American Remakes of Popular Korean TV Shows

Streaming platforms erased the wall that once divided television by geography. Twenty years ago, an American viewer would have struggled to access a hit KBS drama. Today, that drama can land on ABC, FOX, or NBC with a star-studded cast, polished pilot, and a slot in primetime. Korean television formats have become one of the most influential exports of the Hallyu wave, quietly powering a generation of American hits. Below, we look at four of the most notable American remakes of popular Korean TV shows, what changed in translation, and how the originals shaped each remake.

1. Good Doctor (KBS2) becomes The Good Doctor (ABC)

The 2013 KBS2 drama Good Doctor, starring Joo Won as autistic savant pediatric surgeon Park Si-on, ran for 20 episodes and won Best Drama at the 50th Baeksang Arts Awards. Joo Won took home Top Excellence Award (Actor) at the KBS Drama Awards. The premise, a brilliant young doctor on the autism spectrum proving himself in six months at a top hospital, became one of the highest-rated medical dramas of its year in Korea.

Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim, known for Lost and Hawaii Five-0, optioned the rights through his company 3AD. CBS passed on the pilot, so Kim reacquired the rights and brought House creator David Shore on board with Sony Pictures Television. ABC ordered the series in May 2017, and The Good Doctor premiered on September 25, 2017, with Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy. The pilot mirrored the Korean original almost beat for beat, including the viral airport rescue scene and the boardroom monologue.

The American adaptation outpaced expectations. According to Salon, the October 9, 2017 episode drew 18.2 million viewers, topping NCIS and The Big Bang Theory that week. The Good Doctor ran for seven seasons and 126 episodes before ending in May 2024, becoming the first Korean drama remake to anchor primetime on an American terrestrial network.

2. King of Mask Singer (MBC) becomes The Masked Singer (FOX)

MBC's King of Mask Singer (미스터리 음악쇼 복면가왕) premiered on April 5, 2015 as a Sunday Night holiday special and quickly became a permanent fixture. Designer Hwang Jae-geun crafts every elaborate mask by hand, and the format strips away age, fame, and appearance so contestants are judged on voice alone. The show is hosted by Kim Sung-joo, with voice actor Lee Won-joon handling introductions.

FOX licensed the format through MBC and Endemol Shine North America. The Masked Singer premiered on January 2, 2019 with Nick Cannon as host and Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke as panelists, per Deadline. The American version cranks the scale, head-to-toe celebrity costumes rather than just masks, and reportedly spends around $170,000 per costume, a figure designer Hwang told the Korea Herald is impossible to match within the Korean budget.

The show became a phenomenon, even landing the coveted post-Super Bowl premiere slot in its third season. It remains one of FOX's signature reality formats more than a decade after the Korean original debuted, and is still going strong in 2026 with Season 14.

3. God's Gift: 14 Days (SBS) becomes Somewhere Between (ABC)

God's Gift: 14 Days (신의 선물 - 14일) aired on SBS for 16 episodes from March to April 2014. Written by Choi Ran and starring Lee Bo-young and Cho Seung-woo, it follows Kim Soo-hyun, a mother granted a second chance to prevent her young daughter Saet-byul's kidnapping and murder by going back in time exactly two weeks. The mystery-thriller drew praise for its tight plotting and Lee Bo-young's performance, though it was overshadowed in ratings by the same-slot juggernaut Empress Ki.

ABC ordered Somewhere Between straight-to-series for 10 episodes in February 2016. Paula Patton was cast as lead Laura Price in January 2017, with Devon Sawa joining as ex-cop Nico Jackson. The American adaptation moved the action to San Francisco and tightened the time loop to a single week, but kept the central engine: a mother given a supernatural reset to save her daughter. Original writer Choi Ran took an executive producer credit, per Wikipedia.

Somewhere Between premiered on July 24, 2017 as a summer replacement and was cancelled after its single 10-episode season. The show remains a clear case of a Korean format reaching American screens while the original creative team stayed involved.

4. Grandpas Over Flowers (tvN) becomes Better Late Than Never (NBC)

tvN's Grandpas Over Flowers (꽃보다 할배) debuted in July 2013 as producer Na Young-seok's first variety project after leaving KBS. The show sent four veteran actors in their seventies, Lee Soon-jae, Shin Goo, Park Geun-hyung, and Baek Il-seob, on a backpacking trip across Europe with younger actor Lee Seo-jin acting as porter, driver, and cook. It became a cultural moment in Korea and spawned spin-offs Sisters Over Flowers and Friends Over Flowers.

NBC bought the format from CJ E&M in 2014, per Variety, with producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron attached. Better Late Than Never premiered on August 23, 2016 with William Shatner, Henry Winkler, George Foreman, and Terry Bradshaw as the senior travelers and comedian Jeff Dye as their young guide. The first season's Asia leg covered Japan, China, Thailand, and South Korea, where the cast filmed at Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, visited the DMZ, and shot a music video for Girls' Generation's Gee inside the SM Entertainment building, as Soompi documented during the Korea shoot.

This was the first time a Korean variety format had been adapted by a national American broadcast network. The show ran two seasons before NBC cancelled it in July 2018, but it opened the door for future Korean unscripted formats to cross over.

The Korean Format Pipeline Keeps Growing

These four shows are only a sample. ABC followed up with The Company You Keep in 2023, based on the 2019 K-drama My Fellow Citizens. FOX added I Can See Your Voice in 2020, hosted and produced by Ken Jeong. TNT's Snowpiercer, technically based on Bong Joon-ho's film, kept the Korean filmmaker on as executive producer for three seasons. Even reality and game show formats originated in Seoul continue moving through Hollywood's licensing channels, from MBC's pop-culture studios to American primetime.

What the four highlighted remakes share is more than a license. Each kept a piece of the original creative DNA, whether through a returning producer like Daniel Dae Kim, a Hwang-designed mask aesthetic that FOX scaled up, an executive-producer credit for the original Korean writer, or a travel format that landed an American network its first Korean variety adaptation. For viewers who have only watched the American versions, the Korean originals remain readily streamable on KOCOWA, Viki, and Amazon Prime Video.

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