The Time (TV series)

The Time (Korean: 시간; RR: Sigan) is a South Korean television series starring Kim Jung-hyun, Seohyun, Kim Jun-han and Hwang Seung-eon. It aired on MBC from July 25 to September 20, 2018.^[2]

The Time
Promotional poster
Hangul	시간
Hanja	時間
Genre	Romance Melodrama
Written by	Choi Ho-chul
Directed by	Jang Joon-ho
Starring	Kim Jung-hyun Seohyun Kim Jun-han Hwang Seung-eon
Composer	Jeung Se-rin
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	32^[a]
Production
Executive producers	Kim Seung-jo Son Ji-hyun
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	35 minutes^[a]
Production companies	SILKWOOD^[b] Will Entertainment [ko]^[c]
Original release
Network	MBC
Release	July 25 (2018-07-25) – September 20, 2018 (2018-09-20)

Synopsis

A man who is terminally ill and facing death does everything that he can in his last days to help a woman whose life he ruined.

Cast

Main

• Kim Jung-hyun as Cheon Soo-Ho

Son of W Group's CEO, and CEO of a restaurant. He is seen as a perfect man. His time is running out due to his failing health.

• Seohyun as Seol Ji-hyun^[3]

A bright and optimistic woman who becomes the breadwinner of a house at a young age. Her time hasn't moved on since the death of her sister.

• Kim Jun-han as Shin Min-seok^[4]

Ji-hyun's boyfriend. A lawyer of W Group's legal team. He is seen as a trustworthy person.

• Hwang Seung-eon as Eun Chae-ah^[5]

Soo-Ho's fiancé. Only daughter of the CEO of Taeyang Group. Her obsession with Soo-Ho causes an accident and she hides behind manipulated time.

Supporting

Cheon Su-ho's family

• Choi Jong-hwan as CEO Cheon

CEO of W Group. Soo-Ho's father.

• Jeon Soo-kyeong as Jang Ok-soon^[6]

W Group's madam and Soo-Ho's stepmother.

• Seo Hyun-woo as Cheon Soo-chul

Soo-Ho's elder half-brother.

Seol Ji-hyun's family

• Kim Hee-jung as Yang Hee-seok^[6]

Ji-hyun's immature mother.

• Yoon Ji-won as Seol Ji-eun

Ji-hyun's younger sister.

People around Cheon Su-ho

• Jo Byung-gyu as Kim Bok-kyu
• Joo In-young as Manager Hong
• Kim Yong-joon as Chef Wang
• Kang Min-ah as Miss Yang

People around Seol Ji-hyun

• Ahn Ji-hyun as Oh Young-hee
• Kim Jung-tae as Geum Tae-sung^[7]

A loan shark. Yang Hee-seok's ex-lover.

• Heo Jung-do as Nam Dae-chul

People around Shin Min-seok

• Choi Deok-moon as Nam Dae-chul^[8]

Head of W Group's legal team.

Production

• Jeon So-min was offered the lead female role but declined.^[9]
• The script reading was held on April 28, 2018.^[10]
• On August 26, 2018, it was announced that lead actor Kim Jung-hyun dropped out of the cast due to health concerns. His agency revealed that there would be no replacement for him and the production crew was working on revising the script for his character to naturally fall out of the story.^[11][12] He officially finished filming on September 3.^[13]

Original soundtrack

Time OST
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Recorded	Early 2018
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	Blending Co., Ltd.

Part 1

Released on August 2, 2018 (2018-08-02)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Time" (시간)	Seo Dong-sung	Park Sung-il	Gaho	03:45
2.	"Time" (Inst.)		Park Sung-il		03:45
Total length:					07:30

Part 2

Released on August 16, 2018 (2018-08-16)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Close Your Eyes" (눈을 감아)	Lee Chi-hoon	Park Sung-il	Sohyang	04:25
2.	"Close Your Eyes" (Inst.)		Park Sung-il		04:25
Total length:					08:50

Part 3

Released on August 23, 2018 (2018-08-23)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"It Will Pass" (지나간다)	Lee Bo-ram	Eunju-ssi	Owl	04:11
2.	"It Will Pass" (Inst.)		Eunju-ssi		04:11
Total length:					08:22

