Prince Hours

Prince Hours

Promotional poster for Prince Hours
Also known as Goong S
Genre
Written by
  • Lee Jae-soon
  • Do Young-myung
Directed by Hwang In-roi
Starring
Country of origin South Korea
Original language(s) Korean
No. of episodes 20
Production company(s) Group Eight
Release
Original network Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation
Original release January 10 (2007-01-10) – March 15, 2007 (2007-03-15)
Chronology
Related shows Princess Hours
External links
Website
Korean name
Hangul 궁 S
Hanja 宮 S
Revised Romanization Gung S
McCune–Reischauer Kung S

Prince Hours (Hangul: 궁S; hanja: 宮S; RR: Gung S; lit. "Palace S") is a 2007 South Korean romantic comedy television series, starring Se7en, Huh E-jae, Park Shin-hye and Kang Doo. It is a spin-off of 2006 series Goong (also known as Princess Hours), and both were directed by Hwang In-roi of the production company Group Eight. Goong S aired on MBC from January 10 to March 15, 2007 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.[1]

Plot

The story set in a universe where South Korea is a constitutional monarchy. The Empress regnant, (Myung Se-bin), already in her thirties, is still unmarried and without heir, so the imperial court looks for a suitable Crown Prince. They encounter Lee Hoo (Se7en), a young man, the son of the empress' uncle. However, another competitor arrives at the court: Lee Joon (Kang Doo), the son of another uncle of the Empress. They compete for the title of Crown Prince via a trial of several tasks to determine the worthy future king of the country.

Cast and characters

A prince raised as a commoner because his mother was thrown out of the palace shortly before his birth. His mother died sometime during his teenage years and he was raised by one of the former Palace Guards, although Kang Hoo is unaware of the real identity of his guardian. The royal family was unaware of his existence until he was twenty and he was quickly taken into the succession line by his cousin, the Queen of Korea, because she was looking for a fitting successor for her throne. His name was changed to Prince Lee Hoo and he had to learn the ways and life of a royal. At the beginning, Lee Hoo seemed to be the least likely candidate to fill the spot of Crown Prince. He was rash, lacked focus and was seemingly selfish to most but as he struggled to learn of the life he was destined to live, he turned into a considerate, mature and responsible young man. He is also fair and has a great sense of right and wrong.
Prince Lee Hoo's childhood friend and one of the few that still refer him as Kang Hoo (the name he was raised as). She is a very sensible young woman who works at the palace as a palace maid. She has had crushes on Kang Hoo since they were young and has always been his friend. She seems insecure and jumpy but she has an exceptionally good heart. Prince Lee Hoo especially depends on her and she has been somewhat of his center. She kept cheering for Prince Lee Hoo for the best and later revealed her feelings and realized it is not a one-sided love. She also managed to attract the attention of Prince Lee Joon, the other candidate to fill the position of the Crown Prince of Korea, though she made it clear that her heart belongs to Prince Lee Hoo and only him.
Raised by nobility, Prince Lee Joon seemed to be the best candidate to fill the position of the Crown Prince. He is exceptionally popular among the ladies and had his mind set to be the next King of Korea and seemed to be on the right path. He was shown as a calm and collective young man at first and was certain of what he wanted in life. He was to be engaged to the Prime Minister's daughter Shin Sae-ryung and agreed to the arrangement, but later resented it as he fell for palace maid Yang Soon-ae. He tried a lot of ways to persuade her into accepting his love but none were successful and he was rejected time after time. He later refused the throne after realizing that his father's greed was to no end and because he was tricked into believing that his father was not his biological father (in truth he is), he felt that he was not worthy to fill the position since he was not of royal blood. Later he learned the truth and was happy that he was able to pursue his own dreams of becoming a musician. He gave up on pursuing Yang Soon-ae as well seeing that she is truly in love with his cousin.
The daughter of the Prime Minister, she was raised to be a proper lady and groomed to be the next Queen of Korea. She had always followed her father's instructions and believed her mother to be the wrong one because she left her for a life of simplicity and away from greed. At first her only interest was to be the Queen and she was willing to go to extra lengths to get to the position. Though she did eventually fell for Prince Lee Hoo, she was rejected as Prince Lee Hoo was already in love with Yang Soon-ae. She was determined at first, but later learned that her mother was the one who was right and abandoned her father to chase her own dreams. She remained friends with both Princes and no longer harbours any romantic feelings for either prince.
South Korea's current reigning Queen. She is already in her thirties and is not married nor has any children to succeed her throne. In public, she seems to be the most well-adjusted woman with high regards, but in truth she has been concealing her feelings, and having to force herself to choose between her love and her people. She had been in love with a half-Korean, half-English professor whom she met during her studies at Oxford University. She left him to return to Korea and assume her role. Later, she was conflicted because her former love, Alexander, came to Korea to teach at the Royal Academy, and she was forced to once again choose. She chose her people even though it broke her heart.
The Queen's love interest. He's half-Korean, half-English, and though unable to speak fluent Korean, he is able to understand the language. He came to Korea, accepting a job offer at the Royal Academy and at the same time seeking for an answer for the choices the Queen had made. He later backed out, realizing that he could not make the Queen chose between the people and him. He didn't want to stay after learning that even if he did, it wouldn't make much difference and rather would make it difficult for the Queen. He left Korea and later it was revealed that he also contributed to Yang Soon-ae's education fund.
The mother of the current Queen, she is rather detached from the outside world from having been living in the palace for a very long time. She is unable to distinguish the difference between the latest technology. She is very fond of Prince Lee Hoo to a point where it is comical. She was the one who supported Prince Lee Hoo's father when he chose to marry a commoner, but in Prince Lee Hoo's case, she strongly opposed his choice, Yang Soon-ae, for fear of history repeating itself.

