Korea’s homegrown streamer, e-commerce giant Coupang’s year-old Coupang Play, premiered its first original series, "One Ordinary Day", on Saturday (27 Nov 2021), with a simultaneous release on regional streaming platform, Viu, with an R21 ratings.

An adaptation of BBC Studios’ legal thriller "Criminal Justice", "One Ordinary Day" was produced by Chorokbaem Media ("Penthouse", "Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung"), Studio M and Gold Medalist ("It’s Okay to Not Be Okay"), and written by Kwon Soon-gyu ("The Royal Gambler", "Warrior Baek Dong Soo", "Jackpot"). 

The eight-episode series, directed by Lee Myung-woo ("Punch", "The Fiery Priest", "Backstreet Rookie"), airs new episodes on Saturdays and Sundays at midnight. 

"One Ordinary Day" stars Kim Soo Hyun ("It’s Okay to Not Be Okay") as college student Kim Hyun Soo, who becomes a murder suspect after one intoxicated night. As Hyun Soo begins to resign himself to his fate, a sub-par lawyer, Shin Joong Han (played by Cha Seoung Won), offers to represent him. Against all odds, the pair struggles to bring about justice and reveal the real perpetrator.

The remake is not the first for Coupang Play. The streamer has also adapted NBCUniversal’s late-night talkshow, "Saturday Night Live Korea", which it premiered on 4 September. "Saturday Night Live Korea" originally aired on tvN in 2011-2017.

Coupang Play, which also offers Hollywood movies, documentaries and animation, among other genres, is offered for free to Coupang’s premium members. 

One of Asia’s most vibrant original drama markets, Korea nevertheless cherry picks scripted formats here and there. 

In addition to One Ordinary Day, Korean producers added at least six other scripted adaptations to their slates this year in a format environment dominated by drama.   

By genre, drama dominates formats in Korea with six titles, including British comedy series "Uncle" (TV Chosun); legal drama "The Split" (JTBC), also from the U.K.; political drama "Undercover" (JTBC), based on the BBC Studios series; medical/romance drama "The Voices" from Japan’s Fuji TV; and sports/romance show, "Pride" (CJ ENM) from Fuji TV. 

ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook for the first half of 2021 puts Korea in eighth place (neck and neck with Mongolia) by volume, with eight titles aired/commissioned in the first six months of this year. This is a 6.4% share of the total 127 formats on air or commissioned in Asia during the six months.

2018 was Korea’s top performance year for formats, with 13 episodes/seasons and 2017 was the lowest with six. We counted 10 in the first half of 2019, and nine in the same period in 2020.

The latest addition from Korea is a local version of Banijay Rights’ competition reality format, "Lego Masters", which was greenlit by Korean free-TV broadcaster MBC, in October 2021.

The show, likely to be the sole non-Korean unscripted format on free-TV in Korea, is currently being co-produced by L.A./Seoul-based B&C Content with MBC. The Korean version is the second in Asia after China’s Shenzhen TV, which has recently concluded the show on 19 November. Versions have also been made in Australia with New Zealand to follow.