Team Dream vs. Handsome Tigers

One of the beauties of Korean television is that it presents topics you may not think you care about in a manner that makes them appealing to viewers.

Case in point: basketball and baseball. Not all fans of Korean entertainment want to actually watch these sports. But create an intriguing storyline (as with “Stove League”) or a reality series based around celebrities competing in basketball (hello, “Handsome Tigers”) and people will tune in.

There have been some really great K-Dramas that had baseball arcs in their storyline. Yoo Yeon-seok had the second male lead role in “Reply 1994,” where he played a baseball player. And Jung Hae-in played a college baseball player who was so handsome that Gong Yoo‘s character was jealous of him in “Goblin.”

But in “Stove League,” the series is about the behind-the-scenes managers and not the players on the baseball diamond. Starring a strong cast (Namkoong Min, Park Eun-Bin, Oh Jung-Se ), the series was based on Lee Shin-hwa’s screenplay — one of the winners in the 2H 2016 MBC Drama Screenplay Contest.

The plot centers around the pro team Dreams, who early on can only seem to dream for a win. Consistently ranked last, the team is championed by the youthful Lee Se-young (played by Park Eun-Bin), who believes the players can fulfill their name’s destiny.

A good chunk of the K-drama was filmed at the Munhak Baseball Stadium, where the real-life South Korean team SK Wyverns play. Hawaii was the location substitute for the scenes that supposedly took place in California.

The series cast proved to be the true winners. After the finale scored a nationwide high of 19.1% in the AGB Nielsen ratings in South Korea, the cast members were rewarded with a relaxing trip to Saipan.

Unlike the scripted “Stove League,” “Handsome Tigers” is a reality series in which idols, actors and models who love basketball train and compete against prominent local teams. Like all reality series, there are elements that are scripted (the vignettes in the first episode were obviously staged). But overall, it has a live feel that makes the episodes exciting to watch.

The Handsome Tigers are coached by the real deal: former South Korean pro player Seo Jang-hoon and they’re managed by Joy from Red Velvet. Joy admits that she’s not a player, but she loved the sport when she was in middle school. The Korean dream team includes idol Cha Eun-woo of Astro; models Moon Soo-in and Julien Kang; and actors Seo Ji-suk and Lee Sang-yun.

Fans of Korean variety shows may feel a sense of deja vu with “Handsome Tigers.” Seo and Kang were part of the 2013 cast of KBS2’s “Our Neighborhood Arts and Physical Education” (which was also known as “Cool Kiz On The Block”). They played on a celebrity basketball team that included TVXQ‘s Max Changmin, JYP founder Park Jin-young and comedian and host Kang Ho-dong. On that series, the Cool Kiz learned to play together and then played tournaments against local club teams to see who would reign supreme.

Though Cha is one of the more famous members of the Tigers, fans will be delighted to see how humble he is. He spends a lot of time after practice working on his skills. And he berates himself with well-placed aigos/아이고 when he doesn’t live up to his own expectations.

The “Handsome Tigers” finale will air on SBS in Korea on February 28. It’ll be available with professional subtitles on KOCOWA shortly thereafter.

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