There aren’t that many Korean drama remakes of J-doramas, and vice-versa. Sometimes both crib from the same source material, but direct remakes don’t happen often. I chalk that up to the drama storytelling style being very different in the two countries. Some think there are more and more remakes recently which is true. A few recent ones are Queen of the Classroom a remake of Joo no Kyoshitsu, God of Study a remake of Dragon Zakura, Operation Proposal a remake of Proposal Daisakusen, The Queen of the Office a remake of Haken no hinkaku, That Winter, The WInd Blows a remake of Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu, and the list could go on. It looks like a lot even in the last two years, but overall I think it’s still an outlier. The upcoming The Suspicious Housekeeper is getting quite a lot of buzz because it’s a remake of the biggest ratings hit in Japanese television for the last twelve years. Kaisefu no Mita ended with over 40% in ratings which hasn’t happened since KimaTaku romanced a crippled Tokiwa Takako in Beautiful Life back in 2000. I’m not sure the meat of this story would have the same ratings lure for the Korean audience but I must say the cast is looking pretty darn swell and the just released official posters are excellently moody and eye-catching. I’m not the biggest Choi Ji Woo fan since I think she’s always quite placid onscreen, but in the stills she nails the aura of the titular character of the expressionless and emotionless housekeeper to a family dealing with the recent loss of their matriarch. Lee Sung Jae plays the dad, a fantastic actor coming off the nastiest role ever in Gu Family Book I feel the need to mentally scrub that drama from my mind before checking him out here. The four kids of the family are played by Kim So Hyun (Missing You), Chae Sang Woo (Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love), Nam Da Reum (Horse Doctor), and Kang Ji Woo (May Queen). Rounding out the main cast is Park Geun Hyung as the grandpa and Wang Ji Hye as the aunt. I’m rather intrigued by this remake even if it looks almost scene-for-scene since Korean child cast is pretty exceptional and I feel like they will bring their own charisma to the table. The drama airs in two weeks after Empire of Gold wraps up on SBS Mon-Tues. I say it has a good shot of snatching a piece of the ratings crown since it’s up against the craptastic and lowly rated Goddess of Fire and the solid but not yet a runaway hit Good Doctor. On a side note, young teen actor Chae Sang Woo has flipped the switch between JOJ and here, solidifying his potential as the successor to Yeo Jin Goo and Park Gun Tae as both of them age out of that sweet spot of teen roles. He’s looking gorgeously adorable here.
Here’s the original Kaisefu no Mita dysfunctional family unit, strange housekeeper included.
I love the kid acting unit assembled for this drama. A++
And now that Yeo Jin Gu and Park Gun Tae have both aged-out of the tween roles, Chae Sang Woo is definitely the front-runner as the heir apparent. Just eight months ago he was filming Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love and looked like a boy still. Now he’s suddenly morphed into a potential hottie with that tween cool aura all around him.
Previews for The Suspicious Housekeeper:
Choi ji woo mouth looks weird.. maybe because of the botox or ps?
Her upper lip is super thin and throws off the lower half of her face. Botox is a given.
I mean around her face.. But this drama sure looks interesting because I love the J version of this drama. And hoping Korean will do the justice for it.
I think Wang Bitna is supposed to play the character of the woman the father was in love with( which was a minimal part in the jdorama version) while the aunt in portrayed by someone else. If I remember correctly the parents marriage wasn’t exactly happy and dad fell in love with another woman.
I do hope they do stay within the original plot and don’t add any romance between Mita and the father. Already they’ve made the dad’s love character much more larger then in the original.
The fact that Shim Yi Young (the aunt) isn’t even on the drama main poster when she actually has a major crush on the father suggests that the drama will set up a triangle between Lee Sung Jae, Wang Ji Hye, and Choi Ji Woo. I don’t think K viewers will like having the dad end up single.
A little too late here, but having watched at ep.12, understand now why this drama is at least rating well in S.Korea. Havent seen the Japanese orig., I hope this Korean version will have a different Ending though. The triangle you mentioned is correct and it’s interesting. The kids character are fascinating as well; actually, the youngest girl & boy are so lovable in here. Choi Ji Woo is great here, she suits well the Mom role ha.
Can’t wait for this! I was all so excited about the kid actors even before the promotional stills came out, and now, I’m feeling even more impatient. Seeing them for one entire drama instead of trading off with adult counterparts — this makes me so happy. They could act some of the adults out of the water.
Count me in, I love kids.
Have any of these remakes been doing good in South Korea? How do Koreans feel about so many Japanese remakes? I actually seen Kaisefu no Mita and drama was awesome. I truly understand the high rating for the Japanese Version but the Korean version just seem weird. Its not something I would picture the Korean audience being interested in.
it looks exactly the same, except the shoes of nanako matsushima is probably too big to fill. honestly surprised this will be taken up for a remake. much of the appeal of the original show was the suspense and mystery. if this remake follows a very similar storyline, the appeal will be greatly diminished.
I really LIKE those posters
I think is Kaseifu no Mita, not Kaisefu
just a little correction dear