Best Chicken (Korean: 최고의 치킨; RR: Choegoui Chikin) is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Park Sun-ho, Kim So-hye and Joo Woo-jae. It aired on MBN and Dramax from January 2 to February 7, 2019, every Wednesday and Thursday at 23:00 (KST).[1]
Best Chicken | |
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![]() Promotional poster | |
Hangul | 최고의 치킨 |
Genre | Romantic comedy[1] |
Written by |
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Directed by | Lee Seung-hoon |
Starring | |
Country of origin | South Korea |
Original language | Korean |
No. of episodes | 12 |
Production | |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network |
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Release | January 2 February 7, 2019 | –
Plot
editPark Choi-go quits from his office table job to open a chicken restaurant in a middle-income neighborhood of Seoul. Renting a plot of land where a sauna stands from the landlord, Seo Myung-dong, he has to face Myung-dong's temperamental granddaughter and the sauna's owner, Bo-ah. For the past five years, Bo-ah, a failing webtoon artist, has been holing up in the sauna after a conflict with a popular webtoon artist over ownership rights led to her being shunned from the community. Myung-dong asks Choi-go to admit Bo-ah as a part-timer in his restaurant in exchange for a lower rent fee, hoping that she can regain her spirit.
Bo-ah is hostile at Choi-go for disturbing her peace and regards him as simply a rich bourgeoisie who wanted to experience the life of a commoner. Helped by her childhood friends: Hwang Min-ah, Oh Yeong-ho, and Kim Kyu-man, they try to sabotage the joint through various means, such as handing out scathing flyers, which backfires when it turns viral and therefore garners attention. However, Choi-go's seriousness at his job and unfailing kindness to Bo-ah cause her to begin questioning her first impression. Since Choi-go never studied cooking, the restaurant operates at a loss until he hires Andrew Kang, a bum with a tremor who used to work at a three-star Michelin restaurant.
Around the time when Bo-ah softens and falls in love with Choi-go, two adversaries come into the scene. The first is Choi-go's ex-girlfriend, Moon So-dam, who works at a food TV program and wants to reconnect with Choi-go by doing a free publicity of the joint. During the broadcast, Min-ah, Yeong-ho, and Kyu-man successfully do a sabotage, causing its suspension for two months. So-dam becomes suspicious of Bo-ah, who did not participate in the plan, tries to warn Choi-go, who refuses to believe her, and attempts to catch the trio off-guard when they try another sabotage. However, Andrew bails them at the last minute and makes them promise not to do it again. The second adversary is Choi-go's domineering mother, So Oh-sook, who is angry at him for quitting his previous job and attempts to reduce his chance of winning big by opening a chicken joint down the street after tricking Bo-ah into giving her his recipe.
Feeling guilty, Bo-ah admits her previous actions to Choi-go and considers resigning. While upset, Choi-go comes to realize that he has grown to love her and confesses, begging her to stay. Min-ah, Yeong-ho, and Kyu-man are initially livid at Bo-ah for not telling them to stop harassing Choi-go sooner, but quickly make amends when a tragedy strikes her: the death of Myung-dong. During the funeral, Bo-ah's deadbeat father, Gong-cheol suddenly appears to take his legal inheritance, despite the fact that his father had left all his possessions to Bo-ah, and redevelop the neighborhood, which would raze the chicken joint to the ground. Assisted by her friends, Bo-ah manages to convince the neighborhood not to sell their land.
Several months later, Choi-go's chicken joint is growing popular. Oh-sook chooses to stop bothering Choi-go and sell her joint. So-dam has moved on and is dating Choi-go's brother, Joon-hyuk, with whom she grew closer while investigating Bo-ah and her friends. Thinking that he has nothing more to offer to Choi-go, Andrew resigns and opens a restaurant nearby. Bo-ah, meanwhile, finally decides to draw webtoon again, having made a promise to Myung-dong to live her life to the fullest.
Cast
editMain
edit- Park Sun-ho as Park Choi-go (28 years old)
- An employee of a large corporation who quits his job to open his own chicken restaurant, which he considers a dream project.[2] He is a very optimistic and idealistic man, sometimes outrageously so.
- Kim So-hye as Seo Bo-ah (25 years old)
- The owner of a public bathhouse that her grandfather rented out without her consent who dreams of becoming a webtoon artist.[1] She has a negative view of the world after her work was rejected five years ago because of a feud with another webtoon artist, regarding everyone new to her as a nuisance.
- Joo Woo-jae as Andrew Kang (33 years old)
- A once promising chef who is currently homeless.[3] A serious person at all times, Andrew has a bad case of tremor which discourages him from doing physical work for a long time. A running gag in the series is characters mispronouncing his Western name, such as Edward or Alexander.
Supporting
edit- Lee Seung-hyub as Park Joon-hyuk
- Choi-go's older brother who is an Oriental Medicine doctor. He excels in academic studies, but is bad at table waiting, as the chicken joint find out when he substitutes for Bo-ah while she is on vacation.
