Next, Please: Flower Boy Next Door

Have you been hearing a mysterious, high-pitched “EEE!!!” sound for the past week or so? Well, I must apologize: that’s the noise I’ve been making ever since I first heard about this new entry in the Oh Boy series of dramas, following after Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and my beloved Shut Up: Flower Boy Band. 

Based on a webtoon about a girl loner who spends all of her time scoping out her dreamy next door neighbor, FBND is bound to be a high-energy, youthful delight. But the real kicker is the genius casting of its leads: Yoon Si Yoon (Me Too, Flower) and Park Shin Hye (Heartstrings). They’ve each been the best thing about every drama they’ve ever been in, and their doe-eyed cuteness seems utterly compatible. (Almost too much so, in fact. They could be siblings. Uh-oh...) 

Although it’s pretty much standard procedure to shoot Kdramas live, allowing for on-the-fly course correction based on public opinion, the grapevine says FBND will begin filming soon. I find this heartening: scripting and filming a watchable show on a week-by-week basis seems spectacularly difficult. (Just ask the production team behind Faith.)

I’m hoping this show will find a middle ground between the lightweight FBRS and gritty SUFBB, but wherever it lands I’m almost certain to be a happy, happy girl.

I hate to wish away months and months of my life (especially when they contain long vacations), but will you just get here already, January?