I have such a hard time not picturing circus clowns when I see Jugglers in the news, but the new KBS drama is an office comedy that focuses on secretaries and other support staff who work behind the scenes. The main character is an excellent secretary who meets her greatest challenge in the form of a boss who refuses to accept any help from others. Baek Jin-hee (Missing 9) has been offered the leading role of the secretary, opposite Daniel Choi (Big Man) who is being courted to play the boss.
Daniel Choi’s character is the director of a media company who is completely uninterested in people or developing interpersonal relationships, and believes in doing all of his work himself. It’s sure to drive Baek Jin-hee crazy—she’s up to play a bright and affable secretary who’s amazing at her job and acknowledged by everyone around her as a “tailor-made supporter sent down from the heavens.” She loves to talk and has never lost an argument a day in her life, and she’s quick to adapt and knows how to get by in any situation. She’s also the system operator of Jugglers, an online community of secretaries named for their multi-tasking abilities.
This explains why Kang Hye-jung’s (Lucid Dream) character sounds very similar on paper—there will be many secretaries featured across various fields in the drama. She’ll play a mother who returns to the workforce after 15 years as a full-time housewife, and she’ll be the kind and naive secretary to a sports business director. That director will be played by Lee Won-geun (Mystery Queen), an immature chaebol heir troublemaker who spends his efforts trying to fire 100 secretaries in a year. But at Number 89, he’s met his match who won’t go down without a fight.
I like the idea that the community of secretaries is going to be our group of protagonists, while the bosses will be antagonists of a sort. Obviously there will be some character growth for the bosses and some lovelines to complicate matters, and I’m really hoping we’ll also see some female bosses and male secretaries in the mix too. But it’s a nice change of pace to focus on the people who might not get the glory, but are essential and under-appreciated.
Jugglers will be helmed by PD Kim Jung-hyun (drama special In Search of Argenta) and new writer Jo Yong-hae, and is set to follow Witch’s Court on Mondays and Tuesdays beginning in December.