Na PD has annouced he’s launching a new variety show on tvN called Coffee Friends, which will be headlined by real-life best friends Yoo Yeon-seok (Mr. Sunshine) and Sohn Ho-joon (My Secret Terrius). The pair first worked with Na PD on the travel variety show Youths Over Flowers back in 2014. Sohn Ho-joon then went on to become a regular on Na PD’s slice of life cooking variety, Three Meals A Day.
The idea for the new show comes from the two actors’ own personal project, a charity fundraiser that they ran this past year called “Coffee Friends.” If you follow Yoo Yeon-seok on social media, you may have seen their poster several times throughout the year.
The idea is simple and brilliant. The two get a food truck, drive to a designated location, and they sell the coffee themselves. Usually, a celebrity friend or two pops by and helps them out. There are no set prices as each purchase is considered a donation, and all proceeds are donated to a charity. As a rule, the actors do not accept any personal gifts from fans on these days as well.
tvN’s Coffee Friends will be an upgraded version of the coffee truck event with a little bit of Na PD’s Youn’s Kitchen thrown into the mix. Instead of a coffee truck, Yoo Yeon-seok and Sohn Ho-joon will be setting up a brick-and-mortar café in a tangerine farm on Jeju Island. The two friends will run the café and serve brunch in addition to coffee. Keeping in tune with the heart of the original Coffee Friends project, all profits will be donated to charity.
Just like many of Na PD’s shows, Coffee Friends will be the inviting different guests to come help out. The show’s first part-time workers will be Choi Ji-woo (Most Beautiful Goodbye) and Yang Se-jong (Thirty But Seventeen). Choi Ji-woo is a familiar victim face on Na PD’s shows. Though she doesn’t normally do variety, she’s previously made appearances on Three Meals A Day, and she joined Grandpas Over Flowers as a luggage girl in training. Yang Se-jong has worked with Yoo Yeon-seok before (on Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim), but Coffee Friends will be his first time on a Na PD show.
I absolutely cannot wait as I’m a huge fan of Na PD’s shows! I loved Sohn Ho-Joon on Three Meals A Day and Yoo Yeon-seok is basically awesome in everything. The timing couldn’t be better as well. I just watched the last episode of the most recent Journey to the West earlier today and was wondering how long I would have to wait until Na PD’s next show. Let the countdown begin!
PD Park Hee-yeon, who’s previously been part of Na PD’s creative team, will direct and and Na PD will be taking the role of creative director. tvN’s Coffee Friends is currently scheduled to premiere next year in January 2019.