Supporting cast

Reception

Although Princess Hours was a hit, Prince Hours failed to attract many viewers. Initial overnight ratings averaged around 10%, about half of the original's. Further in its run, the ratings decreased to 7-8%.[2]

Despite the low ratings, Goong S was the most searched and rewatched drama online and ranked higher than its competition: KBS2 Dal-Ja's Spring and SBS Surgeon Bong Dal Hee.[3] The drama has also gained a wide variety of support from international fans in the U.S., Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil, Singapore, Philippines etc.[4]

Ratings

Date Episode Nationwide Seoul
2007-01-10 1 15.3% (6th) 16.1% (6th)
2007-01-11 2 14.3% (10th) 14.3% (9th)
2007-01-17 3 12.3% (11th) 12.5% (11th)
2007-01-18 4 11.7% (13th) 11.9% (13th)
2007-01-24 5 10.2% (15th) 11.9% (16th)
2007-01-25 6 9.3% (19th) 8.7% (19th)
2007-01-31 7 9.0% (20th) 8.7% (20th)
2007-02-01 8 9.0% 9.1%
2007-02-07 9 6.5% %
2007-02-08 10 5.9% %
2007-02-14 11 6.8% %
2007-02-15 12 6.4% %
2007-02-21 13 5.2% %
2007-02-22 14 5.9% %
2007-02-28 15 4.8% %
2007-03-01 16 5.3% %
2007-03-07 17 4.9% %
2007-03-08 18 4.7% %
2007-03-14 19 4.2% %
2007-03-15 20 4.6% %
Average 7.8% %

Source: TNS Media Korea

International broadcast

Indonesia

Japan

Malaysia

Singapore

Taiwan

Thailand

Turkey

United States

Vietnam

References

  1. ↑ "Prince Hours". MBC Global Media. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  2. ↑ Untitled Document
  3. ↑ 손에 잡히는 뉴스 눈에 보이는 뉴스 - 뉴스엔
  4. ↑ Daum 미디어다음 - 뉴스
  5. ↑ Program@Indosiar.com
  6. ↑ 無題ドキュメント
  7. ↑ ＢＳジャパン 宮S Secret Prince
  8. ↑ Prince Hours
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ GTV{我的野蠻王子}
  11. ↑ ช่อง 7 สี : ละคร ข่าว-บันเทิง ซีรี่ส์เกาหลี ภาพยนตร์ เพลงละคร ตารางออกอากาศ รายการ-เพลง-วาไรตี้
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ Chinese/Japanese/Korean dramas on TV
  14. ↑

External links

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