Reply 1997
Reply 1997 (Hangul:응답하라 1997) is a Korean television series about two childhood friends, their friends, and family. The story moves back and forth between their past high school lives in 1997 as 18-year-olds, and their present high school reunion in 2012. It was aired on cable channel tvN from July 24 to September 18, 2012.
This cable drama depicts the place and time of the story in detail. The background of the television serial is Busan, so most of the conversations between the characters are spoken in Busan dialect. It recreates the lives of Koreans in the late 1990s. Shi-won, the main character, is a huge fan of H.O.T, one of the first generation idol groups. She represents the fan culture of those days. Also, the latest styles and electronic appliances (which are old-fashioned in the eyes of modern-day audiences) of the times are shown to add the sense of reality. Moreover, most pieces of the background music used in the scenes are the popular songs of the 1990s. As a result, viewers got nostalgic feelings and a sense of humor. Reply 1997 was influential in the rise of retro trend across the whole society.
The sensational attention to the cable drama resulted in average ratings of 7.55% in the last episode. The success led to the production of its spin-off Reply 1994, which was broadcast from October 18, 2013 on tvN.
Cast
- Jung Eun-ji - as Sung Shi-won
- Seo In-guk - as Yoon Yoon-jae
- Hoya - as Kang Joon-hee
- Shin So-yul - as Mo Yoo-jung
- Eun Ji-won - as Do Hak-chan
- Lee Shi Un - as Bang Sung-jae