Overview
Hur Jun is a 2000 TV biographical drama broadcast by the South Korean TV channel MBC. It was aired by Taiwan Television in 2002 and Hong Kong's TVB in 2005, after the finale of "Dae Jang Geum". Because of the similarities between the two main characters of the show, "Hur Jun" has often been called the male version of "Dae Jang Geum".
Also worth noting is the fact that the original title of the show was never used outside South Korea. In Taiwan, the title was re-worked to become "The Way of Medicine: The Epic Doctor Hur Jun". The first half of the title stuck, and was used by TVB when it aired "Hur Jun" in 2005.
Reviews
The drama had a weak and uninteresting start but it managed to pick itself back up after some time. Some patients' stories didn't blend well with what was going on and it passed off as an interruption. It shares a lot of similarities with Jewel in the Palace (2003) but with a less attractive cast. Not only that but it also shares the same problems Jewel in the Palace (2003) had had. You may refer to my comment there. In comparison, I would nudge this one slightly higher since it had a more raw feeling to it. The drama also had a modern remake back in 2013. There was no specific fundamental issues with the base story to prompt a remake. There were too many identical copy-pasted scenes and jokes, they don't take any creative freedom with the core story/scenes to make the remake worthwhile. Although the remake is longer but this came at the expense of its pace since the extended content was poorly utilized and made it a worse experience overall. A lot of over exaggeration/dramatization and a lot less human. I hoped the remake would have a better written ending but no, it was identical frame by frame to the original. I prefer this version over the remake for its roughness, rawness and concise cut, it makes for a better watch.