Queen of Housewives (Korean: 내조의 여왕; also known as My Wife Is a Superwoman) is a 2009 South Korean romantic comedy television series, starring Kim Nam-joo, Oh Ji-ho, Yoon Sang-hyun, Lee Hye-young, Choi Cheol-ho, and Sunwoo Sun. It depicts the life of "naejo," housewives who devote their entire lives to their husbands' success, but with a more comedic and aggressive twist. It aired on MBC from March 16 to May 19, 2009 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.
The hit drama topped the ratings chart during its run, and created new trends among married women in terms of fashion and makeup. Actress Kim Nam-joo received numerous accolades for her acting comeback after an 8-year hiatus, and the series also served as the breakout vehicle of actor Yoon Sang-hyun.
Contents
Plot
Chun Ji-ae (Kim Nam-joo) had it all... in high school. Pretty and popular, she was the school's queen bee, while awkward Yang Bong-soon (Lee Hye-young) was the exact opposite. The two were initially friends, until Ji-ae stole Bong-soon's crush, Han Joon-hyuk (Choi Cheol-ho). Fast-forward to middle-aged married life, and their roles have become reversed. Ji-ae struggles with household finances because she married Ohn Dal-soo (Oh Ji-ho), a once-promising university graduate turned unemployed pushover, while Joon-hyuk, whom Bong-soon married after Ji-ae dumped him, is now a successful executive.
Dal-soo finally gets a shot at a decent job at top company Queen's Food, where Joon-hyuk happens to be his new boss. Joon-hyuk still carries a torch for Ji-ae, and he makes it a point to make Dal-soo's internship as difficult and demeaning as possible. Meanwhile, determined to help her smart but clueless husband climb the corporate ladder, Ji-ae joins a social wives club to support him. The wives' power plays are directly correlative to their husbands' positions in the company (meaning, the higher-ranking the husband, the higher-ranking the wife), and Ji-ae sets aside her pride to curry favor and jockey for position. She immediately thrives within the wives' inner circle, but she's constantly thwarted by her ex-best friend, Bong-soon.
Then Dal-soo runs into his college friend Eun So-hyun (Sunwoo Sun), wife of Heo Tae-joon (Yoon Sang-hyun), the current president of Queen's Food. Stuck in a loveless marriage, So-hyun wants to have an affair with Dal-soo, while indolent chaebol Tae-joon gradually finds himself attracted to Ji-ae. The three couples interact in a confusing mix of romance, friendship, and workplace politics.
Cast
Main characters
Kim Nam-joo as Chun Ji-ae
Oh Ji-ho as Oh Dal-soo
Lee Hye-young as Yang Bong-soon
Yoon Sang-hyun as Heo Tae-joon
Choi Cheol-ho as Han Joon-hyuk
Sunwoo Sun as Eun So-hyun
Kim Chang-wan as Kim Hong-shik
Na Young-hee as Jang Young-sook
Supporting characters
Ji-ae and Bong-soon's high school classmates
Park Joo-hee as Go Mi-young
Lee Seung-ah as Kim Young-sun
Jung Soo-young as Ji Hwa-ja
Kim Do-yeon as Ahn Jung-sook
Queen's Food husbands and wives
Kim Yong-hee as Ha-chang
Choi Ye-jin as Hwang-sook (Ha-chang's wife)
Kim Jung-hak as Department chief Yang
Hwang Hyo-eun as Lee Seul (chief Yang's wife)
Hwang Jae-hee as Gong Young-min (HR manager's nephew)
Joo Min-ha as Jung Go-woon (Young-min's wife, art gallery assistant)
Lee Mae-ri as Jung-ran
Extended cast
Kang Soo-han as Han Hyuk-chan (Bong-soon and Joon-hyuk's son)
Kim Sung-kyum as President Heo (Tae-joon's father)
Yu Ji-in as Tae-joon's mother
Kim Young-ran as Ji-ae's mother
Baek Seung-hee as Hyang-suk
Kim Ik-tae as jeweller
Min Joon-hyun as Ohn Dal-soo's co-worker
Ratings
Source: TNS Media Korea
International broadcast
Philippines: IBC, title "My Wife is a Superwoman"