It’s starting to feel like autumn: The leaves are beginning to change colors, the air is a bit crisper, and temperatures are starting to cool down, which leaves me in the mood to hunker down with a few good romantic shows. Luckily, we’ve got two starting this week that just may fit the bill.
Matrimonial Chaos (aka Best Divorce)
Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: KBS
Genre: Rom-com
Episode count: 32 (half-hour episodes, 16 hours total)
Reasons to watch: In this remake of a 2013 Japanese drama, Cha Tae-hyun and Bae Doo-na play a married couple about to call it quits on their union. I’m intrigued by their casting: Cha, mostly known for his comedic roles, takes on a prickly, rigid persona, while Bae, so serious and badass in Forest of Secrets, is cast as his carefree, easygoing, soon-to-be ex-wife. Lee El plays Cha’s first love, who is married to Sohn Suk-goo, and the show will juxtapose both relationships and examine marriage and divorce in a new light. It sounds like bleaker fare, but based on the news and teasers, the show is indeed a rom-com. The romance may be lacking at first, but the bickering and cohabitation escapades post-divorce set an early comedic tone–I expect plenty of laughs.
Twelve Nights
Time slot: Friday
Broadcaster: Channel A
Genre: Youth romance
Episode count: 12
Reasons to watch: Not only does it star Han Seung-yeon and Shin Hyun-soo from Age of Youth, but it also has a sugary sweet premise. Han plays a photographer from New York and Shin a man who throws away his desk job in Tokyo to follow his dreams of becoming a dancer. The two leads meet three times by chance on holiday, once in 2010, once in 2015, and once in the present. They spend a total of twelve nights together and fall in love, and there are a total of twelve episodes to match. There are a lot of question marks (both the writer and director are rookies and this is the first original miniseries from Channel A in some time) but I’m rooting for Twelve Nights to be just as cute as the “making-of” episode makes it out to be.