Yoo Yeon-seok, Kim Dae-myung, Jeon Mi-do, Jo Jung-seok, Jung Kyung-ho
I can’t express how excited I am for this series to begin. Answer Me star team PD Shin Won-ho and writer Lee Woo-jung are back! The title of their new drama is Smart Doctor Living (aka Wise Doctor Life), styled similarly to Shin Won-ho’s most recent project Smart Prison Living (aka Prison Playbook), so I’m not sure if it’s going to be a related work or if it’ll just have some awesome cameos like the Answer Me series. Anyway, the first script read was held recently, and we have photos.
As the name suggests, Smart Doctor Living takes place in a hospital, where life and death are on the line every day. This drama will take a look at this microcosm and the seemingly ordinary but simultaneously extraordinary things that happen around the people who work there. As always, PD Shin Won-ho promises this will be a people-focused drama, so Beanies, bring out those tissues because I can already tell this is going to get heartfelt.
Jo Jung-seok (Nokdu Flower), Kim Dae-myung (The Sound of Your Heart), Yoo Yeon-seok (Mr. Sunshine), Jung Kyung-ho (When the Devil Calls Your Name), and Jeon Mi-do (Mother) play the tight-knit group that plays at the center of most of PD Shin Won-ho and writer Lee Woo-jung’s dramas. They are doctors who formed a strong bond as they persevered through med school together as part of the ’99 class. In addition to the leads, the supporting cast was also present at the script read.
Yoo Yeon-seok had his breakout role in Answer Me 1988 as a rising baseball star, and Jung Kyung-ho was amazing in his role as a playboy prison guard in Smart Prison Living, so I’m super stoked that these two are working together with the Answer Me dream team. Not to mention, some of my favorite veteran actors like Kim Hae-sook (Mother of Mine) and Kim Gab-soo (Chief of Staff 2) are on the cast list. The best part of the dramas that PD Shin Won-ho makes are the friendships and familial relationships, so I’m really excited to see that he’s recruited such talented actors to portray the poignant moments of those bonds.
Regarding the drama, PD Shin Won-ho said, “I’ve done many dramas that featured hospital settings in the past. I think it’s because hospitals are where many critical moments in life happen. Smart Doctor Living began because I wanted to tell a story about the lives of people who work in a place where all four stages of life occur. It’s not a drama of great thrills or hidden corruption. As I’ve always done, I’ve created a story about ordinary and small everyday things. And I’ve gathered actors who can show the power and strength of ordinary, small everyday things. As such, I will try my best to present a high-quality finished performance.”
Smart Doctor Living is scheduled to air on tvN sometime in 2020.