun Chan's Family

  • Park Won Sook as Eun Chan's Mother
  • Han Ye In as Go Eun Sae (Eun Chan's Sister)
  • Lee Han Wie as Meat Shop Owner (Friend of Eun Chan)

[edit] Synopsis

Choi Han Kyul, played by Gong Yoo, is the cocky son of a rich family who runs a food corporation. He doesn't believe in love and certainly doesn't want to get married despite his family's requests. On the other hand, Go Eun Chan, played by Yoon Eun Hye, is a 24-year old tomboyish female who gets mistaken as a guy quite often. She takes up every job possible - waitress, food deliverer, etc - and has the responsibility of taking care of her mother and younger sister. Eun Chan accidentally meets Han Kyul twice, once on a delivery and once during a robbery. During the robbery, Eun Chan's delivery motorcycle ends up being damaged. Han Kyul, not knowing that Eun Chan is actually a girl, decides to hire Eun Chan as a false "lover" so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. Meanwhile, Han Kyul's cousin, Choi Han Seong, is an established music producer and his ex-girlfriend Han Yoo Joo, who Han Kyul secretly loved for nine years, is a famous artist who studied in New York. The two were lovers for about 8 years but their relationship ended when Yoo Joo broke up with Han Seong. Two years after they separated their paths cross again when Yoo Joo returns to Seoul.

After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han Kyul takes over a run-down old coffee shop, later renamed Coffee Prince, to prove his ability, both to his grandmother and Yoo Joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good looking male employees. In a struggle with money, Eun Chan, whom Han Kyul has already mistaken as a boy, hides her gender identity to get a job at Coffee Prince. Soon feelings start to spark between Eun Chan and Han Kyul. Because he's unaware that Eun Chan is a girl, Han Kyul starts to question his sexuality.

[edit] Book Information

With the death of her father, Eun Chan has to support her family, consisting of a foolish, spendthrift mother and younger sister. Due to her short hair, baggy clothing and general boyish behavior, she often gets mistaken for a boy and her sister often uses her as her 'boyfriend' to get rid of boys who follow her around. Eun Chan is also proficient at Taekwondo, and is strong for a girl.

Han Kyul is the heir of a large company. He's rich, carefree and doesn't take life seriously enough. He first meets Eun Chan when one of her sister's boyfriends attempts to steal a handbag belonging to Yoo Joo (a woman that Han Kyul secretly likes). Eun Chan, not knowing who the boy is, catches him but lets him go when she realizes who it is. This gives Han Kyul the impression that the two have been planning the incident together, and when she comes the day after to collect money to fix her scooter, he insults her by telling her that he thinks she's just a thief. All this time, he thinks that Eun Chan is male.

After being forced by his grandmother to take on a coffee shop (that is to become Coffee Prince) and improve its sales, Han Kyul goes for a 'prince' concept and tries to hire good-looking boys as servers to attract female customers. Eun Chan is employed, and as she works at Coffee Prince, she falls in love with Han Kyul. Han Kyul too feels affection for Eun Chan, but not knowing that Eun Chan is actually a girl, this leads him to confusion about his sexuality and he tries to distance himself from her.

Although the drama version is very similar, there is nothing in the book about Eun Chan being employed as a 'false lover' to get Han Kyul out of blind dates or Eun Chan going abroad to become a barista.

[edit] Awards and Nominations

Although the drama managed to win some awards at the 2007 MBC Acting Awards, if it were not for Tae Wang Sa Sin Gi, another blockbuster drama of 2007, it could have won more awards such as Best Couple Award for Yoon Eun Hye and Gong Yoo and Best Drama of 2007.

Won

  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Top Excellence in Acting (Yoon Eun Hye)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Excellence in Acting (Gong Yoo)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best PD Award (Kim Chang Wan)

Nominated

  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Excellence in Acting (Chae Jung Ahn)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Excellence in Acting (Lee Sun Gyun)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best New Actor (Lee Uhn)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best Drama
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best Couple Award (Yoon Eun Hye and Gong Yoo)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best Couple Award (Chae Jung Ahn and Lee Sun Gyun)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Popularity Award (Gong Yoo)
  • 2007 MBC Acting Awards: Popularity Award (Yoon Eun Hye)

[edit] Production Credits

  • Chief Producer/Director: Lee Yoon-Jung
  • Writers: Lee Sun Mi, Jang Hyun-Joo

[edit] Episode Ratings

Date Episode Nationwide Seoul
2007-07-02 1 14.4 (7th) 15.5 (7th)
2007-07-03 2 15.3 (7th) 16.2 (7th)
2007-07-09 3 18.1 (6th) 18.6 (5th)
2007-07-10 4 19.0 (4th) 19.8 (4th)
2007-07-16 5 19.3 (3rd) 20.1 (2nd)
2007-07-17 6 23.2 (2nd) 23.9 (2nd)
2007-07-23 7 25.2 (2nd) 25.3 (2nd)
2007-07-24 8 26.8 (2nd) 28.1 (2nd)
2007-07-30 9 25.2 (2nd) 26.2 (2nd)
2007-07-31 10 25.9 (2nd) 27.3 (2nd)
2007-08-06 11 28.4 (2nd) 30.8 (1st)
2007-08-07 12 29.9 (2nd) 31.4 (2nd)
2007-08-13 13 29.3 (2nd) 32.1 (2nd)
2007-08-14 14 28.1 (2nd) 30.5 (2nd)
2007-08-20 15 27.1 (2nd) 29.0 (2nd)
2007-08-21 16 28.5 (2nd) 30.8 (1st)
2007-08-27 17 27.7 (2nd) 29.5 (2nd)
2007-08-28 Special 19.1 (2nd) 20.0 (2nd)
Average 23.91% 25.28%

Source: TNS Media Korea

[edit] International Broadcasting

[edit] Philippines

In Philippines, the show aired on January 1, 2008 under the title of Coffee Prince on GMA Network[1] "Coffee Prince" replaced the show Hwang Jini on GMA Telebabad (GMA Network's primetime block). Its theme song was "Because of You" by Martin Nievera but still "Lalala, It's Love" by The Melody was used as it's opening theme.