Part 4

Released on August 29, 2018 (2018-08-29)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"I'm Okay, I'm Not Okay" (괜찮아 괜찮지 않아)	Seo Dong-sung	Park Sung-il	Vincent	04:25
2.	"I'm Okay, I'm Not Okay" (Inst.)		Park Sung-il		04:25
Total length:					08:50

Part 5

Released on September 6, 2018 (2018-09-06)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Request" (당부)	Seo Dong-sung	Park Sung-il	Bily Acoustie	03:50
2.	"Request" (Inst.)		Park Sung-il		03:50
Total length:					07:40

Part 6

Released on September 19, 2018 (2018-09-19)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Long Dream"	Lee Chi-hoon	Park Sung-il	Park Ji-woo	03:36
2.	"Long Drema" (Inst.)		Park Sung-il		03:36
Total length:					07:12

Disc 2:

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Disappear"	Various Artists	4:06
2.	"Decide to Live"	Various Artists	6:28
3.	"Empty Heart"	Various Artists	2:17
4.	"Guardian Angel"	Various Artists	3:06
5.	"Longing in your heart"	Various Artists	3:49
6.	"Protective Love"	Various Artists	3:46
7.	"Regret for wasting time"	Various Artists	5:38
8.	"Sorrow that cannot be shared"	Various Artists	3:49
9.	"Star's Wish"	Various Artists	3:07
10.	"Time and Fate"	Various Artists	3:26
11.	"Want to keep time"	Various Artists	3:12

Controversy

In July 2018, Kim Jung-Hyun was involved in a controversy over his "emotionless" behavior during a press conference.^{[14][unreliable source?]} His agency, O& Entertainment, defended him by stating that "Because [Kim Jung Hyun] is spending a lot of time thinking about his character, immersing himself into the life of someone terminally ill every day, he had difficulty maintaining his [physical and mental] condition, and unintentionally made a mistake."^{[15][better source needed]} In 2021 Kim released an apology letter regarding his behavior during that period, after a local tabloid claimed that he allegedly requested to remove several scenes that included physical contact with his then co-star.^[16]

Ratings

• In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.
• NR denotes that the drama did not rank in the top 20 daily programs on that date.
• N/A denotes that the rating is not known.

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		TNmS^[17]		AGB Nielsen^[18]
		Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide	Seoul
1	July 25, 2018	3.1%	3.3%	3.5% (NR)	3.7% (NR)
2		3.6%	3.8%	4.0% (NR)	4.2% (NR)
3	July 26, 2018	2.9%	3.1%	3.3% (NR)	3.5% (NR)
4		3.8%	4.0%	4.2% (NR)	4.4% (NR)
5	August 1, 2018	2.7%	2.8%	3.1% (NR)	3.2% (NR)
6		3.6%	3.7%	4.0% (NR)	4.1% (NR)
7	August 2, 2018	2.4%	2.5%	2.8% (NR)	2.9% (NR)
8		3.1%	3.2%	3.5% (NR)	3.6% (NR)
9	August 8, 2018	3.4%	3.5%	3.8% (NR)	4.0% (NR)
10		4.2%	4.3%	4.6% (NR)	5.3% (NR)
11	August 9, 2018	3.1%	3.4%	3.7% (NR)	3.8% (NR)
12		3.3%	3.5%		3.9% (NR)
13	August 16, 2018	2.5%	2.6%	2.9% (NR)	3.0% (NR)
14		3.0%	3.1%	3.4% (NR)	3.5% (NR)
15	August 22, 2018	2.5%	2.6%	2.9% (NR)	3.1% (NR)
16		3.3%	3.5%	3.7% (NR)	3.8% (NR)
17	August 29, 2018	2.1%	2.2%	2.6% (NR)	2.7% (NR)
18		2.8%	2.9%	3.2% (NR)	3.3% (NR)
19	August 30, 2018	3.7%	4.0%	4.1% (NR)	4.5% (NR)
20		4.3%	4.8%	4.7% (NR)	5.0%(NR)
21	September 5, 2018	3.4%	—	2.8% (NR)	—
22		3.7%		3.2% (NR)
23	September 6, 2018	—		3.1% (NR)
24				3.5% (NR)
25	September 12, 2018			3.1% (NR)
26				3.6% (NR)
27	September 13, 2018			3.2% (NR)
28				4.0% (NR)
29	September 20, 2018			2.7% (NR)
30				3.3% (NR)
31				3.6% (NR)
32
Average		N/A	N/A	3.1%	N/A

