[drama 2007] The Great Catsby 위대한 캣츠비

Official Website

Scheduled premiere: July 4th, 2007

When: Wednesday/Thursday nights on tvN at 11 P.M.

Total Episodes: 24

Cast: MC Mong, Park Yeh Jin, Kang Kyeong Joon, Jang Hyun Sung

The drama is an adaptation of the popular internet comic turned manhwa (graphic novel) by Kang Do Ha. The manhwa is critically acclaimed having won many awards and is so popular there is also a musical adaptation.

Story

Introduction to the first volume:

Catsby, twenty-something nobody, loses his girl-friend to another man.

A richer man. His pal Houndu treats him to wine, women and song, but there's no forgetting the lost Persu. The thousand humiliations of youth are poured upon Catsby, who feels far too much to begin with, and whose prospects go from bad to worse. Now he's petrified by his father, now drunk on the floor, now freaking over a blind-date, now convinced it's all for nothing. And that's just volume one of this groundbreaking new series.

No detail however vulgar or delicate is left out as the angst of youth is beautifully dissected.

Read the rest at your own risk. Stoyline and unfolding plots will be spoiled..

Second volume:

Catsby is wrestling with a whole new set of life's challenges in this volume. His first love is gone for good - or is she? Meanwhile, a new woman arrives on the scene with some very interesting ideas about what couples can get up when there's no one else around. And Catsby's trusted confidante and drinking buddy Houndu begins to reveal some surprising predilections of his own - like a weakness for married women (whose husbands he just happens to be working for!).

Third volume:

Volume 3 finds our hero slowly heading down the road to maturity, thanks to his deepening relationship with his new girlfriend Sun. But it wouldn't be Catsby without plenty of hilarious and touching detours along the way - like an ill-fated job interview, learning to shop (or have your sweetie shop) for winter clothes, and discovering that your "shadow" happens to look a lot like your ex-girlfriend.

Meanwhile, the nearby housing development is going to be called "Provence" - but as Catsby learns, he can travel to a Provence of the mind whenever he's alone with a certain someone. Will true love find a way? Will our hero ever learn to support himself? And will Houndu ever be able to shake the flu?

Fourth volume:

The fourth and most wrenching Catsby yet starts with an ominous dream - featuring some all-too-literal "mixed signals" - and only grows more intense from there, as Catsby and his buddy Houndu find themselves navigating the deeper waters of love, whether requited or unrequited.

See abject poverty force Catsby into a new role as housekeeper, and find out whether the warmth of a beating heart can turn a humble offering of spicy rice cakes into the richest meal imaginable...

Fifth volume:

Persu has a shocking announcement to make that reverberates through the lives of all the characters. Now that she's pregnant, Catsby, who has been slowly building a happy relationship with Sun, starts to reconsider the decisions he's made. Meanwhile, Persu's husband finds strength to overcome the tragedy of his past and starts looking to a future - a future that includes Persu and her baby. And then Houndu has a day of reckoning of his own.

And still going.. the sixth volume is scheduled to come out this summer and probably more volumes to come..

How much the actual drama will follow the manhwa's story is up to the discretion of the writer of the drama, so storylines and plots in the drama may not follow exactly as the manhwa.

Cast

MC Mong as Catsby

Park Yeh Jin as Persu

Kang Kyeong Joon as Houndu

Jang Hyun Sung as Burdock (Persu's new man)

Kang Hae Min as Sun

Characters

Catsby

Catsby is a twenty-something feline down on his luck. He finds out he's in love only when his lover leaves him to marry another man.

Persu

Persu is Catsby's girlfriend of six years. One day out of the blue, she leaves Catsby with a wedding invitation... a wedding of herself and a man other than Catsby. Persu is a mysterious woman who invites Catsby to her wedding without reserve while telling him to wear a tie that her husband will be wearing at the wedding.

Houndu

Houndu is a dog-about-town and faithful friend of Catsby. He is ever-ready to help Catsby forget his worries with cheap food, bad booze, floozies. A real pal.

Sun

Sun is a "C-class" woman Catsby meets through a matchmaker. She is an extrovert who doesn't hesitate to act on her feelings even when they can come off as a bit strange.

credits

Since the manhwa has a 16+ age rating and the drama will be on a cable channel, I'm pretty sure this will garner a 19+ warning and wil NOT be a kid-friendly drama, like the previous tvN dramedy Hyena.

Wow! MC Mong is gonna be in this drama? Very cool, can't wait to hear more news about this.

Thanks for sharing

HA. Sure this will be funny.... MC MONG's in da house...~

sooooooooooooo coool.