Go Eun Chan's name was changed into Andie Go, Choi Han Kyul's name was changed into Arthur Choi, Choi Han Seong's name was changed into Errol Choi and Han Yoo Joo's name was changed into Arleen Han so that it will be appropriate for the Filipino's way of naming.

It garnered its highest rating last February 12 2008, the show registered a rating of 37.6%, despite of its late airing. It also became one of the Korean dramas that reached over 35% in the Philippines, since My Name is Kim Sam Soon in 2006. Its lowest rating was 20.7%, on January 1 2008, the show's premier day on GMA Network. The show is one of the most successful Korean dramas shown in the Philippines. But since The Legend started to be aired, it's ratings were not as high as before.

Due to its popularity, it was spoofed by Bubble Gang and its title segment is called "Copy Princess".

The series ended on March 19, 2008, being replaced by "The Legend" on it's time slot. In its last two days, GMA Network aired the "Special 18th Episode" of Coffee Prince. GMA Network had confirmed that "Coffee Prince" was replayed by GMA Network staring April 21, 2008, replacing Devil Beside Me on Dramarama sa Hapon (GMA Network's afternoon shows block).

  • Philippine Episode Ratings:
Date Episode Mega Manila
2008-01-01 1 20.7 (8th)[1]
2008-01-02 2 21.9 (9th)[2]
2008-01-03 3 29.0 (5th)[3]
2008-01-04 4 27.4 (6th)[4]
2008-01-07 5 24.7 (8th)[5]
2008-01-08 6 24.9 (7th)[6]
2008-01-09 7 21.6 (9th)[7]
2008-01-10 8 22.1 (9th)[8]
2008-01-11 9 30.6 (5th)[9]
2008-01-14 10 27.5 (6th)[10]
2008-01-15 11 29.8 (6th)[11]
2008-01-16 12 28.8 (6th)[12]
2008-01-17 13 29.1 (4th)[13]
2008-01-18 14 26.6 (7th)[14]
2008-01-21 15 27.9 (7th)[15]
2008-01-22 16 29.0 (7th)[16]
2008-01-23 17 31.7 (3rd)[17]
2008-01-24 18 34.4 (2nd)[18]
2008-01-25 19 32.3 (2nd)[19]
2008-01-28 20 31.2 (3rd)[20]
2008-01-29 21 32.7 (3rd)[21]
2008-01-30 22 32.0 (3rd)[22]
2008-01-31 23 32.5 (3rd)[23]
2008-02-01 24 33.7 (3rd)[24]
2008-02-04 25 32.7 (3rd)[25]
2008-02-05 26 34.1 (3rd)[26]
2008-02-06 27 35.6 (3rd)[27]
2008-02-07 28 34.7 (3rd)[28]
2008-02-11 29 33.1 (4th)[29]
2008-02-12 30 37.6 (3rd)[30]
2008-02-13 31 35.2 (4th)[31]
2008-02-14 32 31.5 (4th)[32]
2008-02-15 33 31.9 (5th)[33]
2008-02-18 34 31.2 (5th)[34]
2008-02-19 35 34.3 (4th)[35]
2008-02-20 36 34.1 (4th)[36]
2008-02-21 37 33.7 (4th)[37]
2008-02-22 38 34.3 (4th)[38]
2008-02-25 39 32.1 (5th)[39]
2008-02-26 40 32.3 (5th)[40]
2008-02-27 41 32.5 (4th)[41]
2008-02-28 42 34.2 (4th)[42]
2008-02-29 43 33.5 (4th)[43]
2008-03-03 44 30.6 (4th)[44]
2008-03-04 45 28.7 (5th)[45]
2008-03-05 46 29.9 (5th)[46]
2008-03-06 47 32.3 (4th)[47]
2008-03-07 48 33.6 (4th)[48]
2008-03-10 49 23.8 (8th)[49]
2008-03-11 50 25.6 (6th)[50]
2008-03-12 51 26.0 (6th)[51]
2008-03-13 52 27.2 (6th)[52]
2008-03-17 53 32.5 (4th)[53]
2008-03-18 54 27.4 (5th)[54]
2008-03-19 55 22.6 (5th)[55]
Average 30.2%

[edit] Singapore

  • airing date: December 31, 2007
  • broadcast network: MediaCorp TV
  • broadcast channel: Channel U
  • trivia: MediaCorp TV is granted the rights to be the first in Asia to air the series outside of South Korea.

[edit] Taiwan

  • airing date: January 03, 2008
  • broadcast network: Videoland Drama

[edit] Malaysia

  • airing date: February 22, 2008
  • airing time: 8.30 - 9.30pm
  • broadcast network: 8TV
  • episode:17 episodes

[edit] Israel

  • broadcast network: Viva Platina

In Israel,Coffee Prince ended its airing in Viva Platina channel. airing date: December

[edit] Thailand

  • broadcast network: CH7 (Bangkok Broadcasting Television Channel 7)
  • airing date: April 19, 2008
  • airing time: 9.15 - 11.00am

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Coffee Prince" premieres New Year’s Day on GMA-7

[edit] External links

Languages