When I was stuck at home after my appendectomy, I had nothing to do but watch TV.
I watched reruns of “The Housewives of Atlanta” and caught up with “Day of Our Lives.” And if there was nothing on, I flipped the channel to the Food Network and fantasized about having a kitchen like Giada De Laurentiis.
And then my mom did something horrible.
She made me watch “Miss Ajumma.”
Watch the trailer
If you don’t already know — or you spend your weekends doing something more productive — “Miss Ajumma” is a Korean drama about the life of Kang Geum Hwa, easily the most unfortunate woman in Seoul. She was married, then let her appearance slide, got dumped by her husband who cheated with another woman, then met another guy who might be the father of the child raised by the woman who stole her husband.
You following?
Welcome to the world of K-Dramas, the world I tried — and successfully for years — to avoid. I used to watch Japanese dramas with my mom but swore I would never, ever, under any circumstance watch the Korean versions, which, I had heard were far more interesting than the ones from Japan.
Well, never say never — especially out loud on Friday nights at 9:25 p.m.
I’ve been completely consumed by “Miss Ajumma,” scheduling my life around this show, which airs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. And I don’t know why.
But I do know this: when I think I’m having a bad day, I think about Kang Geum Hwa. Traffic on Kalanianaole Highway is nothing compared to having your husband taken away by a crazy woman who now wants to steal your new boyfriend. Oh, and she has a Korean mom to deal with.
My life is pretty uncomplicated compared to that.
So I’m hooked. Just about 40 more episodes to go. You know where I’ll be at 9:25 p.m. Friday.
8 Comments
Television doesn’t fit into my life, timewise, but I’ve seen a bit of this. Production quality is fairly high. I don’t speak any Korean, but the acting is good. Regarding misfortune, everyone should have at least two friends: one to talk with, and one to talk about.
Hello Cat, I don’t watch that stuff but my parents are into it…
oh man, my aunties are all up on this. for the past couple of new year’s eves, when the whole family gathers in Hilo, my aunty’s tivo is always queued up to about ten episodes of K-dramas. and the whole female side of the family is glued to the tv. I tried watching and made it about two minutes before going back outside to the garage to drink beer (where I should have stayed in the first place).
is this a record for greatest disparity on the intelligence development spectrum for posts within a couple of days of each other? from the importance of reading to glued-to-Kdramas in two days.
Hey Cat … I’ve never been a fan of soaps … but I did get into a K-drama a few years back … I eventually stopped watching because I think it came on at a time I’d rather be doing something else … can’t remember …
… my life is uncomplicated too … but at times I think it’s like a K-drama … literally!!! …
@matt … haha … K-drama’s are not just a guilty pleasure … I think it tickles the intelligence development a little … for one, unless you understand Korean, you have to do a fair amount of subtitle reading … isn’t any reading good??? … and you just might learn a little Korean, albeit by words and phrases … hey, at least I know what ajumma and oppa and sarang heyo means now … lol …
Free confession time: I’ve discovered a deep attraction for Asian women and it comes with a toll if you will; K-dramas. The first girl I was attracted to was Korean-Okinawan, she ate, drank, and slept K-dramas. She was as attached to them as my mother was to Peyton Place. It was bizarre. The second girl I was attracted to, and came close to marrying, was Han Chinese from Hubei. She spoke the Putonghua, and I am OK with this version of Mandarin, Chongqinghua which was somewhat unintelligible, and a little Korean. Whenever I would visit before we did anything else I had to sit quietly, and I do mean quietly, and watch K-dramas. A violation of this rule might land me in the doghouse with no blanket on a cold night.
Now I realize all women with Asian genetics are not necessarily encoded with this dominant trait but it seemed that way to me. All of my buddy’s who have Asian wives or girlfriends report K-dramas as a part of their life. I have decided it is their version of golf. But alas I have met a number of ladies lately that don’t watch them. Redneck Asian women are different.
Truth be told I get it. Compared to the never ending life dilemmas in these shows life is pretty good. I actually enjoyed them myself after a while. Even had a world class crush on one of the stars and asked about her on a trip to South Korea. She was out of the country at the time but the concierge assured me he could fix me up… I think he just wanted my money 🙂 I was hoping he was serious. He was probably hoping I wasn’t.
I liked the lady at the desk that arranged travel in Seoul so much I asked her out to dinner. It made Seoul, an awesome city, seem like heaven. Because in Seoul, 55 year old men aren’t creepy old men. And yes, K-dramas were on the menu that evening. Sigh.
Channel surfing I stumbled across this on an Asian programming channel. I got hooked by how good the music and dancing was so I bought the box set. When I started dating my current girlfriend, I suggested we watch it since she loves anything about dancing. At first, she thought “Oh great, my boyfriend is gay” but after one episode, she was HOOKED. Now whenever she sees a handsome Korean guy, she nicknames him Hyuk Joo (from the show)
Here is what I was talking about: https://www.mysoju.com/korean-drama/over-the-rainbow-drama/
I know exactly what you mean…i watched one episode of you don’t know woman and i was hooked! Faithfully i watched every episode until it ended. And all my mom did was laugh and try to suggest more dramas that i would like!