Can't wait for this one, the cast looks great

chtVN, always do good ones

yes!!! MC Mong is the lead!!! He is a really coOL guy..... and the female lead is the actress who is Jo In Seung's wife in [What happened in Bali] right?

quite curious about this drama!!!!

Can't wait for this one, the cast looks great

chtVN, always do good ones

I only saw part of Hyena and thought it was OK. I heard of Romance Hunter (로맨스헌터) but never watched it, is it any good?

All I know about tvN is their dramas are for adult only audiences..

Some strips from the manhwa

Again, since it's a cable drama.. sexual situations probably included..

Figures Soompiers have no problems with MC Mong as the lead, but the general consensus online in Korea is MISCAST. I have to agree with them. I was excited to see Park Yeh Jin in something new but when I read MC Mong was the lead, my heart sank. This girl can't catch a break!

Anyways, here's the idea cast made by a netizen

Bong Tae Gyu perfect for Catsby in image and acting capability. (I totally agree!!)

Kang Kyeong Joon, best match from the real cast. (I can accept this, KKJ actually looks like a dog to me! Almost wolf-ish)

Han Yeh Seul as Persu, perfect for character image but lacks in acting capability. (totally agree! Yeh Seul has the right image but lacks in acting, whereas Park Yeh Jin is more of a safe cast. She doesn't have an immediate cold image like her character, but she's a competent actress capable of delivering that cold image on screen)

Kim Min Sun perfect for Sun in image and acting capability. (I agree)

Is the comic based on the novel The Great Gatsby?

Not to ask the obvious, but is this anime w/those actors' voices, or will it be a real drama? BTW it's loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby.

Not to ask the obvious, but is this anime w/those actors' voices, or will it be a real drama? BTW it's loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby.

It will be live action, as in actors portraying the characters with their bodies, not their voices. But who knows, maybe there will be some animation. OCN Someday used a bit of animation here and there, and since The Great Catsby is a manhwa, I wouldn't be surprised if they put some animation in the drama.

I also read it is loosely based on the novel The Great Gatsby. I haven't read the manhwa, but from the synopsis of each volume, I can say The Great Catsby is not a straight up adaptation of the novel. I don't see a direct correlation like Houndu is Nick, Persu is Daisy, Burdock is Tom and so on.. that's why it's said to be loosely based on the novel.

^The story line is similar enough though, and I can see a correlation of the characters (I'm an English teacher and I teach this novel almost every year; it's a fav of mine!). Anyway, this will be cool because I can download it then show it to my class next year!! Sweet!!! I hope MC Mong stays in it - I love him; he's so fun. Not sure about his acting ability though......

i'm so happy that mc mong finally gets a lead role lol he's such a good actor and he's really funny i'm really happy for him i can't wait till this comes out

i read a book called the great Gatsby and the summary is the same! cooolll...

MC Mong~

Yay, he's the lead

the cast looks great

Can't wait to see and hear more about it

looking forward to this ^^

have they started filming yet??

love mcmong&kangkyeongjoon <3 they both act very cutelyyy ~

& have a nice innocent image ... to me XP

I think the plot is awesome~ cant wait to watch!! hehe

thnks for sharinggg ~

New actress Kang Hae Min cast as Sun

Haha MC Mong?!? That's awesome!! I love him! Looking forward to this drama ^^

Figures Soompiers have no problems with MC Mong as the lead, but the general consensus online in Korea is MISCAST. I have to agree with them. I was excited to see Park Yeh Jin in something new but when I read MC Mong was the lead, my heart sank. This girl can't catch a break!

Anyways, here's the idea cast made by a netizen

Bong Tae Gyu perfect for Catsby in image and acting capability. (I totally agree!!)

Kang Kyeong Joon, best match from the real cast. (I can accept this, KKJ actually looks like a dog to me! Almost wolf-ish)

Han Yeh Seul as Persu, perfect for character image but lacks in acting capability. (totally agree! Yeh Seul has the right image but lacks in acting, whereas Park Yeh Jin is more of a safe cast. She doesn't have an immediate cold image like her character, but she's a competent actress capable of delivering that cold image on screen)

Kim Min Sun perfect for Sun in image and acting capability. (I agree)

ohh, when i read this, i thought it was the actual cast and i was like whoa, what a cast. i have to agree with you jahye, mc mong is funny and all, but as a lead actor with park yeh jin? i think she deserves better.

ohh look it's MC Mong!

looks like it's gonna be an interesting drama

can't wait to see it