- Son Min-ji as Hwang Min-ah
- Bo-ah's friend who is smart and does all the planning.[1] She works as a secretary at the neighborhood's real estate firm.
- Jeon Seong-hwan as Oh Yeong-ho
- Bo-ah's friend who likes to fool around.[1] He runs the neighborhood grocery store.
- Yoo Moon-chi as Kim Kyu-man
- Bo-ah's friend who runs the neighborhood butcher shop.[1] He has an identical younger cousin who is still a high school student.
- Myung Kye-nam as Seo Myung-dong
- Bo-ah's paternal grandfather and the landlord of the neighborhood. Though appearing grumpy, he is very caring to Bo-ah, having raised her by himself since young after her mother died and her father left.
- Hong Soon-chang as the real estate manager and Min-ah's grandfather.
- Ahn Young-chae as Kwon-hyuk
- A legendarily fast delivery man from the neighborhood who speaks very little. Near the end of the series, he is hired by Choi-go to become the chicken joint's delivery man.
- Na In-woo as Lee Jin-sang
- A popular webtoon artist whose feud with Bo-ah over ownership rights led to her being excluded from the community.
- Sora Jung as So Oh-sook
- Choi-go's and Joon-hyuk's overbearing mother and a retired restaurant manager. When her husband was unable to find a job, she became the family's sole breadwinner, which the brothers speak of positively, but it also caused her to develop a view that only she knows what is best for them.
- Ah Young as Moon So-dam
- Choi-go's ex-girlfriend who works at a TV station specializing in food programs.
- Hongseok as Bae Ki-bum
- A part-timer at Choi-go's restaurant.[4] He is hired by the chicken joint as additional manpower when So-dam's TV crew is about to shoot.
- Choi Sung-kook as Seo Gong-cheol
- Bo-ah's father. He abandoned the family when she was young and only reappears in her life after Myung-dong's death.
Production
editFilming began in September 2018.[2]
Original soundtrack
editBest Chicken OST | |
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Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
Recorded | 2018 |
Genre | Soundtrack |
Language | |
Label | Warner Music, Forest Media |
Part 1
editNo. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Artist | Length |
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1. | "Sweet Stranger" | Kim Yoo-kyung | Oh Joon-sung | Kim Eun-bi (EB) | 3:28 |
2. | "Sweet Stranger" (Inst.) | Oh Joon-sung | 3:28 | ||
Total length: | 6:56 |
Part 2
editNo. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Artist | Length |
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1. | "Dr. Dream" | Kim Jin-ah | Oh Joon-sung | Sohee (Elris) | 4:04 |
2. | "Dr. Dream" (Inst.) | Oh Joon-sung | 4:04 | ||
Total length: | 8:08 |
Part 3
editNo. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Artist | Length |
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1. | "Chicken Song" (치킨송) | Oh Joon-sung | Oh Joon-sung | Chick Choir | 2:35 |
2. | "Chicken Song" (Inst.) | Oh Joon-sung | 2:35 | ||
Total length: | 5:10 |
Part 4
editNo. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Artist | Length |
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1. | "Heaven" | Kim Yoo-kyung | Oh Joon-sung | Seven O'Clock | 3:58 |
2. | "Heaven" (Inst.) | Oh Joon-sung | 3:58 | ||
Total length: | 7:56 |
Part 5
editNo. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Artist | Length |
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1. | "Lucky" | Oh Joon-sung, Eun Jong-tae | Oh Joon-sung | J. Mee | 4:07 |
2. | "Lucky" (Inst.) | Oh Joon-sung | 4:07 | ||
Total length: | 8:14 |
Ratings
editEp. | Original broadcast date | Nielsen Korea[5] |
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1 | January 2, 2019 | 1.267% |
2 | January 3, 2019 | 0.927% |
3 | January 9, 2019 | 1.207% |
4 | January 10, 2019 | 0.939% |
5 | January 16, 2019 | 0.995% |
6 | January 17, 2019 | 0.941% |
7 | January 23, 2019 | 1.270% |
8 | January 24, 2019 | 0.781% |
9 | January 30, 2019 | 1.249% |
10 | January 31, 2019 | 0.714% |
11 | February 6, 2019 | 1.000% |
12 | February 7, 2019 | 0.710% |
Average | 1.000% | |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f ""The Best Fried Chicken" Tells of Chicken and Revenge". HanCinema. Newsen. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ a b "박선호X김소혜, 한일합작 드라마 '최고의 치킨' 캐스팅 확정(공식)". Newsen (in Korean). Newsen. Archived from the original on October 4, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ 드라맥스 '최고의 치킨' 측 "박선호·김소혜 출연..내년 1월2일 첫 방송". Naver (in Korean). MK Sports. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ '최고의 치킨' 펜타곤 홍석, 지옥에서 온 치킨집 알바생 '기대'. Naver (in Korean). Tenasia. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ "AGB Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu". Nielsen Korea (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
External links
edit- Official website (Dramax) (in Korean)
- Official website (MBN) (in Korean)
- Best Chicken at HanCinema
- Best Chicken at IMDb