• Episodes did not air on August 15 due to the broadcast of the 2018 Asian Games: Soccer Men's Tournament - Preliminary Group E match between South Korean and Bahrain.
• Episodes did not air on August 23 due to coverage of the 2018 Asian Games.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2018	2nd The Seoul Awards	Popularity Award, Actress	Seohyun	Won	^[citation needed]
	2018 Korea Best Star Awards	Best Drama Star		Won	^[citation needed]
	2018 MBC Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Monday-Tuesday Miniseries	Seohyun	Nominated	^[19]
		Excellence Award, Actor in a Wednesday-Thursday Miniseries	Kim Jun-han	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Monday-Tuesday Miniseries	Hwang Seung-eon	Nominated
		Best Supporting Cast in Wednesday-Thursday Miniseries	Seo Hyun-woo	Nominated
		Fighting Performer Award	Seohyun	Won
		Best Couple Award	Kim Jung-hyun and Seohyun	Nominated

Notes

1. In order to circumvent Korean laws that prevent commercial breaks in the middle of an episode, what would previously have been aired as single 70 minute episodes are now being repackaged as two 35 minute episodes, with two episodes being shown each night with a commercial break between the two.^[1]
2. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Imagine Asia opted out of co-producing Time and it was replaced by Silkwood, a production company founded by ex-KBS business reporter Kim Seung-jo.
3. A subsidiary of Soribada

References

1. Park, Jin-hai (May 16, 2017). "Drama viewers angry over commercial breaks". The Korea Times. Retrieved April 17, 2020 – via PressReader.
2. "MBC 측 "김정현X서현, '시간' 출연 확정…28일 첫 대본리딩" [공식]". TV Report (in Korean). April 27, 2018.
3. "Seo-hyun Lands Another Lead Role in New TV Series". The Chosun Ilbo. May 12, 2018.
4. 김준한, ‘시간(가제)’ 캐스팅 확정… 욕망의 변호사役. TenAsia (in Korean). May 2, 2018.
5. "황승언, MBC 수목극 '시간' 캐스팅 확정..콧대 높고 쿨한 재벌가 외동딸". YG Stage (in Korean). May 4, 2018.
6. "MBC Drama "Time - Drama" Script Reading". Hancinema. Naver. June 11, 2018.
7. 김정태, ‘시간’ 출연…"다시 만난 ‘도둑놈 도둑님’ 어벤져스". TenAsia (in Korean). May 2, 2018.
8. 최덕문, ‘시간’ 출연 확정… 법무팀 부장 役. TenAsia (in Korean). May 9, 2018.
9. "MBC 측 "서현·전소민·김정현, '시간' 출연 논의 중" (공식)". FN News (in Korean). April 12, 2018.
10. ""김정현X서현, 4시간 열연"…MBC 새 수목극 '시간' 첫 대본리딩". My Daily (in Korean). June 11, 2018.
11. '시간' 김정현, 건강상 이유로 하차결정.."본인 상심 커"[공식입장 전문]. Naver (in Korean). OSEN. August 26, 2018.
12. "Kim Jung-hyun to step down from drama 'Time' midway". Kpop Herald. August 27, 2018.
13. [단독]'시간' 김정현, 오늘(3일) 마지막 촬영…"하차→치료 집중". Nate (in Korean). E Daily. August 26, 2018.
14. "Actor Kim Jung Hyun Under Fire For Cold Behavior During "Time" Press Conference". Koreaboo. 2018-07-20. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
15. "Kim Jung Hyun Criticized For Behavior At "Time" Press Conference". Soompi. 2018-07-20. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
16. "Actress Seo Yea-ji accused of controlling boyfriend". koreatimes. 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
17. "TNMS Daily Ratings at Naver". TNMS Ratings (in Korean). Retrieved May 9, 2018.
18. . AGB Nielsen Media Research (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
19. Jung, Yu-jin (December 31, 2018). [So Ji-sub Soo'First Debut in 23 Years' (mbc Drama Awards)[Photo and HD]]. Newsen (in Korean). Archived from the original on December 31, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2020 – via Naver.

External links

• Official website (in Korean)
• The Time at IMDb  
• The Time at HanCinema